As sometimes happens in a breakup, the A’s took to social media last week to diss their longtime partner, radio station KGMZ (95.7 The Game).
To the best of our knowledge, neither the team nor the station ever announced the split, but it became clear Friday with a post on Twitter from the A’s. It was a five-second video clip of radio equipment being wheeled out of a room. Although the location is unknown — it appears to be a broadcast booth at the Coliseum — both the team and the station are identifed with signage.
And then there are the words, a cute twist on a common refrain: “It’s not us, it’s you.”
Hell hath no fury…
It’s not us, it’s you. pic.twitter.com/48LVzpqzpV
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) October 12, 2018
Messages left for A’s president Dave Kaval were not returned Saturday afternoon, but it had been clear since spring that the relationship was on the rocks. In April, Kaval announced via Twitter that it was the final year of the team’s contract with KGMZ and asked fans to weigh in on whether the A’s should seek a renewal.
There has long been grumbling among fans that the station doesn’t give enough attention to the A’s, favoring instead the Golden State Warriors and the Oakland Raiders, both of which now have 95.7 as their flagship station, and even the San Francisco 49ers and Giants as well.
We are in the last year of a multiple year deal with @957thegame Do you think we should renew or not? Would love your thoughts 💭 https://t.co/I4N9OjTShW
— Dave Kaval (@DaveKaval) April 30, 2018
KGMZ program director Matt Nahigian declined to comment Saturday, but one of the station’s talk-show hosts, Damon Bruce, pulled no punches.
“We’re in the audience business, they’re not,” Bruce said, a pointed reference to the team’s long-standing attendance problems.
In September, The Athletic reported that Kaval and A’s COO Chris Giles told season ticket holders that the A’s were seeking a new flagship station. Catherine Aker, the vice president of communications for the team, subsequently confirmed that to The Athletic in an email, writing: “We are parting ways with 95.7 and looking for a new flagship station.”
The A’s and KGMZ got together in 2011, a nomadic year on the airwaves for the A’s and their fans. The team went to spring training with KTRB, then opened the season with KFRC before landing on KGMZ.
What’s next is anybody’s guess at this point, but wherever the A’s end up, it will be their 15th radio home since they came to Oakland in 1968.
