Ask Rich Lieberman

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415 Media Exclu: ABC Stations Pursue KGO-TV Veteran Anchor Dan Ashley

Dan Ashley

DAN ASHLEY...KGO's veteran and senior lead anchor at 900 Front has drawn "heavy interest" and offers from ABC (and non-ABC) stations in New York, Los Angeles and other top markets, according to a source familiar with the local broadcast scene.

The source spoke directly to 415 Media, exclusively.

Ashley, however, according to the same source, seems to be happy at KGO and has certainly established himself as the dominant presence on the air in Bay Area TV News.

If there's anyone on the roster that KGO absolutely, positively, MUST protect, it is Dan Ashley. He defines the essence of what great anchors possess: always good on the desk; better than average in the field and a trusted journalist.

Ashley is all of the above.

NBC Bay Area's 'Investigative Unit' Looks Sexy but lacks Substance; KGO's Noyes' 'ITeam' More Results

I'M SUPPOSED TO BE INTERESTED.

I have been visually stunned and awed by a group of very important, very select, very dedicated and uber-talented, hard-nosed, take-no-prisoner, reporters who are way above the rest of the mere morsels.

They dig deep. They rock the boat. They siege, they attack, they prey upon the powerful and almighty --at least in theory but kick me, I have yet to see thus far and its been a long time.

NBC Bay Area (KNTV) has a team called The "Investigative Unit" or "We Investigate", something like that, I'm not a hundred percent certain but anyway they are supposed to be really good investigate reporters and expose quite a bit but if you know anything big, someone really evil they've exposed, call me because I've yet to see anything of note and please don't inundate my mail with small stuff.

This whole "We Investigate" is not only a San Jose/NBC phenomenon --its a franchise with almost all the NBC O and O's and its chock full of GLOBS of money, somewhere in the high seven figures its budget is and that's for each station. KNTV in San Jose has a "unit" (supposed to sound impressive) and you, the viewer, are supposed to be blown away by its investigative prowess.

To give you a little perspective, over at KGO, relentless, vigorous, Dan Noyes has one producer; less than a quarter of NBC's "WeInvestigate" budget and breaks far more stories. "ITeam" isn't anywhere as slick or sexy as We Investigate but it's far more successful. And relevant too.

Call me old-fashioned but I'm more of a substance over style guy.

Cecilia Vega: From KGO Reporter to ABC Senior White House Correspondent

FROM here ...to

here.

VITALS:

Cecilia Vega:
ABC News Senior White House Correspondent

Former ABC News Weekend Anchor

Former ABC News LA Correspondent/Bureau Chief

Former KGO-TV reporter

Burton's Big Powwow at KGO-TV That Left Senior Staff Miffed and Livid; Zouves Mystery Ailment That Allows Her to Leave Early Still Causing Stir; KGO Tried To Hire Raj Mathai; NBC Bay Area Tried to Lure Back Former KGO TV Anchor Johnson; KRON Fire Coverage Beats a Few Stations; Wednesday Wash

A FEW WEEKS AGO...a "BIG" meeting was hastily arranged by the GM, Bill Burton, at KGO-TV. Everyone but the janitor was told to be there and make sure your schedule was cleared. It was that important. Turns out the riot act was read to the ABC7 warriors.

Burton, more than likely feeling the heat, from this standpoint for sure, was emphatic:

"We're not producing. We're not profitable anymore. We need to shake it up ...a lot. This is serious business!" 

A veteran station source told me exclusively that Burton's meeting didn't go well with senior staff who were livid that they were being singled out by management's failures. And this was before Burton insisted that the worker bees "make a list and come up with three ideas, immediately."

You could imagine how that went over.

KGO makes lots of money for ABC. Not as much as they used to but with declining numbers everywhere across the board nobody makes the money that used be the norm. That said, Burton and by extension, News Director, Tracey Watkowski, are hearing from NY that KGO is underperforming and needs to become more "creative", whatever that entails. 

Expect more aggressive social media activity. Which seems to be the growing trend these days. I'm sure you're going to see more mentions of "be sure to download the 'ABC7 app'" and such and such. God forbid a missive to be simply better but we're in a different world.

Natasha Zouves

Whatever the case, the big powwow is still the talk of the newsroom. Oh and a few other nuggets ...

*Some staffers are plain miffed and befuddled--a bit pissed off too over morning anchor, Natasha Zouves continued mystery medical ailment which has her leaving her duties at 8 AM instead of noontime. "She can dance and play giggles with 'Reggie (Aqui); that hasn't stopped her but she apparently can still leave early?" Zouves leaving mucho early has caused quite a stir.

*A North Bay woman was outraged over a KGO-TV crew up covering the fires the other day --seems the crew was unaware their mic was hot and was overheard making jokes that weren't very flattering. It isn't known who the suspects are but whatever they said was insensitive at best and totally pathetic at worst. I'm just wondering in this day and age how could anybody, especially those in a news truck  with a mic present, be so stupid as to make jokes about something so tragic and devastating --but that's me.

*A KGO source tells me that they tried to hire Raj Mathai and when word got out, Mathai re-signed with KNTV. Timing is everything, I guess.

Bill Burton

MEANWHILE...

*I'm told KNTV (NBC Bay Area) tried to lure former Circle7 anchor, Carolyn Johnson, back to the Bay Area but that's never going to happen.

Johnson bolted KGO three years ago for KNBC.

Johnson has family in Southern California, makes a ton of money and is battling a serious health malady (seems she's winning) In other words, she's set being in El-Lay.

Carolyn Johnson

*Every station pretty much cleaned up in ratings during Firestorm coverage. KRON, unexpectedly, did very well and even managed to beat a few stations on some nights. Sure, KRON was firestorm front and center but still was AWOL during daytime selling patio furniture. I will give them credit for throwing out sports though which KTVU also did in its early newscasts.

*ADD KRON: If they didn't blatantly just reissue old stories run a few newscasts earlier, I'd be more an advocate of their news presentation. KRON has some good people working; some of their reporters churn out fine stories under some difficult MMJ (multi-media journalist) circumstances. And I didn't even mention the pain-in-ass ND who is still screaming and yelling at people, I'm still hearing. What a classy guy.

MY TWO CENTS:

*The habitual bad habit of people being interviewed who begin their sentence with..."so..." So annoying and lazy too.

*Damon Bruce of 95.7 FM (The Game) --please, Damon, enough with the pregnant pauses. It's pretentious and there's way too much dead air. C'mon man!

*AD OVERKILL: That obnoxious "800-888" legal firm making  air everywhere and further maintaining everyone's images of lawyers.

*I don't give a flying phuck that "KGO (Radio's) hosts "were talking about the fire" ...as if that's covering for the albatross station that ran taped financial shows during the initial Firestorm horror. Hey, they're a damn LOCAL station that should have STOPPED their pimping and got some intern with a tape recorder to Napa! How genius that would have been but half-brain dead is a commodity at Cumulus' alleged "news-talk" station.

FINALLY...

The idea that I committed grand larceny by asking for donations last week during the height of the fires. As If I intentionally showed "insensitivity" by, god forbid, requesting a few bucks so my blog site could stay alive. Seriously folks, that was NOT my intention. One thing has nothing to do with the other. Should have I waited a week? Maybe, but I didn't so sue me. Those of you who know me know that my intentions were not meant to be insensitive, far from it.

KGO-TV's Reggie Aqui and Natasha Zouves Showing Their Journalistic Acumen

Donnie and Marie...at their best.

I'm sure the newsroom will be amused.

Just What the Hell is going on at NBC Bay Area? Lack of Direction; Misguided Anchor Placement Makes For Dull KNTV; Tuesday Open

What's going on at KNTV (NBC Bay Area) ? Nothing really, and that's the point. The NBC O and O that still hasn't decided whether it wants to be a Silicon Valley/San Jose stalwart ...or a SF-centro outlet with South Bay tentacles.

KNTV hasn't any idea and it shows.

This is a station that rests on its network laurels and that's about it.

NBC Bay Area ND, Stephanie Adrouny

For a TV News operation that has ultimate deep pockets, you would think its newscasts would show some depth. Not so in San Jose. Blasé anchors, mostly, who have all the substance of a Gilroy 7-11 doesn't cut it. KNTV has no soul, no mark, no identity. I'm almost about ready to call them, "KPIX South." Ouch.

KNTV needs direction, badly. Its News Director, former KGO assistant ND, Stephanie Adrouny's honeymoon is over. She's been rather tepid in her early, one-year-plus reign and there exists in the newsroom, a certain uneasiness that reeks of a lack of confidence in Adrouny's guidance. Whether that can change, no one knows for now. KNTV's ratings are just OK
for the most part and that has NY worried. KNTV, being a network partner, has a Winter Olympics to look forward to in 2018, but this year is different on that front so the prospect of a ratings buttress is not so dependable.

Terry McSweeney

Anchors make up a good portion of a station's identity and KNTV has some star power, most notably, veteran news reader, Jessica Aguirre, although, curiously, you don't see many promos touting the still elegant and popular, anchor. Raj Mathai is a capable, mostly solid newsreader but he lacks presence and has become sort of sullen in his latter years since taking over seven years ago.

For my money, NBC Bay Area has one of the BEST anchors in the Bay Area horribly wasted on the weekend and that's former KGO tonsil, Terry McSweeney, who belongs on the weeknight, somewhere, maybe 5 PM where he'd be more valuable but I'm not a consultant.

Janelle Wang

Other anchors are highlighted and they're overrated. Earlier in her career, Janelle Wang, was a superstar in the making. She too is a former KGO talent but Wang's presence has greatly diminished and no one has any explanation. Maybe you can't just rely on looks and sit in the chair and read off the teleprompter. I like Wang but she's become sort of tepid and stale. She needs an energy boost fast and furious.