Brain Dead SF Chronicle Buries Buffalo Mass Shooting on Page A-9 in Sunday Paper

TODAY'S (Sunday) Chronicle...

buried the Buffalo massacre shooting on page A-9.

Proving once again, the Chronicle is by far, the Bay Area's greatest high-school newspaper.

KGO (ABC7) Anchor, Liz Kreutz, Buffalo Massacre--Bay to Brakers Synergy ; Sunday Thoughts

HAD IT BEEN not so profoundly sad and curious, it would have been funny.

The Sunday morning cheer brigade at Circle7 (KGO) leading off the "news" with a live report from the pee/vomit/piss off neighbors festival known as Bay to Breakers, which is back from a two-year hiatus due to Covid. I'm sure neighbors are just thrilled.

But that's another story.

ABC7 anchor, Liz Kreutz, after a toss to a little man reporter, Ryan Curry, who did about as banal and useless "report" from the race at Ocean Beach, but back to 'Liz with news."

"Now, something more serious..." said Liz, then proceeded to report on the Buffalo massacre, in which 10 people were shot dead in a predominately Black neighborhood. And most of the victims killed were Black. A hate crime.

But before any details, back to Bay to Breakers.

*The idea that many of the networks and cable outlets chose not to publish the name of the shooter is total bullshit and brings out hypocrisy to the max.

You know what? I wanna know about this lizard. I want to find out what this gem has been up to. Not just a few months but his entire grown-up life. He's 18 but he looks and sounds quite adult to me. It appoears as if he planned this ambush for quite some time. He looked organized from the various live streams and videos that went up online. Far from some lone wolf, he appeared to plan this with ultimate detail and dedication.

The idea we're going to act holier-than-thou and not name his name is a crock. This is all false hustle. This is an American ideal of "thoughts and prayers" at its max. Most people are just numb now. They're used to all this.

Which means a different playbook. Name the nutcase's name and don't stop there.

You're not gloriffying his life by injecting some hard-ass investigaive reporting. Youy're attempting a basich journalistic function: getting to the truth and wondering out loud, "why and how."

Because if you don't try, then you're sentenced to a day out there at Bay to Breakers.

Lisa White Won't Make Waves at PIX; KCBS LA Voice, Kris Ankarlo Steady If Not Spectacular; KGO Producer Good Eavesdropper; Saturday Deli Nosh

Lisa White will not make any waves, I'm fairly certain and that's just the environment we're in now. She survived 22plus years as an assistant probably because she didn't rock the boat and went along and followed orders. That's not a knock, necessarily, but probably more pragmatism on White's part, for her own rear end. Good for her, but bad, most likely, for KPIX and its path to escape the news wilderness.

Here's the problem though and at PIX, there's a lot to chew on. They need help. They have no buzz and they are losers at almost every conceivable news time. They are getting murdered by a suddenly competitive KRON and it's not even close. KRON is destroying them at 5 and 6PM. PIX should be ashamed but when you throw out crap you get crap in return.

We'll see how the new regime of GM, Scott Warren and ND, Ms. White carry on in the ensuing months. Don't hold your breath.

*Compared to some of the other wretched one, KCBS anchor/reporter, Kris Ankarlo, is fairly steady. While at times he sounds boring and robotic, he's at least credible and takes his craft seriously. Side nugget: La native Ankarlo was supposedly a prime candidate to take over the morning anchor slot but was nixed for some unknown reason. Probably a money deal, it's always the reason.

*Noted without comment: With the exception of KRON, all Bay Area TV News stations have women news directors. And on radio, KCBS too.

*Good talk radio callers (and calls) can be had as long as you have good producers. But in 2022, that's impossible.

*At KGO Radio, the guy who acts as a producer for the show after Medoro (Nikki) is getting shit because he's lately nothing more than the house snitch and who eavesdrops into everyone's phone conversations. The guy is such a boob, a dalyboob, he was warned by a suit to either knock it off or face the consequences of having to take Steve Moskowitz's shirts to the cleaners.

*The late talker, Gene Burns, would have fired his ass on spot.

Lisa White Formally Announced as New ND at KPIX But It's Complicated

IF YOU RECALL, back in February I already pegged Lisa White the new ND (and VP) at KPIX.

White was formally announced as PIX's news gate keeper on Thursday at 855 Battery. GM, Scott Warren, sent out a memo to staff.

White has been at PIX for over twenty years as assistant ND. She also had a twn-year stint at KRON prior to working at PIX. What took so long for her to get the Channel 5 gig?

Here's the inside dope.

White is an experienced, if not polarizing figure. As someone who worked with her many years at KRON told me about her new PIX position, "be careful what you (PIX) wish for." Indeed.

While Lisa White is no doubt qualified for the job, her rep is that of a combative, at times, woman who doesn't want to be effed with. That's all well and good and to be expected but when you're leading a news operation, especially an outfit as volatile as PIX is, rallying the troops is difficult when you yourself are a complicated figure.

White's 22-year tenure at PIX as an assistent ND has been met with a "well, why was she second fiddle for 22 years?" In essence, what took so long?

If you know White and understand her missive (and she understands you), then everything is good. White can be difficult if you hit her at the wrong moment. Seems as if she can be a pain and while that may be the case with a whole lot of people, White's rep says she's a whole lot of drama. From what I hear, she is quite talented and knows her stuff. We'll see.

PIX is a mess right now with terrible ratings, indifferent anchors and reporters and internal strife that isn't going away anytime soon. It isn't helped by new hires that haven't moved the needle and are the latest residue from a news outfit that is trying to forget the past guy (Mark Neerman) that had the place in semi-revolt.

White has to quickly rearrange the furniture at PIX otherwise she'll get muddled in all the mess she inherits.

KCBS' Rebecca Corral MIA is Family-Oriented

IT'S BEEN WELL OVER A MONTH NOW...

Rebecca Corral has been away from the KCBS midday microphone (10-2 PM) and of course, listeners don't get any explanation from the company.

Until now. From me.

A contact close to the all-news outlet indicated that in addition to her own, ongoing health situation (not believed to be serious), Corral is caring for both her parents (in their 90's) and as an in-home care-giver, is entitled to extended family leave. Which makes sense and good for Corral to make her parents well-being priority over work.

Megan Goldsby has been filling in for Corral.

No word on Corral's return but I'll keep you posted if and when I hear anything.

Juliette Goodrich Can Save KPIX; Allen Martin Too; Internal Circle7 Rancor at "Building a Better Bay Area" BS; Ashley-Daetz Factoid; KGO-KNBR Don't Take Calls is Idiotic; NBC Bay Area Rank and File Aren't Impressed By Raj Mathai Looks; Alex Bennett's Goofy/Funny Internet Show; Institutional Goo at KCBS/Audacy; Alisa Clancy Latest Embarrassment; Rosemary Orozco is Unhappy at KTVU; Thursday Rundown

NEW PIX GM, Scott Warren, doesn't have to spend a whole lot of money to shake things up. In fact, he has one thing he (CBS-SF) already owns and it's right in his own back yard.

He can team Juliette Goodrich and Allen Martin together. Martin would benefit because he'd have a fresh look and become instantaneously humanized. That's right, his eternal scowl can be softened by Goodrich, who makes even Brian Hackney look good.

Goodrich, who is wasted on the weekend by PIX's horiffic internal programming, is a valuable tool. She provides instant energy and she's not only smart and posseses news savvy, she's got a great look and is magical on the air. Why she continues to be under-utilized Saturday and Sunday is beyond me. Well, I think I know why.

Goodrich is more than happy anchoring weekends; she hates the primetime limelight and prefers less-stresed Sat/Sun. She also cares for her elderly mother and has teenage kids to attend to. That's cool, a mother engaged with family and priorities but she's also a team player.

Goodrich saves (and by extension, Warren) a whole lot of drama. Her presence would give KPIX a whole new (needed) look. Plus, she's a Bay Area anchor to boot and she knows the region. Warren doesn't have a whole lot of money to play with because anchors aren't paid what they used to make, but Goodrich would be open to getting fair compensation. It's right there for the taking and it would provide KPIX a much-needed jolt and boy can they use that right now.

*The majority of staff at KGO -Circle7, themselves aren't happy with the Disney-inspired "Building a Better Bay Area." But they can't do anything about it because it's a Disney-wide campaign that is employed by all ABC O an O's (one of them, KGO).

The campaign, as BS as it is, is Disney's way of saying they're in for progressive, community-oriented, ways and means. A professional news operation is not supposed to be involved in this type of rubbish but Disney has made it all paramount to its news-gathering set-up. KGO staff, for now, is part of the clown, eh, mouse show.

The Goodrich-Martin pairing is a similar concept KGO utilized after they lost Carolyn Johnson to KNBC.

Dan Ashley, as steady and effective he is/was, was dealt a blow by losing Johnson as a co-pilot. By bringing in Ama Daetz, ABC effectively took care of two things. They allowed Daetz to make her presence on weeknights and that helped her but in addition, aided Ashley and cushioned the loss of Johnson. The Ashley-Daetz combo is the Bay Area's TOP anchor duo.

*KNBR and KGO radio continue their inept matter of not taking phone calls from listeners and relying on texts, as if to believe this tech nuance is vital for survival but instead, it's a death move by both, more so KNBR. The heart and soul of sports-talk radio is caller-driven back and forth. KNBR foolishly doesn't understand that caveat. Successful sports radio stations use the callers to amp up the drama and it makes for great radio. You don't have to have great callers; in fact, lousy, loopy, dumb callers made the late, great Pete Franklin's day; he'd lampoon them and made a bit out of it all. KNBR's hosts are oblivious to this and instead think there own guys are smarter than callers. They're not.

*KGO is dumping callers. Which is ridiculous because news-talk is a two-way deal--caller and host. KGO is asleep at the wheel. What else is new.

*NBC Bay Area anchor, Raj Mathai, has a new problem: his co-workers in San Jose are not impressed by Raj's lightweight props. When the ratings were good, Mathai was given a pass but now that NBC's numbers have taken a dramatic hit, Raj is at the center of the storm.

He's been sighted at various South Bay locales takingpictures with much younger women not his wife and that hasn't exactly warmed to San Jose NBC folks. Stay tuned.

*IF YOU WANT a quick laugh, even unintentionally, take a look at former Bay Area FM shock jock, Alex Bennett's Internet show.

Bennett sounds the same--almost like his original "Live 105" and "Quake" days when he entertained Bay Area audiences with his rash brand of humor and interaction with local and national comics.

Bennett is much older now and it shows but he's still funny sometimes and an asshole (still) other times. His "citizen panel" schtick on "GabNet" can be a good listen but it also borders on downright LOUSY.

*KCBS has institutional anarchy and its current Audacy-owned incompetent managing style has veteran staffers leaving left and right. Which at KCBS has led to technical hell, massive reporter/anchor freefall and early retirement. You've heard the product, it's a collective dire straits and it's not by accident.

KCBS is in TROUBLE. Don't let a few ratings-upside fool you. There's a lot of rancor at the all-news monopoly and it's getting worse every day.

*Add KCBS: the idea that Alisa Clancy, the overnight anchor who has the WORST, most nauseating tonsil on Bay Area airwaves, is allowed to broadcast is a JOKE and a crime too.

Clancy's giggle-riddled voice inflections are embarrassing and LUDICROUS-sounding even by banal KCBS standards.

My God, what a total abomination.

*Rosemary Orozco, the fashion designer masquerasing as second-tier weather guesser on KTVU, is quietly sending out resumes to other Bay Area TV News stations. She's finally disgusted with KTVU's continued SNUB of her services. Orozco has been passed up multiple times and she thinks (maybe) she's beyond the lack of respect (in her mind.)

I would take Orozco over the obnoxious Roberta Gonzales any day but that's me.

Scott Warren Has to Make Move at KPIX; Julie Haener Mulls Future at Ratings-Challenged KTVU; "Murph and Mac" Market Share Drop 30% on KNBR; Wednesday Open

MY PIX spies tell me new GM, Scott Warren, knows he has to be creative and get the local CBS albatross on some cohesive level and make things happen.

RUMOR that has legs: Warren looking at a Bay Area senior anchor that has one leg out the door. Hint: Think across the bay.

Speaking of Julie Haener, she's been telling friends that she might be ready to get out of KTVU --whether that means retirement (I doubt that) or a new change of scenery is anyone's guess but Haener is clearly missing her TV buds, Frank Somerville, (still, yes) and Mark Ibanez.

She'also under contract at The Firm for another few years but no contract is firm these days unless you have a personal services contract (Haener does but there's several out clauses) --she could leave and Fox could negotiate a buyout. There's no rope on Haener.

*One thing that may be dictating the possible Haener (and KTVU too) move: the continued ratings FREEFALL that is hitting the Fox O and O. It began in the Feb. 22 Sweeps and has since become an issue. The personnel changeover (with Somerville and Ibanez gone now) and overall KTVU's dismal numbers that continue to plague Fox2.

The ratings were already dropping before the Somerville drama and Ibanez retirement and now are in total crater mode.

*Maybe taste does count: the woeful KNBR "Morning Show" has seen a market-share DROP to a record low. The "Murph and Mac" dreck (6-10 AM) has taken a 30% HIT and is now #18 in overall Bay Area radio market share and THOSE NUMBERS don't lie.

Trouble at Thee Sports Bleeder.