KGO-AM’s Gil Gross responded to some of the comments that were posted after our Aug. 28 item “Gil Gross drops sponsor over rape case.” But a lot of people don’t read the comment or only get the e-mail version of the Press Club blog (which doesn’t include comments). So we’ve decided to repeat his response below for everyone to see.

Hi, it’s Gil. … let me answer those questions. For Purina I actually met with their vets and ran by everything with my own vet who is one of the handful [78] of board certified feline specialists of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in the world. My two cats also use Purina One and have done amazingly well on it.

The investment adviser you mention wasn’t a sponsor of mine but he also wasn’t touting AIG products. He made trades through them and that part of AIG was not a part of the CDO scandal. It just processed stock trades. In any case, because the tie lead to misunderstandings he switched firms, but the AIG name was on there until he could make the change because by law he has to state what firm he is using to make trades so people can check to make sure he IS making them [which is why Madoff never answered that question when clients asked him who processed his trades. The answer turned out to be no one, because there never were any. Ironically, if he had advertised, his ruse actually would have been unmasked at the start.]

Yes, there are some spots on our station that drive us nuts, but they are generally not KGO generated, though I understand that is lost on the listener because it all sounds alike. Some are spots from the network and companies that help supply traffic, business reports etc; We have MUCH less of it than most stations because we don’t use long form syndicated programming, but some of it is inescapable. I hope that clears it up. Frankly, I have never worked at a station that has stayed on the up and up on these matters as much as KGO, and when I made my decision in the case of this one client, there was absolutely no dispute from sales or management and I can promise you, that would NOT have been the case at 99% of other stations on the air.

As for the advertising claims that newspapers and weeklies routinely accept, I’m much more comfortable with our standards. When we start running hooker and massage parlor ads and the like, we will have come down to print standards. That would be a long drop from where we are.