KGO Radio

It's Radio Thursday here in the Bay Area. Following reports of Michael Savage losing his slot on KNEW and Arbitron ratings showing the demise of local rock radio, the Examiner's Brad Kava reports that John Rothmann has been given permanent custody of the KGO time slot previously held by Bernie Ward, 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. weekdays.

Rothmann's a political historian (in possession of a 15,000-volume library on the topic, "one of the finest private libraries in the country," claims his KGO bio.

SFGate's Rich Lieberman is reporting that San Francisco radio stalwart KGO fired three "prominent fixtures" yesterday: weatherman Leo Ciolino, news director Paul Hosley and executive producer Trish Robbins in an apparent cost-cutting move.

The station is owned by Citadel Broadcasting, which in recent months has "struggled with issues related to its covenants with lenders," according to the Wall Street Journal, and as of June 3 was evaluating a potential refinancing and restructuring of its debt.

Ciolino had been with the station since the mid-1980s. Morning weather will now be handled by Lloyd Lindsay Young, who was already doing afternoon shifts. Monday's programming featured a sound-alike contest to see which listener could most closely mimic Young's voice.

Ken Berry replaces Hosley as news director.

This comes six months after KGO dismissed Greg Edmonds, Greg Jarrett and three others for similar reasons.