Bay Area Radio: F P Santangelo Lands At Crosstown KGMZ

F P Santangelo

Longtime KNBR host F.P. Santangelo, released from the once-preeminent Bay Area sports talk station last month, has landed a new radio gig, according to The Chronicle. 

The radio personality and former MLB player took to social media this week to reveal that he will join rival station KGMZ 95.7 The Game as a part-time host.

“I’m excited to announce I’m back on the air in the Bay Area baby!” Santangelo, who hosted KNBR’s evening show on weekdays from 6 to 10 p.m. and the station’s San Francisco Giants postgame shows, said in his post.

His first shift on “The Game” will be as a fill-in host for Dan Dibley on the “Willard and Dibs” show on Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m. Santangelo will also join the “Morning Roast” on Friday from 6 to 10 a.m.

Santangelo’s unexpected departure from KNBR, broadcasting at 104.5 FM and 680 AM, was part of a broader programming overhaul that included high-profile departures such as Paul McCaffrey of the “Murph and Mac Show,” executive Lee Hammer, morning-show producer Erik Engle and four members of the digital team — Jake Hutchinson, Danny Emerman, Austin Scott, and Maureen Mahoney. 

The station, operated by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, attributed the layoffs to a restructuring effort aimed at trimming its budget.

Once the flagship sports station on the West Coast, KNBR has gradually lost its longstanding dominance as listeners shifted to competing platforms like 95.7 “The Game,” which launched in 2011 and secured a partnership with the Warriors in 2016, and various niche podcasts and streaming services.

Hutchinson also announced his move to “The Game,” which is operated by the Philadelphia-based broadcasting company Audacy, Inc.

“I am truly grateful to Audacy and 95.7 for this opportunity and recognition of what I bring to the table,” he wrote in a social media post. “The people I’ve worked next to from 95.7 have always been motivated, innovative and encouraging. They were enormously fun to share press boxes and interview rooms with, and I am ecstatic to now be able to work with them.”