KFOG/San Francisco Welcomes Mat Bates

Cumulus Media has named Mat Bates as the new Program Director of KFOG/San Francisco. Bates was most recently Head of Programming-Rock Formats at Pandora. He was previously Global Head of Music and Curation at Rdio, Sr. Manager of Radio Programming at Slacker Radio, and prior to that, he spent a decade in broadcast radio at 91X/San Diego, KXTE (X107.5)/Las Vegas, KQXR/Boise, ID, and KRZQ/Reno.

Justin Wittmayer, VP/Market Manager for Cumulus San Francisco, said, “Mat Bates is poised to take the Bay Area’s most indelible Rock brand, KFOG, into the future with his unique professional background and successes marrying broadcast radio with digital platforms. He lives the format, is well connected in the Bay Area, and brings a new mindset to KFOG. Mat will work with the KFOG team to bring Rock’s past and future together in a powerful alchemy that listeners and advertisers will respond to in a big way.”

Bates remarked, “I’ve spent the last decade applying the best parts of broadcast radio to emerging digital platforms. I’m really excited to now take the things that music tech does well and apply those to such a legendary and beloved radio station. KFOG already has all the necessary pieces; it’s up to us to assemble them correctly now.”

Hang on, he’s still rolling… Bates added, “Lots of gratitude towards Justin Wittmayer, Mike Anthony, Mike McVay, Dave Milner, Troy Hanson and Aaron Roberts for their trust and leadership. It was working with Cumulus on behalf of the Rdio joint venture that made me realize that I never shook the radio bug, so it’s perfect to be coming back with this specific crew.” Bates succeeds Bryan Schock, who recently left the station.