The Quake goes Green

Eco-consciousness is a big buzzword these days, as many of us have become more aware of our surroundings. Suddenly, we've become more concerned about melting glaciers, smog, landfills, the air we breath and our lakes and rivers.

And we most certainly see it at the gas pumps. Notice how many Toyota Prius hybrid cars are on the road these days?

Needless to say, the environment is slowly bringing us all together, save for conservative flacks who think this is all some twisted plot by Al Gore. Some wiser conservatives are actually reverting to the old Barry Goldwater ethic of protecting our surroundings. Even religious groups are starting to bring the issue to the forefront, as they move away from the old divisive Jerry Falwell-style nonsense.

Well, with this newfound environmental awareness that has thankfully entered our daily lives, it was only inevitable that radio enter the picture. And what better place than in eco-friendly San Francisco? On a progressive talk station?

RadioInsight.com is reporting that KQKE (960AM) is undergoing an image makeover. That's right, they're going green.

Look for new imaging, new graphics and even a new call sign, KKGN, which the station flipped to on Monday. Additionally, a number of domain names, such as green960.com and 960green.com have been registered by Clear Channel this week.

Now, keep in mind, The Quake is not just installing a new marketing gimmick. They're pretty tuned-in to the local community, going so far as to carry blocks of environmentally-oriented programming on the weekends, as well as a 'green' page on their website.

The station's promotions director, in an email response, is even claiming that they "will be 'turning a new leaf' by the end of this month." So far, there's no other information available. I tried to get a pic of the new station logo, going so far as to sthreaten to post either the Boston Celtics logo or a picture of an avocado on this article. He was against the Celtics idea, and quite frankly, after the Kevin Garnett trade a few weeks ago (I'm a Timberwolves fan), so was I.

To be fair, the new KKGN is not the first station to tie in a 'global' theme to their imaging. CBS Radio's WTGB (94.7 The Globe) in Washington, DC has them beat by a few months. But this could be the start of the 'greening' of radio.

Oh, and I'm posting the avocado pic. Hey, it's green, right?