Michael Hiltzik: An abrupt format change at a beloved Bay Area station shows what's wrong with the radio business

Listeners of San Francisco's KGO radio station woke up to a shock Monday.

The iconic AM station's all-talk format was gone, supplanted by a sports gambling format and a branding change to "The Spread," with the slogan, "The Bay's Best Bet on Sports."

Listeners had nowhere to go to express their dismay in public except the station's Facebook page. "Corporate greed at its finest," wrote one listener. "There is no sense of community anymore."

The station's hosts, their voices suddenly cut off, fielded questions and comments from their audience members through private emails and tweets. "Just an avalanche of Facebook responses," says Mark Thompson, who held forth on KGO weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. "There's rage, incredulity and this deep emotion associated with being disconnected from what was clearly a relationship that transcended information and news."

Call it community. "People felt this immense connection," Thompson told me. "'You got me through