Cal Football: Radio Game Coverage to Continue as KGO Becomes The Spread 810-AM

Cal athletics confirms its men's basketball games also will be aired, at least this season.

Cal football fans, hoping to listen to the radio broadcast of the Golden Bears’ game Saturday at Colorado, will be able to tune in to KGO 810-AM, as usual.

It will have a new name, “The Spread - 810-AM,” a reference to the station’s new emphasis on sports gambling.

The station made a sudden programming change late last week, dropping a long-time diet of news coverage in favor of a largely syndicated format that focuses on sports betting.

But Cal football games, with Joe Starkey on play-by-play for his final season, will continue to air on the station, at least for the remainder of this season. Saturday's game at Boulder, Colorado, kicks off at 11 a.m. PT.

“We have a partnership with Cumulus Media and our games will continue to air on 810 AM,” the department said in a brief statement.

A Cal athletic department spokesperson confirmed the station also will air men’s basketball games this season.

There is no word, however, on whether Cal football will continue to be carried on KGO 810-AM beyond this season. There also was no response to an inquiry about whether the athletic department is comfortable being associated with a station whose focus is sports betting.

Without notice, Cumulus shut down KGO’s broadcast last Thursday. The 50,000-watt station first began broadcasting in 1924 and has given listeners news and news talk for nearly a century.

The station’s website, on Monday, revealed its new name and logo, identifying itself as “The Spread - 810-AM.”

There are two other radio sports stations in the Bay Area, KNBR 680-AM and 95.7-FM The Game, but neither of them primarily focuses on sports gambling.

“The Spread” apparently won’t have a local focus, but will utilize three hours of sports betting programming weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m., followed by three hours with veteran syndicated sports broadcaster Jim Rome from 9 a.m. to noon.

Nick Kostos and Ken Barkley will host a program from noon to 4 p.m. before the state airs four hours of “live sports betting updates” and scores and statistics from three hosts, according to reports. The station will pick up CBS sports programming from 8 p.m. to midnight.

The changes by Cumulus, which also owns KNBR, are widely believed to be cost-cutting in nature.

Cover photo of the The Spread 810-AM's new logo

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo