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Yesterday, rumors were swirling like a tweaker with glo-sticks that Energy 92.7, the city's preferred dance station with a gay bent, will come to an end. Turns out said rumors are, sadly, true. While calls to 92.7 have gone unanswered, word is that the station's new owner is a homophoobic meanie who stomps on puppies and rainbows. Or something like that.
According to SF Examiner's Eric Ross, there was "a big rumor going around [yesterday] that the new owner of Energy 92.7 is very homophobic and he fired a lot of the employees at the radio station." What's more, he compiled exhaustive Facebook research on the subject at hand. Here is just a sample of what went down yesterday:
Energy 92.7 FM Dear fans, we just got the word. 7pm is the end of Energy 92.7. Thank you all for your support. You have been the greatest listeners a radio station could ever have! We love you. Keep dancing.
Energy 92.7 FM The Energy still lives! Keep it rocking until they pull the plug. It's out of our hands now. We love you all and appreciate your comments today. We'll see you at The Lookout tomorrow for our final Energy event from 5-9pm.
Energy 92.7 FM We are over everyone. We love you all. Please come party with us tomorrow at The Lookout from 5pm to 9pm with the entire Energy staff. We appreciate you all.
Energy 92.7 FM Thank you everyone for the kind words and memories. It is a sad day for radio, for dance music, for the LGBT community, for our staff, and for YOU, the listeners. Join us for our last event tonight at The Lookout from 5pm to 9pm. We'll be handing out all the rest of our Energy shirts, and we would love for you to be there with us for one last hurrah!
So, there you have it. Energy 92.7 is dead. Word is that it will it's gone Top 40. Which is great since we cannot get enough of Cyrus' ouvre.
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G-D'S PUNISHMENT FOR SILENCING MICHAEL SAVAGE
ok, there has been an uptick in the last few days of genuinely good one-liners here. good one.
Wow - the new owner might just be the stupidest person in radio. Killing off a unique brand with a lot of loyal listeners in their market?!?
So what dying FM radio station frequency (preferably in San Francisco) is going to pick up where 92.7 left off? Any suggestions for a station/frequency that could use a resuscitation back to life?
KNGY was supposed to flip formats at 3:00 on Thursday, but due to various glitches it didn't happen until a little after 9:00. It's now KREV "92.7 Rev(olution)", a Contemporary Hits Radio (CHR) format. From what I've read, it's currently simulcasting the feed from the new owner's station in Las Vegas.
I've heard the rumors and rumblings that the new owner is a homophobe. (And he's headquartered in Palm Springs. Go figure.) But it's to be expected that when a new owner takes over, they clean house, so I'm dubious that the staff turnover is anything more sinister than the usual SOP in the radio biz.
What do you mean "will go Top 40"? It flipped at 9:08 last night. Also, trade publications have been saying the new owner would just clone his Las Vegas station. Jesus, the website is even an unfinished clone:
http://www.1027fresh.fm http://www.927rev.com
The entire staff was apparently laid off, and will be at the Lookout tonight from 5:00 - 9:00 to handout all of the leftover Energy 92.7 swag.
Sad day.
But... but.. without NRG92.7, how will I be able to instantly tell if my cab driver is tweaking?
(oh right: "Are his eyes open?")
I can't say I'll miss the music much, but I will miss having a locally owned station that was highly supportive of its community (especially the LGBT community).
This is a loss for the already craptastic Bay Area radio dial. Sad.
September 11, 2009. NEVER FORGET.
How big was 92.7 I guess it was just in SF ?
Dude. 92.7 broadcast all throughout the bay area. Growing up in East Bay suburbia, it was the only thing that kept me sane and let me know that there does exist a world without rednecks. We have to bring it back in another form. Energy cannot die like this. And we should definitely see if we can file a lawsuit against the owner for discriminatory employment practices.
You can pout and threaten all you want, it won't bring back KNGY from the dead. Nor will any lawsuit. Radio stations change formats and dump their air staff all the time. The carnage in sales is too ugly to be mentioned in polite company. It happens. People move on to new jobs and new markets.
I'm sorry Energy 92.7 is gone, I liked it too! But it's dead, Jim.
i feel the same way about the quake. *snif*
KQAK! Memories!
Also, not everyone who lost their jobs at KNGY were gay, or even liberal. It's just business as usual.
Energy 92.7 was around when you were "growing up"?
You must be like 13 years old then. Energy 92.7 was not around for more than a few years.
Say it ain't so! How will I get my "jersey shore club music" fix whenever I'm homesick now?! What will I pump my fist to?!
FYI, examiner.com is a separate entity from sfexaminer. They have the same parent company but they are not the same thing.
Very sad :(
Now whole hours could go by without hearing a remix of 'too late to apologise'.
Damn. Time to renew my XM subscription and find some Pandora channels.
Say what you want about the repetitiveness of the music; I know I never want to hear Guru Josh Project's Infinity 2008 again, and even some of the staff complained on air about the repetition of some of the songs. But it was independently and locally owned, and was operated by live DJs who cared about not just the SF LGBT community but San Francisco in general, and it was loved not just by the locals, but all over the world, as can be seen by the outpouring on their Facebook page and the new Facebook page calling for its return. I think it won at least two international awards as dance station of the year, and had an international reputation and audience via live streaming.
So now we have another station that sounds just like all the others, and the CHR format continues to eliminate all of the diversity we ever had on the radio, not just in the United States, but worldwide.
This is one we shouldn't have lost.
i hear ya, and all the others propping them for the politics, but the station was shit. they could have been a DJ station but they decided the money was in generic nu-nrg eurotrance BS. i was really stoked when they came on the air, and i had a girlfriend at the time who really loved the morning show, but it was the same damn thing people can hear everywhere: commodity club music.
it's a supreme irony of the SF LGBT community that it is so insular. sorry if that's a non-sequitur or homophobic or whatever, but it bugs me and the playlist of the station illustrated that perfectly. ultimately a disappointing experiment.
Hmmm, I had no idea Guru Josh remade Infinity.
Anyword on Fernando and Greg and where they might go next?
We loved 92.7! I'll never keep up with the sports world without Greg. ;(
This is just F**cked up, this is probably those a holes from clear chanel...
This is a serious loss. I've been listening to Energy 92 for years. It's always been my favorite radio station on SF.
I'm really gonna miss Fernando and Greg in the morning. They were pretty great.
R.I.P.
BTW Shoutdrive is a good dance stream with a lot of action. I guess I will be listening to them a lot more now.
Missed all the hullabaloo until this morning when I turned on the radio in my car and was sonically assaulted by some "pop" excrement where 92.7 used to be. Blech.
Yeah, yeah, new owner needs to make money and cut costs by simulcasting out of some other station, but, jeebus, what has happened to the Bay Area radio market? From KRQR, KOME, KMEL before it went ghetto, etc. to 3 basic stations: adult contemporary (KOIT, 101.3, 97.3 [seriously, have you listened lately?], even that new-ish country station might as well be lumped in here), "classic rock" with KFOG and "The Bone," and then pop dreck like the new 92.7, "Wild" and the current KMEL....I have 21 pre-sets on my car deck, I was down to using three KBLX, KDFC and Energy, now I guess I'm down to two.
I can't comment on whether Energy was insular or repetitive. All I know is they were usually playing music, even if it was something I sort of recognized and the morning guys were having a good time.
Blech blech and more blech.
All hail iPod, saver of ears.
It's funny but we've just got back from Florida and while there, in Ft.Lauderdale I wondered if there is a gay radio. And there was one! 101.7 (I think), as soon as we tuned into it we felt "at home". If 92.7 is gone doesn't it mean we've lost pur pride? Our crown jewel of our community? I mean, yeah the music they played was way too annoying to listen to it ALL the time, but the soothing sounds of Below Zero and Fernando and Greg in the morning. I now come to my senses and realize that it was one of the reasons I moved to the City from Pennsylvania. Now, why there is not a single syndicated LGBT radion channel in the country? Doesn't it make any economical sense for it to exist?
It's funny but we've just got back from Florida and while there, in Ft.Lauderdale I wondered if there is a gay radio. We went online, ran search and bingo! there was one! 101.7 (I think), as soon as we tuned into it we felt "at home". If 92.7 is gone doesn't it mean we've lost our pride? The crown jewel of our community? I mean, yeah the music they played was at times too annoying to listen to it non-stop, but the soothing sounds of Below Zero (before it went live365.com) and Fernando and Greg in the morning. I now come to my senses and realize that it was one of the reasons I moved to the City from the East Coast. Now, why there is not a single syndicated LGBT radio channel in the country? Doesn't it make any economical sense for it to exist? 10% of the population with greater spending power don't make it interesting enough for anyone?
If 92.7 is gone doesn't it mean we've lost our pride?
No. Our pride isn't connected to a radio station, and I'll note that we managed to survive for quite a few decades without one.
I liked KNGY, I really, really did. I appreciate what they did with their music and their presence at events and in the community. But it was a shitty business. Yes, it was. Flying Bear paid $33 million for a station with all the wattage of a sunflower-scented Yankee Candle and I'm sorry but with their reach, no amount of mattress commercials was going to pay down that debt.
Giving equal time to the new owner, however, I think that $7 million is a perfectly fine sum for a radio station of that size and given its market, keeping the Energy 92.7 format would have made sense. The move to CHR also appears to be a shitty business decision. The market is saturated with it, dominated by major players with serious money. If the new guy actually manages to do something that the other stations aren't doing it, they have the resources to copy him and crush him within two ratings cycles.
Do you really want YOUR pride in the hands of idiots like them?
Ok I'm 4 hours from the city and listened to the station several times a week online, why the hell was the station even for sale in the first place? Why wasn't, a gay or gay friendly buyer sought out? I mean christ SF, can't some rich dude or chick up there be found to buy it and take it over for our peoples sake?! Yet another strike against gay society. Too bad indeed. I'd appreciate anyone filling me in with some facts, and not just more venting.
The owner didn't want to give up the station, it was forced by Wells Fargo when Flying Bear Media couldn't renegotiate the terms of loan and fell behind on payments. WF picked the buyer.
Fernando and Greg are back on Stitcher radio: http://www.stitcher.com/r.php?fid=10344
It's a pretty cool service. You can listen to them on your iPhone, Blackberry, or Pre by downloading their client.
what is created in vegas should stay in vegas. do not lose hope! try myflexradio.com it is gay!
This seriously and utterly sucks. I feel like I have less of a reason to come back to the Bay Area now:( I mean the Bay Area did need a pop station (it's been without one since Z 95.7 went off the air) But not at the expense of one of the only dance music stations in the country:( I really hope somehow, someone will pick it up again and place it under a new part of the dial.
Still, I ask, Why couldn't it have been one of the shitty 80's music stations? we have like 3 of those fucking "listen at work" things here already. Why couldn't they have been the ones to bump off. I think I speak for most folks when I say that we don't need to hear stuff like Lionel Richie's - "All Night Long" on 3 different parts of the dial daily.