SF-Oakland Bay Area Media Cover OPD Officers Funeral

OAKLAND, CA.

Bay Area TV and radio, Internet, and newspapers outlets are set to begin live coverage of the Oakland Police officers funeral.

All five local TV stations, (KTVU, KPIX, KRON, KGO and NBC) and the two news radio stations, (KCBS and KGO) will cover the memorial either in its entirety, or at least portions of the service.

Several thousands of law enforcement from as far away as Canada, plus families and area residents, over 20,000 people have made their way into the Oracle Arena.

03-27-'09
11: 02 AM PST

3 Quick Hits, Maybe 4...I'm on KAREL's Radio Show Tonight Too

Renowned Media Writer Bill Mann has a funny new web site: http://www.dcweasels.com check it out and read some funny bits on NY/Washington beltway verbal pitter-patter.

Speaking of such, here's an item from Mann's blog... a little VOX POPULI: A caller to Stephanie Miller's morning show on Air America today suggested a new name for "Hoovervilles", which sounds like 1932 retro...The name upgrade? "Bushboroughs". Can't say it any better.


**Read my new, upgraded, immensely gorgeous, (modesty aside) web page at the SF Chronicle's SFGate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/lieberman/index ...It's a mixture of opinion, news commentary, hot chicks, politics, sports, and assorted takes on information vital to your continued manhood and 'womanhood too. By the way, how does Bill O'Reilly get away with it? No seriously, I'm curious. Is is the finger wag? Or just supreme Murdoch toilet paper?

**Oh, I'm on KAREL'S ENERGY, (92.7 FM) show tonight at 9: 30 PM PST discussing, among other things, why Citadel's about to go under, (who cares? we all do--listen up) and other assorted media sundries. I may even ask the question, how does Bill O'Reilly get away with it? What say you?

**I'm getting used to the FACEBOOK addiction, but I haven't quite got the Twitter fascination down. Again, am I missing something? No wonder the newspapers are going broke. The entire frickin' nation is too busy clicking, 'twittering, and 'facebooking. Go make love to your wife, your husband, or if your real lonely, call a hooker. There's a recession. They'll work with you on price.

THIS JUST IN: Chris Matthews just interrupted himself...KNBR has a new slogan: "Thee 'Sound Effect' Leader...BEING LARRY KING: A question to the President, "So, Barrack, when you wake up in the morning, what do you eat for breakfast?...Angry white man run to the 10Th power: KSFO's increasingly uber-cranky morning tonsil, Lee Rodgers. Lee, it's time for some meds. Take it from me, they work. By the way, relax, calm down, take a vicodin for gawd's sake, your about to lose it...

I've gotta go. I'm having a bloody mary with the Octomom.

KCBS: Best Radio in SF Bay Area for "News, Sports, 'Trafiic and Weather Together'

While perusing my Facebook page last Saturday afternoon, I had KCBS on in the background, as I usually do when spending idle time perusing the popular social networking site.

As anchor Janice Wright took it back from a weather report, suddenly the first news broke about some "police activity" near the Eastmont Town Center in Oakland. Nothing unusual; I continued my Facebook chit-chat and went about my way.

Suddenly the news became more ominous. Wright reported that at least two Oakland Police officers had been shot and the area around 74TH ave. and MacArthur blvd had been cordoned off. The officers condition was not immediately known, but Wright indicated that the scene was described as chaotic by an OPD official. Wright stated that a reporter was on their way to the scene.

Within an hour, street reporter Tim Ryan filed a report from the scene that indeed two officers were in grave condition after being shot during a traffic stop, and that over 200 officers from the Oakland Police, Alameda County Sheriff's Dept., CHP, and BART had cordoned off an area and were looking for a lone shooter believed to be involved in the incident.

Hours later, anchor Susan Kennedy took the controls as the events in East Oakland became more dire and what began as a "routine traffic stop" suddenly would evolve into the eventual deaths of 4 Oakland Police officers.

KCBS was the FIRST and only radio outlet on the Oakland tragedy, essentially going wire-to-wire on the story, broadcasting the first police briefing in its entirety all the way late into the evening when the news was confirmed at 9 PM that all four officers were dead; one, brain-dead, but still on life support.

To it's credit, KCBS stayed on the story, and in spite of all the fluctuations and rumors regarding the conditions of the officers early on, the all-news outlet pulled off a spectacular display of on-the-spot reporting, from beginning to end.

It's the type of story Bay Area listeners have become accustomed to as KCBS has solidified itself as the best source for news 24/7. While KCBS was reporting the on-going events in Oakland, KGO was running the Bob Brinker financial show. Incredibly, it wasn't until late into the afternoon, that KGO's news insert at 30 past the hour mentioned the Oakland story. Even more jarring was their decision to continue regular programming, as Michael Finney did his consumer show from 4 until 7 PM. KGO only did top-of-the-hour updates and on their bottom-hour fillers.

This is what makes KCBS stand out; no matter what time of the day, weekday, weekend, KCBS has a steady stream of news outlets, most notably it's FM simulcast at 106.9, and also it's news-heavy Internet site, kcbs.com.

The Infinity station is celebrating it's 100-year history, and appropriately enough, just overtook it's rival, news-talk KGO, (810 AM) in the monthly January Arbitron book; KGO has been in the top spot for over 30 years; more notable, KCBS beat KGO in the highly competitive morning news, albeit slightly, and was particularly strong in the A25-54 demo, which advertisers covet.

The station has a strong morning team with anchors Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor from 5: 30 until 9, and another steady afternoon duo of Jeff Bell and Patti Reising. In the mix of news, traffic and sports is a steady stream of interesting CBS contributors like Charles Osgood of the "Osgood Report", health news from Dr. Emily Sinay, Narsai David's food news, and Jan Wahl, who covers movies and entertainment. KCBS has great, insightful takes on both local and national politics with the Chronicle's Phil Matier and Washington insider Marc Sandalow.

In the Sports dept., KCBS is even stronger with the talented and versatile Steve Bitker in the morning and Hal Ramey doing snappy, biting reports on the afternoon news. KCBS also has the benefit of John Madden's commentary in the morning, where the NBC football analyst converses with Bunger and Taylor on the news of the day. In addition, weekend sports anchor Joe Salvatore gives a nice, spirited update twice an hour.

The best thing about KCBS is it's consistency. It resembles KTVU's approach to it's 10 o'clock News. No-nonsense reporting, very little idle chit-chat, and extremely airy, lucid, well-written news reporting at it's best, without any theatrics. That element is most telling during weekend, late-night, and early morning reporting as anchors Dave Padilla, Janice Wright, Susan Kennedy and veteran Steve Little deliver the news without any unnecessary verbal pitter-patter; it's news, concise and up-to-the-minute, delivered by some of the best radio broadcasters in the biz.

One of the delights during the wee hours of the morning is long-time Bay Area anchor, Dave McQueen, whose signature voice sounds like a reassuring, professor from radio 1-A. "Best Pipes" in the world, said longtime media analyst Paul Stern.

All in all, the beginning of 2009 has been very kind to KCBS as the station validates itself as the best source for news in the Bay Area.

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Michael Savage is celebrating his 15TH year as host of TRN'S syndicated, "Savage Nation", heard locally on "Talk 910--KNEW) from 3- 6PM. "Talkers Magazine" recently listed Savage, (real name, "Michael Weiner") as the third "most important" radio talk-show host in the country.

While Savage occasionally goes overboard with a combination of off-the-cuff' shtick and bizarre monologues, his show often is a hilarious three hours of unpredictable rants, insanely funny, albeit "out-of-the-loop" analysis that borders on one cringing, but definitely keeps you listening.

Savage's politics is generally to the right of 'Attila the Hun', but his humor and banter is undeniably entertaining and occasionally brilliant. When's the last time you heard a guy with a Brooklyn accent and PhD conduct a biting indictment of the Bush administration, all the while playing a Frank Sinatra tune in the background, and asking listeners if he should order Chinese food or Italian for dinner?

Savage is on over 300 stations in the country; a guilty pleasure for me; just don't tell anyone I actually listen to him, OK?

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Rich Lieberman

03-25-'09 10: 09 AM PST

Citadel Nearing "Crisis Stage", Chapter 11 Imminent; KGO Radio Feeling the Pinch

SAN FRANCISCO

-03-24-'09

12: 39 PM PST

CITADEL BROADCASTING is close to filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and many of it's broadcast properties, which include the ABC Radio Network, and locally, KGO Radio, (AM 810) have weary personnel anxiously awaiting it's fate. For the fate of Citadel could have a significant impact om some of it's more popular and higher-paid on-air talent.

The Las Vegas-based corp., whose Chairman of the Board and CEO, Fareed Suleman, has been mocked as "FaGreed" Suleman by industry wags, was removed off the NASDAQ board and it's stock has been relegated to "penny stock" status. Along with the network and KGO, it owns several stations in big markets like WABC in NY and KABC in Los Angeles.

Although several of those stations employ morning and evening talk-hosts making high, six-figure incomes, and in some cases, more than that amount, (Ronn Owens of KGO, for example, here in the Bay Area) and possess "personal services" contracts, the question of their compensation status is a source of industry intrigue when the filing becomes official.

Numerous phone calls to Suleman's office were not returned. According to most analysts, the question is not a matter of if Citadel goes under, but when.

In February, KGO laid off several prominent on-air personnel, including longtime East-bay reporter, Greg Edmunds, afternoon-news anchor Greg Jarrett, and evening producer Harry Hall.

A few weeks back, Mickey Luckoff, VP and GM of the SF talkie, held a backroom meeting with several of the station's key personnel, and reportedly told them "not to worry" about any more layoffs in spite of parent's Citadel status.

In an unrelated, but under the circumstances, poor case of timing, in the recent Arbitron January book, KGO was overtaken by rival all-news KCBS (AM 740, FM, 106.9) and it's morning news pounded KGO's duo of Ed Baxter and Jennifer Jones. It was significant, because KGO has dominated the overalls for 30 years; more importantly, KCBS edged the talkie in the advertiser-friendly A25-54 demo. Luckoff dismissed the numbers to Ben Fong-Torres of the SF Chronicle in his "radio waves" column as insignificant, saying KGO in effect doesn't pay much attention to "monthlies"; nevertheless, the fact that KGO got beat by it's longtime rival in the heavily competitive morning news war, was topic-A in local media circles.

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DRUDGE REPORT is a popular news site on the Internet, along with Yahoo, CNN.COM, and AOL, but Mr. Drudge's partners and affiliates, including Britebart, had one of their most embarrassing moments during the Oakland Police Officer tragedy.

When the story began to gain more ominous last Saturday afternoon, there was no link to it on the site. As the evening progressed into the night when it was confirmed that at least three officers had been gunned down and were dead, the Drudge site still had no mention of the story, even as CNN, Fox News.com, and almost all major news sites on-line were reporting the events unfolding in Oakland.

Drudge finally posted a link on early Sunday morning.

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MEDIA NOTES: ABC Radio freelance newsman, George Weber, who was stabbed repeatedly and murdered in his Brooklyn apartment, apparently knew his killer. The NY Post reports that Weber may have been the victim of a grisly "sex-slay". Weber worked at KGO in the late 80's...Several Bay Area TV stations are said to be considering airing the funeral of the Oakland Police officers, set to take place at the Oracle Arena on Friday...KSFO Morning host Lee Rodgers returned to the airwaves last week, after a nearly month-long bout of double pneumonia...

Police Tragedy Dominates Bay Area Media

The Oakland Police tragedy was topic-A on Bay Area media outlets, from talk radio to all-news, to local TV and even sports stations. Nationwide, the story was picked up by virtually all news sites, including CNN, the NY Times print and on-line, and even the International Herald-Tribune.

KGO Radio's Ronn Owens opened his morning program with the story and devoted the entire hour with listener comments, many of them, emotional and quite stirring. All the lines were lit.

KCBS, the all-news station that was the first outlet to report the shootings on Saturday, went wire-to-wire, with an on-scene reporter immediately after the first reports. As the events Saturday became more ominous, the CBS station had correspondents at the hospital where the officers were taken, and two more at the site of the shootings. The late-night Police briefing was aired in it's entirety; to KCBS' credit, virtually all of it's programming Sunday was centered on the OPD tragedy.

Perhaps, the most comprehensive and BEST coverage was Fox affiliate KTVU, Channel 2, which interrupted local programming, as anchor Ken Wayne and on-scene reporters Mike Mibach and Ken Pritchett provided up-to-the-minute news in what could only be described as an obvious chaotic situation.

As the first news emerged that two officers had been gunned down, KTVU's cameramen were at the site and in chilling images, caught officers running with guns drawn down the street, and into the apartment building where the suspected gunman was hiding. One particularly eerie image was that of a young officer aiming a gun over his squad car; several other more sad pictures showed several police men with their heads down and one in particular, near tears.

Even all-sports KNBR morning host, Brian Murphy made note of the Oakland tragedy on the station's "Murph and 'Mac" show.

On the Internet, SFGate.com, the SF Chronicle's on-line outlet was littered with stories and the Oakland Tribune's "Inside Bay Area" provided detailed, comprehensive coverage as the tragic events unfolded.

Rich Lieberman
'03-23'09 10: 17 AM PST

4TH Oakland Officer Dies: John Hege

JOHN HEGE, the fourth Oakland Police Officer shot on Saturday, a dear friend, has died today. He was 41.

RIP John.

RL
1: 09 PM PST

Oakland Police Tragedy: Commentary and Reflection

OAKLAND

03-22-'09

8: 46

There is an immense, unrelenting pall that hovers over this city, as the community tries to recover from one of the worst days in Oakland history.

Four members of the Police Department were shot; three are dead, and one, my friend, John Hege Jr. is fighting for life at Highland Hospital.

A suspect is dead. What began as a "routine traffic stop" at 73rd and MacArthur, a block from the OPD East Oakland station, of all places, eventually would turn into one of the worst days in this cities history, and one of the most tragic in California law enforcement.

Having grown up in Oakland, yesterday was tough. I was on Facebook scribbling away aimlessly when a friend called and told me all hell had broke loose and to get down to Highland Hospital. I had no idea what was going on, but ran into my car and sped as fast as I could down to ACH, (Alameda County Hospital)

Listening to KCBS, the initial reports seemed nothing too alarming. "Police activity near the Eastmont Town Center". I figured that it was some sort of 'event, but again, not the type of horrific scene that would emerge later in the day and into the night.

I called a good buddy of mine--I don't want to use his name because of the obvious consequences, but he's a 25-year veteran of the Oakland Police--I've known him since junior high; he told me he couldn't talk, but that the scene was chaotic and incredibly sad. Four of his colleagues had been shot in two separate, but related shootings. At the time, all were alive, but all four were in grave condition. A fifth member of the SWAT team was hit, but his injury was not serious and he released from the hospital.

There were over 200 law enforcement officers at one of the sites. Yellow crime-scene tape was everywhere. Trying diligently to find out what had happened was difficult. Speculation was rampant, but the only thing we all knew was that there was some sort of shooting; two cops were hit, and that in an ensuing manhunt for the suspect(s), another two officers were gunned down.

The area around East Oakland looked straight out of a movie. Residents were mulling around, most on cell phones looking like they were in a daze. Police hovered everywhere. CHP, Alameda County sheriff's dept. officers, even BART police. Several officers had their heads down and were noticeably upset. It was very unsettling at best.

More frustrating was the fact that, again, nobody really knew what had happened other than sketchy details. An OPD Press spokesman had a short briefing in front of the police substation, but offered nothing specific other than stating that there had been two separate, but related shooting and that there was an on-going investigation.

I raced down to Highland and barely got into the perimeter. The entire block was cordoned off and information was minimal. Several police friends, hospital personnel, and various press people hovered around looking for any bit of news. Rumors and chatter was not positive. A coroner van was seen directly in front the emergency entrance.

The first hint of something ominous was the sight of several officers running to hug a mid-30's lady that was crying. I wanted to get over an see if I could talk to someone, but again, members of the press were kept in the distance, across the street. Word soon spread that at least one of the officers was dead, maybe another, and maybe all four.

A formal briefing was scheduled for 5 PM local time, but that was cancelled and re-scheduled for 7. Because of the severity of the events, the eventual police briefing took place shortly after 9 PM. By then we all knew that three OPD officers were dead, and the fourth was gravely wounded with a bullet to the head. Brain damage. He was clinging to life. His name is John Hege, 41, a good friend. His father is an Oakland Doctor.

*************

The other officers were all Sargent's, in their mid-30's, married, and had a couple of kids. The gun used in the killings was an assault weapon. All officers were wearing bullet-proof vests, but as another friend of mine told me, an ex-SFPD cop, even a bullet-proof vest is no match for a military-style assault weapon.

The gunman that was shot and killed was on parole. His rap sheet was "as long as the Dead Sea scrolls" according to one of the police lieutenants.

**************

Later into the night, I met city developer and civic leader Phil Tagami at Crogan's. We both felt numb. Tagami, like myself, is an Oakland native. We couldn't believe what had taken place in our beloved city. Phil is a mover and shaker who was behind the Fox Theatre restoration and owns the Rotunda building downtown. As we both commiserated, I urged him that the community must come together in the ensuing days, and that the only silver lining in this tragedy, as perverted as that sounds, is that Oakland as a city must use this horrific mess as a means to begin citizen solidarity. First and foremost, a show of support to the Police.

Most Oakland cops are good guys. A few bad apples, like every other department. I told Phil that inevitably the critics would come out and say that "they had it coming" and that the BART-cop shooting was a sort of sick "payback". Phil wondered if the lynch mob that rioted downtown over the BART-cop slaying of Oscar Grant would protest and rally for the 4 Oakland cops that got gunned down earlier in the day. I agreed. By that time, however, I was too emotionally spent and still in a state of shock to realize his sarcasm.

The long day and night is over. The Governor is headed here from Washington tomorrow to meet with the Mayor and Police officials. A press conference is scheduled for Monday.

I just got off the phone with Mickey Morabito with the Oakland A's, who expressed his condolences and said the A's will gladly offer something as a show of support to the Police and city. We need it. We need everyone and every citizen and public official, from the Mayor, the AG, Oakland resident Jerry Brown, to all the council members and clergy, and business leaders to all come together and try to use this tragedy as a means for coming together. We owe it to the fallen officers, their families and friends.

Rich Lieberman

OPD Tragedy: Three Officers Dead--Fourth Gravely Wounded

OAKLAND, CA.

7: 05: 34 PM PST

THREE OPD officers have been pronounced dead here at Highland Hospital. One, John Hege Jr, 41, is fighting for his life. Brain damage.

It's very somber. This is tough. I know John Hege. He's a good friend. His Father is a Doctor in Oakland.

One of my buddies is an Oakland Cop. 25 years on the force.

There is a state of shock around the ACH facility.

Officers and family are crying. There is a feeling of immense shock and sadness here.

Time to go home.

Prayers to the families of the Oakland Police Dept and those who lost their life serving this city. A very tragic day in the city of Oakland.

Rich Lieberman

CBS5--KPIX-TV Reports: OPD Tradgedy: "All Four Officers Dead"

CBS 5, KPIX Bulletin...

Local CBS affiliate says all 4 OPD officers are Dead.


Developing...

Oakland Police Mourn Deadly Saturday; 4 Officers shot; OPD Source: "At least 1 dead"

OAKLAND, CA

5: 52: PM PST

Four Police Officers have been shot in two separate, but related shootings.

OPD source: "at least one dead--at least one, maybe more."

KTVU: "we've heard 1, 2, 3 all four are dead"

2 suspects: shot and deceased.

Highland Hospital is surrounded by OPD families, officers, press, and neighbors. Somber scene. Officers crying. Heads down.

"This is a tough, tough day for the 'OPD".

Police Briefing: 7 PM PST

OPD Shootings; 4 Officers shot; "at least 1 dead"...

The scene at Highland Hospital is somber.

From an OPD source: "at least one officer is dead" --three are in surgery ...families, OPD officers, neighbors milling around....

2 suspects are dead. Details on both shootings are sketchy. OPD briefing at 7 PM PST.

Developing story.

RL

4 Oakland Police Officers Shot; "at least 1 dead"

OAKLAND, CA
5: 28 PST

Four Oakland Police Officers have been shot in separate shootings.

A friend of mine, an OPD officer tells me, " at least one is dead".

RL
Developing story

Wolff/A's Best Option? Oakland: Coliseum Site Most Viable, Unless...

IN LEW WOLFF'S Perfect World, the A's would be playing in San Jose; in a gleaming, spacious, brand-new baseball stadium adjacent to the HP Pavilion in the heart of the cash-cow colony known as Silicon Valley.

But these challenging times we live in are a stark reminder that the present environment is not compatible for any "perfect world", let alone Lew Wolff's.

The bottom line when it comes to the immediate future of the A's is that they most likely will be Oakland for at least the next five years, baring something unforeseen, like "contraction" by Major League Baseball. In that unlikely scenario, the franchise would simply be dissolved; scraped from the area. Baseball supposedly has a plan to rid problem franchises like Oakland, Tampa Bay and Florida, (Miami) franchises, not coincidentally, that have stadium issues.

In Miami, the Marlins have had a plethora of stadium deals on the board and recently got the go-ahead for a 35,000-seat stadium on the site of the old Orange Bowl. The deal had a sudden death, when local civic leaders pulled the plug on the new park due largely to the present economic conditions. The Marlins will continue to play at Dolphins Stadium for the immediate future.

In Tampa, the Ray's play in a dreary, indoor-domed, edifice called Tropicana Field and have been trying for years to build an outdoor stadium, but have failed to hammer a deal with local pols; for the time being, they will still play in their drabby palace. They have no choice.

In Oakland, Wolff's options are fairly similar to that of both of the Florida teams. He has very few.

His deal with Fremont seemed to be cemented, only to go up in flames amid neighborhood opposition, questionable site location, and a bevy of traffic and infrastructure issues.

As the Fremont deal collapsed, word quickly spread that San Jose would now be the most likely city on the A's radar, and indeed Wolff has had several discussions with Mayor Chuck Reed and city council members. San Jose has even designated a site adjacent to the HP Pavilion, and would like to "play ball", but several obstacles exist, most beyond even Wolff's clout and the city itself.

More on that later.

Late last week, reports circulated out of both the NY Daily News and the Las Vegas Review-Journal that A's officials had begun exploratory talks with officials in the desert city about a possible Vegas deal. Wolff denied the report, but even if they were real, Las Vegas remains, to borrow a phrase, a "long shot" for any professional franchise.

For one, the city is experiencing it's own economic crisis, as throngs of companies have cancelled their conventions, and several hotel/casinos have laid off thousands of workers. The last thing Vegas is thinking about is a new baseball stadium, and until the gambling issue is resolved, no pro franchise can or will look at the city. It's simply not viable.

Another trendy candidate mentioned is Sacramento, but that city is facing the real possibility of the NBA's Kings leaving for either Anaheim or yes, San Jose. The Kings are owned by the Maloof family and play in outdated and out-of-the-way ARCO Arena; They have long tried in vein to work with city leaders for a new downtown arena, but that has gone by the wayside due to the fact that, like a lot of municipalities in California, Sacramento is facing economic dire straits. If they can't subsidize a building to keep the Kings, how would they be able to upgrade Rayley Field for a MLB franchise? And in spite of it's growing population, the Sacramento metro area is barely above the million-resident meter, leaving many to question whether an area still relatively small, would be able to support on a consistent basis, major-league baseball.

Which brings us back to the future of the A's. Wolff has stated publicly that his main goal is to keep the team in "Northern California", but just where? Again, his options seem to be few and none. Conceivably, he and his majority owner, Gap co-founder and billionaire Jon Fisher, could sell the A's, either to a group willing and able to keep the team in the Bay Area, or in a worst-case scenario, outside the area in another state. Portland has been mentioned, but like Sacramento, lacks a ready facility, and is considered too small an area to support a team.

San Antonio has lobbied MLB for years about getting an expansion and/or existing franchise, but like other cities, faces severe economic constraints and appears to be off the table.

Back to Oakland. If Wolff, who is in his mid 70's, truly wants a new stadium, and is willing to swallow his pride and yes, "play ball", then he should sit down with Oakland officials and work out a deal on the BEST and most REALISTIC site, and that site is the North Parking lot in the existing Coliseum/Oracle arena, right next to the old stadium.

While not the most aesthetic location, the site presents Wolff and A's brass a multitude of obstacle-free reasons to build a 40,000-seat stadium, with a perfect view of the Oakland Hills.

For one, the site is a proven winner and has been in the past, as one need only look at the A's of the late 80's and early 90's, under the Haas ownership, when they averaged 2.6 million fans, to a peak of 2.9 million in 1990.

For one thing, the land is owned by the city and Alameda county, and conceivably could be offered in exchange for Wolff's commitment to build his new stadium. Another significant advantage is that, although the site would have to have environmental-impact reports, because it already has existing stadia, that lengthy process that would normally take up to two years to conclude, could be executed in about six months.

The north-lot site also benefits all parties because construction could commence and a new venue could be built in time for the 2012 season. There would be no potential residential opposition as the Coliseum sits on its own area, surrounded by two massive parking lots, next to BART and Hwy. 880 and mass transit. Many A's fans take BART to the game, so the issue of traffic would be mitigated by the existing transit hubs.

The A's have maintained that they would be willing to finance any new stadium, and by building the facility on the north lot would dramatically reduce the cost. What was estimated at anywhere from $600 to $700 million dollars in Fremont, would be somewhere in the $300 million neighborhood in Oakland. Granted, the Fremont plan consisted of a combination stadium/condo/retail village, but Fremont is off the board now so if Wolff is sincere in his desire to keep the team in the Bay Area, then he need look no farther than the north lot. Let he or other skeptics question this site's location/viability, take a look at Kansas City's newly-renovated Arrowhead stadium for the NFL's Chiefs, and adjacent Kaufman stadium, home to the baseball Royals.

Oakland and Wolff have a chance to replicate the football/baseball stadium success in KC, and it doesn't require any amount of real obstacles; merely the parties to sit down, bury their considerable egos and work out a concrete proposal that could be up and running in 22 months.

Is the site the "ideal" location? No, but reality and our present economic conditions make this site the most realistic, reasonable, and VIABLE place to build the ballpark. Yes, the best place to have built a new stadium would have been Oakland's suddenly emerging and hip, "Uptown district" along the Broadway/Telegraph corridor next to the newly-renovated Fox Theatre. It's the hottest place to be around right now; an area that once everybody couldn't wait to leave to get out of sight is now the home of a bevy of thriving, upscale restaurants, condos, and retail would have been terrific for a new yard, but that's ancient history.

Other sites mentioned are Jack London Square and the Laney College area, right off 880. Again, nice locations, but undoubtedly subject to lengthy EIR reports, potential neighborhood opposition and litigation, which only reinforces the viability of the north lot of the Coliseum.

It's available. It's cost is cheap. And best of all, it's construction-ready and is not subject to all the what-if's, what-might-Be's, and 'gee, that San Jose makes the best sense for a new A's home", etc.

If Wolff, a real-estate developer by trade, with property in San Jose and LA, wants to change the image that he's merely the latest carpetbagger in Oakland and the Eastbay's long tradition with Charlie Finley and the like; if he's passionate about keeping baseball in Northern California, then again, Oakland is his most immediate and logical choice.

If nothing else, Wolff is a pragmatic man, and he didn't make millions of dollars by being stupid. Yes, as previously stated, his heart and soul begs for San Jose, but the Giants and MLB have a strong territorial bond that owner and former Microsoft lawyer, Bill Neukom said just the other day they'd fight tooth and nail to defend. So while the San Jose dream is infinitely pronounced, the real notion of the A's actually playing there is a pipe dream at best, not to mention, loads of litigation and time, and time is not the best friend of Lew Wolff.

A former front-office official noted that the A's have been playing at the Coliseum for 41 years. In spite of pronouncements over the course of thirty years of their imminent departure to Denver, Sacramento, San Jose, Las Vegas, and Portland, they've been at their current residence over four decades. They're not going anywhere in the immediate future, and if Wolff wants to be alive and let his son and grand kids see his team's glorious nine take the field in a beautiful new stadium, he should bite the bullet and sit down now and make it happen in Oakland.

No, it ain't San Jose, but last I checked, it's definitely in Northern California.

Rich Lieberman

03-21-'09 7: 41: 23 AM PST

OBAMA'S 'Tonight Show' Appearence--How NBC Scored Major Exclu and How the Media Covered It

HIS 'Special Olympics' comment/blunder aside, President Barack Obama's appearance with Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show" was a PR bonanza for the Chief Executive, and a major coup for NBC and Leno, who finishes out his late-night reign at the peacock network.

Obama's 40-minute schmooze with Leno was the first-ever for a sitting President and the behind-the-scenes intricacies between NBC and the White House were almost as compelling as the interview itself.

Knowing weeks in advance that the President had planned a visit to Southern California, NBC's Burbank Execs, with an assist from CEO Jeff Zucker, feverishly lobbied the White House Press office and Obama's inner circle, to go on the Leno program, offering virtually the entire show as a message-vehicle to millions of Americans not inclined to see the leader of the free world on late-night television.

It should be noted that NBC brass and Leno's PR people touted the fact that, unlike David Letterman's perceived, more affluent and educated, demos, Leno's overall popularity, particularly in the Midwest, fly-over, so-called 'red states, would work better with the President's intent to reach out to an audience that may have been more receptive to conservative ideals.

That element was the guiding force behind the White House decision, and Obama's thumbs-up, in light of the AIG 'disaster/fallout, as Mr. Obama set to get the message out that bonuses to the economically-ailing company would be under full scrutiny by the President and his advisers.

Both the President, Leno, and NBC seemed to be big winners as the late-show appearence drew record numbers; Leno, not known as a particularly strong interviewer, delivered a decent performance, and Obama and White House officials were delighted with the appearance.

For one thing, the President's Burbank virtuoso put the AIG story out of the immediate news cycle, at least for the day, and further cemented Obama's "rock-star" persona, as throngs of people, media personnel, including the White House press corps, local and national correspondents lined the NBC studios before and after the taping.

It was "politics in the new century" on display and the strategy seemed to be a major plus for all parties, unless of course, your Letterman or CBS.

03-20-'09
8: 45: 29 AM PST
Rich Lieberman

Thursday Potpurri; Radnich: Is he really "Tired?" Maybe. A Good Time To Consider Damon Bruce on KNBR

THURSDAY on KNBR's Gary Radnich Show:

In an interview with Comcast Warriors Analyst, Matt Steinmetz, Radnich jokingly asserted that 50-year-old men should get off a basketball court and "let the kids play" if indeed kids were waiting to play. OK. Laugh.

But Radnich repeated it earlier in the show, again, again, and again. He wasn't kidding, which is OK, but the "bit", assuming it was a bit at all, wasn't funny after the third mention, and when it became apparent that 'his Garyness wasn't kidding and was all too serious, the "bit" bordered on the extreme idiocy that Radnich's show has become lately.

It's every one's right to poke fun at 50-year old guys that may have family's and kids and enjoy playing a pick-up basketball game or shooting one-one themselves, but Radnich makes it a habit.

In Gary's world, if you don't have kids and sort of carry on your life en fuego, you're not on his radar, which given the situation at KNBR, should be put in perspective.

Radnich's show is tired. It's also in a perpetual state of utter staleness. You can almost dial up the same routine every morning. Open show with assorted line; sometimes funny, lately, predictable and not funny. Fifteen minutes of schtick with assorted producers, gophers, and the other assorted masses still employed at the Cumulus property.

Thirty minutes with Tony Bruno at the top of the hour, which lately is comprised of a bombardment of sound effects, idle caller chit-chat, more sound effects, obscure rap music, and three minutes of sports. Cut to twenty minutes of commercials, half of which are male-enhancement products and the rest, a tax guy and an eye guy.

After an interview, which is touted as if the host was talking to a sports figure of some significance, as opposed to any of the three or four obscure sports writers or athletes Radnich schmozzes with, the show comes to an end. Again, it's tired, it's the same, and it's all too predictable.

And sports is a mere rumor in the 9-Noon slot, which is OK, nobody cares about whether Randy Winn is a great right-fielder for the Giants, but it would be nice to mix in a little NCAA chatter, NFL, and NBA stuff, without the overabundance of whether 50-year-old guys hog a basketball court. That's not funny anymore.

Inside the KNBR building a staffer has told me that "Radnich doesn't have it anymore--he has no show worth listening to. It's the same old 'stuff and it's lost it's flair. Anybody who can listen to that '-hit is either bored or has no taste". I'm not going to mention the person's name because he told me so. Normally, I would demand such comments mean, "go on the record", but given Radnich's clout, albeit waning, I'll let this go because I, myself, feel the same.

And being that most every known sports figure in the Bay Area dare critique the 'mighty one, for fear of not being invited on the show, and outwardly thrown the door, I'll go ahead and cast a few stones. It's about time someone stood up and nipped Radnich once and awhile and wasn't worried about being banned from the SF sports nadir.

So, I'll just say it. Perhaps KNBR should begin seriously thinking about someone who is fresh and airy and can deliver a snappy three-hour show that is strong and moves along; has refreshing, unpredictable and new ideas, can do a mean interview and not back down, and is ready to take command and is knowledgeable too.

Damon Bruce is that person. Currently, KNBR's 7-10 guy, a talented, funny, fresh, and remarkably adept host who has incredible wit, an uncanny knowledge of the pro and college game, be it the NFL, college football, the NBA, and baseball too.

This isn't a "dump-on-Gary" moment. Full disclosure: A long, long time ago, when moi was selling cars, Radnich popped me for a car for his daughter. And way, way, way, back in time, the G-man secured me a small loan, (I paid him back) We've known one another off and on for over twenty years--I used to call him frequently a few years back before I got out of the car biz and Gary's yes-men put a kibosh on me calling in....I don't think they liked me--I'll assume it was because I dare question the "great _Radu", but that's another story.

Bruce is 34, one of KNBR's more solid performers--some would say the BEST. Bruce could carry the 5-9 AM "Morning Show" and deliver double the numbers the current schlums that work that time slot, but that's just my opinion. And I said it. So there.

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The NCAA "March Madness" is in full throttle-mode. I'm watching CAL play Maryland; it's close to halftime and the Bears look vulnerable against a weak Maryland team. This is a game they should win, but no matter what happens, I'm going for a cheeseburger and diet coke at Crogan's.

Even if CAL wins, they'd have to play Memphis in the second round Saturday, so I'm not that going to get too excited either way.

Halftime score: Maryland: 34 CAL: 31. CBS coverage is stale. The announcers sound like Insurance guys from Toledo. I'm bored. Didn't I just say that earlier?

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Was in Uptown Oakland last night for a restaurant opening. One of the best, most sumptuous events I've been to, and I've been to a few. "Pican", a swanky, illustrious, upscale with a capital "U" and the food is to die for. Everyone looks big here. KTVU's Frank Somerville and Joe Fonzi come by and say hi. Fonzi and I talk about the old days of Bay Area media when Dennis Richmond was making a million at Channel 2 and Van Amberg pulled down about 850K at KGO.

It's time to eat again, see the pretty ladies, and have my schmoozing move back to the Caddy.

It's 10. Time to go home.

Check out "PICAN" on Broadway, right next to Ozumo. And go up and say hi to owner Michael LeBlanc and tell him "Big Vinny" gives his "thumbs-up". At Pican, it's NY and Chicago, with a smidgen of New Orleans meets Oakland. The place is a winner. Looks like they spent some money on this joint. One restaurant guy who was there told me, "over $4 million, easily".

Just go inside, eat, sit at the sumptuous bar and save a place for me.

PICAN: 2295 Broadway, Oakland, CA (510) 834-1000 Opening: 3-23 http://www.picanrestaurant.com/

CUMULUS KNBR 'Purge Begins In Earnest; Round Two of Layoffs Begin--Popular 15-Year Engineer Let Go-Several More to Follow

CUMULUS has begun a second round of layoffs, as predicted in this space, by letting go KNBR 680 15-year veteran engineer Steve Cordova, as part of an overall series of layoffs that are set to begin in earnest at it's cluster of SF radio stations, including KFOG-FM, "107.7--The Bone" and KNBR 1050.

An inside source at KNBR, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told me the following: "Steve was an essential part of the daily operation for each and every station of the Cumulus SF 'operation--he's one of the smartest, tech-savvy, 'mr-fix it's I've ever dealt with in radio. If he's expendable, no one, repeat, no one is 'safe at the SF Cumulus cluster."

So far, no notable on-air KNBR personalities have been let go, but an industry analyst who is familiar with Cumulus' Atlanta operations predicts that the radio conglomerate, which posted a record $397 million loss yesterday, is preparing to begin in earnest a series of "staff reductions" at the all-sports outlet, and that includes "people you wouldn't think are in trouble".

Recently, KGO Radio, owned by reeling Citadel, laid off over ten on-air staffers, reporters, salespeople, and on-air anchors, as the broadcasting business downsizes in these dire economic times.

Stay tuned. Developing Story
Rich Lieberman 03-18-'09 2: 37 PM PST

AIG Story Ignites DRUDGE REPORT, Cable Shows, And Talk-Show Radio

SAN FRANCISCO

'03-18'09 9: 40 AM PST

AIG 'Crawl on DRUDGE REPORT Ignites Cable and Talk-Show Radio 'Outrage--

It all began with a "Drudge Report" post late last Sunday; by Monday, it was Topic A on virtually every major news outlet in America, and by Tuesday, it dominated the entire media landscape from the cable shows and network, to local talk-radio, and the water cooler in virtually every workplace.

The "it" is the disclosure that AIG was paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives of the AIG division where the company's financial crisis originated. The story has drawn universal anger among both Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike and has left the Obama administration scrambling to distance itself from AIG.

The "Drudge Report" had almost 24 million hits alone on Tuesday, and the story was the opening segment on both FNC's "Hannity", MSNBC's "Hardball" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann". On CNN's "Larry King Live" it was given 3/4th of the program, but CNN opened with a brief report on the Natasha Richardson skiing accident.

Perhaps the biggest media arena the AIG situation received traction was on talk-radio, where the story dominated, and drew heated, almost boiling anger from the Michael Savage Show to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin. No other subject matter was brought up, every phone line was lit, and no one wanted to spew forth any outrage other than the AIG quagmire.

Locally, KGO Radio's Ronn Owens opened his program with an outline of the story and proceeded to get an hour's worth of rage from angry callers that called for the 'heads of AIG execs. In the evening, host John Rothmann began his monologue, and for the next three hours, every one of KGO's eleven telephone lines were full.

On the Internet, the AIG story was the chatter of the day on Twitter and Facebook, and virtually every major news site from Huffington Post to Newsmax. All major network news devoted virtually half of their programs to the story.

White House phone lines were lit up, as were congressional press offices from Washington to local offices. "There is 'NO other story right now", said a staffer from AP Radio in DC. How big of an outrage? The AIG disclosures even muted interest in the NCAA's College Basketball tournament, set to begin Thursday, as ESPN.com had a considerably lighter amount of traction, considering the beginning of "March Madness".

http://www.richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/

"Big Vinny Reports"; Happy St. Paddy's Day and More at SFGate.Com

"Big Vinny" Today's SF Chronicle On-Line Blog

http://www.sfgate.com/matierandross

By Rich Lieberman

Another week, another dollar, already in the middle of March and April staring us right in the eye. "March Madness?" I'm a pretty big sports guy, but have never warmed to this huge event, second only to the Super Bowl, in terms of mass interest, most of which emanates from Las Vegas which is a huge surprise, because I thought everyone was broke these days.

The Stock Market had a mild rally and the bank guys suddenly found a temporary common ground, but all of that good news was tempered by revelations that our bailout boys doled out some pretty hefty bonuses on our dime. Surprise. Why doesn't this annoy me? Easy. What else is new? Are you really shocked? Is there anything left out there in this crazy, Rubik's cube of a world that hasn't been tainted? Nothing's sacred. Hell, one day I'm going to hear that Walter Cronkite is coming out of a NY strip club and Ted Koppel's doing the Jerry Springer show.

** Much was made of Jon Stewart making mincemeat of CNBC's shallow head Jim Cramer, but I've seen better. And it wasn't as if Stewart needed any help; Cramer looked more gullible and sheepish than OJ at his sentencing trial. I'm beginning to think it was all a set-up by the Comedy Central folks who somehow convinced an ex-Wall St. hedge-fund gazillionaire to go on national TV and make an utter fool of himself.

Cramer, CNBC, 401K, the Dow, "Mad Money", Bear-Stearns, Morgan-Stanley, AIG, Bernie Madoff, Enron; they all sort of just roll off the tongue, don't they. As one local Chuck Schwabb employee told me, what's frightening is not all the chicanery we know about, but what we DON'T know about, and what we don't know about, when it all comes out, won't we all be too focused on who's going to be the next American Idol and the semi-finals of Dancing with the Stars? But of course.

** I don't mind nor care that Willie Brown got a street named after him, (3rd street) I'm just surprised Willie didn't insist on First instead of 3rd.

** Poor Lew Wolff. Poor Bay Area media. As I noted in my blog, the A's aren't going anywhere despite what you have read, heard, will hear in the future, today, tomorrow, next week, and beyond. Wolff had a public hussy with Oakland pols, saying in effect that he wants nothing to do with Oakland as a future home of his Athletics, only Wolff lacks a certain key entity in his blunt hatred of the 510 throngand that is leverage.

The timing of Wolff's press-release 'disgust manifesto, coinciding with the A's great amount of positive ink ruined what otherwise has been a winter of supreme optimism by the Hegenberger boys, what with a Jason Giambi-Matt Holliday combo, and Nomar Garciaparra in the mix. Add to that a 50,000-watt radio station that people can hear, and you have a bona-fide baseball bonanza that's taken the Bay Area by storm and essentially blunted out the Lincecum garlic-fryers across the bay.

Wolff has a virtual Mr. Magoo of obstacles if he truly has is sights set on, oh, say, San Jose, not the least of which involves, A. the Giants and their territorial rights with MLB, B. the economy, C. the Giants and their yearly $20 million mortgage payment on AT&T Park, D. the economy, E. the state of California's finances, and F. the economy. I could go on and on--despite Merc -News writer Mark Purdy's and San Jose Mayor's Chuck Reed assertion that the A's are on the radar screen, I'd only point it's apparent that not ONE new stadium has been built in California for the past forty years; this is a tough place to build anything, and yes, the Giants built their own palace on their dime, and it took three ballot propositions to get it done. And 2009 ain't 1997.

** Latest trendy city pick for A's eventual home: Sacramento. Yes, the same city that's broke; the same city that can't even keep it's NBA's King's, owned by the Maloof family that wants desperately out of Sacto and is looking at Anaheim, Vegas, and yes, San Jose.

BOTTOM LINE: If they broke ground tomorrow anywhere, and they're not breaking ground anywhere, the A's will still be in Oakland for at least the next five years, unless of course Wolff swallows his pride and builds a new park right smack dab next to the old one, but that would require sense of which no one, including me, has any more left of.

** ENOUGH OF DEPT: the Octomom. Go see an Angelina Jolie movie and get lost. God bless the health to your latest kids. Enough, see you later. Goodbye.

MEDIA: KGO Radio got a station of the year award from Radio and Records...If you dig the dreamy tones of Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich, Pete Fountain, tune to KCSM-FM, (91.1) a station that somehow manages to sooth the mind and ears on a stormy night, with a great blend of jazz, big-band, and a strong signal, from studious at the College of San Mateo; I don't know how KCSM does it day in and day out, 24-7 this day and age of economic dire straits, but if it requires a donation, I'm all eyes...Great, just what the doctor ordered: Ex-KSFO righty-hostess and a brunette version of Ann Coulter, Melanie Morgan, returned to the station, briefly, thank goodness, filling in for traffic guy "Officer Vic". The only good news upon hearing Morgan's temporary mouth was that it muted out Lee Rodgers and Brian Sussman, still trying in vein to become the local version of Rush Limbaugh.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Actress Natasha Richardson is not "brain dead", as reports the NY Post; she remains in critical condition following a skiing accident earlier today.

OK, I'm done. Enjoy your burger and tell CNN's Kiren Chetry that I'd love to mow her lawn.
RICH LIEBERMAN CAN BE HEARD DAILY ON KTRB, THE NEW AM 860, AND NW HOME TO THE OAKLAND A'S.

Send tips: bigvinnyrich@aol.com

As Cumulus Debt Grows, CEO Dickey 'Fatten$ up--May Target KNBR

SAN FRANCISCO
03-16'-09 7: 10 AM PST

Monday Media Mix....

CUMULUS, the Atlanta-based radio giant has $700 million of outstanding debt and it's stock has dropped to around 94 cents a share. One analyst suggests the company's problems could render actual share value at zero.

The company's economic dire straits isn't any different than other similar outlets like Citadel and Clear Channel, although it's CEO, Lew Dickey Jr. , seems to be doing quite well.

According to the Toledo Blade, Dickey, 47, was awarded an $8.5 million contract-signing bonus last fall, in the form of deferred shares, that was retroactive to the firms money-losing 2007. Just last week, he was paid a $500,000 cash bonus and 320,000 shares of common stock for his 2008 performance as CEO.

Locally, the Cumulus-owned outlets, among them, KNBR, the all-sports station, and KFOG-FM, and 107.7 "The Bone" have fared well, despite the current downward trend of revenue for cash-strapped audio media, but that may not prevent Dickey's intention of looking at ways to reduce company debt, in the form of "staff reduction" and impending layoffs at some of it's more profitable properties in markets, like San Francisco and Houston.

Here in the Bay Area, at KNBR, as reported last week by a source who works for the station, morale was termed as "awful", with revelations of some lower-tenured producers earning a paltry $9 an-hour, with limited benefits and an increased workload.

One local media analyst told me that Dickey, who recently visited SF on non-company business, is focusing on some of KNBR's highest-compensated personnel. "Anybody making over $100,000 will be 'highlighted and I'm sure he'll want to know what their contribution is.

Dickey's bottom-line radar will not be confined to merely KNBR, but his FM outlets too.

Although KNBR is the 13Th-ranked station in overall 6-plus ratings in the 4TH-ranked SF market, it's in the top five, advertiser-friendly adult-male 25-54 demo, and has popular mid-morning and afternoon-drive shows. Just last week, Ralph Barbieri, one of the stations strongest personalities, and part of the "Razor and Mr. T program", ( 3-7 PM) celebrated his 25th anniversary at the station. He is one of KNBR's highest-paid employees, as is his partner, Tom Tolbert. The show is the station's most profitable enterprise and is a staple of the Bay Area sports-talk culture in the afternoon.

Barbieri and Tolbert would seem to be pretty safe on Dickey's potential 'slash-sheet, as would be mid-morning host, Gary Radnich, but I'm told that a few prominent, behind-the-scenes workers, such as long-tenured producers and some on-air, early afternoon personnel might be on the pink-slip brigade. Stay tuned.

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Congratulations to KGO Radio, the recipient of the "talk-station" of the year award from 'Radio and Records'...NY Radio giant Don Imus announced on his program Monday morning he's been diagnosed with stage-two prostate cancer. Imus is 68....Rumors continue to circulate in Manhattan media circles that Howard Stern may be on his way out of Sirius Satellite radio and return back to terrestrial radio, as despite its temporary financial bailout by Liberty media, the long-term future of Sirius is muddled at best, given the economic climate, and Stern is known to be sensitive about his lack of traction in the traditional media landscape as subscriptions to satellite radio have decreased dramatically, due again, yes, to the worsening economy. **Another Congrats to my friend, CNN's LARRY KING, for being honored with 'R and R's'career Excellence Award, handed out at the Talk-Radio seminar in Marina Del Ray, CA.

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As more and more newspapers, and even magazines, are reportedly on the brink of disappearing, several noted news, sports, and political writers/columnists have abandoned their print work and headed straight to cable TV to find their wares as pundits and analysts. Among them, Chicago Sun-Times Jay Mariotti, who left the struggling paper last August and now appears regularly on ESPN's "Around the Horn". And Gloria Borger, a former editor/columnist for US 'News and World Report is now one of CNN's chief political analysts. Borger was also a regular on CBS' "Face the Nation". Howard Fineman is a senior political columnist at Newsweek, but is now appearing more prominently on MSNBC as their chief Washington observer/analyst

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CBS Sports will commence with it's NCAA "March Madness" as the 64-team tournament begins with coverage this Thursday through Sunday. Expect to hear a lot of terms like "the big dance", "bracketology", "#1 seed" and my worst, "dancing". Makes me yearn to hear the common sense of the late, great Al Maguire, teamed with Dick Enberg. This is CBS's 29Th straight year covering the NCAA tournament.

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KTVU-Channel 2 Update: In my laudatory comments of the great "10 o'Clock News" last week, I inadvertently omitted a few of the other very prominent contributors to the local Fox affiliates tremendous newscast, among them South bay reporter and 30-year vet, Lloyd LaCuesta, and longtime Channel 2 veteran and one of the best humorists in the biz that could give Andy Rooney a run for his money, Bob McKenzie, who's tenure at KTVU began back in 1976.

'Big Vinny's Bay Area Sunday; A's Rumors; Stephanie Miller is 'Sexy and Funny; 'Facebook Rules the World and More

SAN FRANCISCO

'03-15-'09 9: 26 AM PST

Greetings folks; another day, another dollar, speaking of which, is the dollar worth anything or is that a subject for another day? Good, I thought so.

It's raining here in "same-sex-marriage-ville". Mayor Gavin Newsom has unilaterally anointed a street name to ex-Mayor and occasional 'journalist Willie Brown, so he's definitely running for Governor.

The A's are ticked at Oakland for being, we'll, in Oakland. Lew Wolff, the 10% frontman who owns the team aired a bit of frustration on Friday and essentially screamed bloody murder at city leaders saying "I'm done with you", only problem for Lew is that the Oakland pols have decided to play a little 'hardball of their own. In today's SF Chronicle, (http://www.sfgate.com/matierandross) 'Matier and Ross report that Oakland's lobbying Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, (who lives in Oakland) and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, head of the Congressional Black caucus, and Oakland's powerful rep in Washington.

Also in the mix is SF Giants owner Bill Neukom and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. Neukom is hellbent about protecting his franchise rights, and any potential move by the A's to San Jose would infringe on those territorial rights.

That's where Selig comes in, but he's in a pickle. Selig is buddy-buddy with Wolff; in fact, he was Wolff's frat brother at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Selig would have to persuade three-fourths of other team owners to go along with the A's desire to possibly look at San Jose.

Selig has repeatedly asserted the Giants rights to all of Santa Clara County, but he also gave Wolff his blessing to talk to other cities once the A's Fremont deal collapsed.

What we have here, as a certain man once chortled, is a failure to communicate. Me thinks the whole 'schemer is that the A's, for the time being are going NOWHERE, caps intended. It's a different world we're in right now. The stock market has been up for a few days and the banks had a good week, but the foreclosures are in full throttle-mode and unemployment continues to rise. Tell me this is a good time to talk about millionaires complaining about the house where their millionaire baseball players play. You think a construction worker in Concord, with a wife and 2 kids, who hasn't worked in six months, gives a rat's behind about where the A's are "headed"?

The A's have been "moving" for the last thirty years according to almost everyone on the planet, including, in order, Denver, San Jose, Fremont, Sacramento, Portland, Las Vegas, and did I leave out Emeryville? Next to the Denny's? Wait, there's also Berkeley too, or is that where the farms are?

Seriously, as I told my buddy Artie Gigantino, who writes a media column at the SF Examiner, that the A's , I believe, are going to open the season in, uh, Oakland, at the Coliseum, where they've been playing for about 41 years, if my math's correct.

The A's made money last year in Oakland. A lot of money, what with a sweetheart stadium deal, luxury tax revenue from the Giants, of all people, and the Yankees. They also get a good chunk of TV money, mlb.com revenue, and so on and so on. Come to think of it, when's the last time any company that made a ton of coin complained about their crib? In THIS day and age?

Yes, the Oakland Coliseum is a crummy place. But last I checked, the grass is green, the lights are on, and the specialty dogs are damn good and tasty! And get this: those A's have Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi, and brother, can those boys hit!

See, as I pointed out recently, I think the A's are staying put for at least the next five years no matter what transpires; whether they put aside their hussy with Oakland and build a stadium right next to the existing Coliseum; whether Wolff and majority owner John Fisher scope the area near San Jose, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Beverly Hills, La Brea, wherever, whatever, I just have a hunch that the A's are pretty much 'stuck at 66th and Hegenberger for the time being, and whatever happens later, get back to us, and pray a little for the construction worker in Concord.

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Stephanie Miller Show: Have you heard her? Locally, here in the Bay Area, she rules at "GREEN 960 AM) Anyway, so Miller is A. hot, we'll sort of cute, and OK, so I'm a man, but we'll, she's hot; what am I supposed to say? But more importantly, Miller and her male comrade/sidekicks do this little radio show, based in LA that airs from 6 to 9 AM PST, and while you may not necessarily like her politics, (left) the show is must-hear radio, with a delicious mix of sound-effects that work, a staccato-like round of monologues from Miller that borders on brilliant and hilarious, whether your on the right, left, center, wherever--better yet, Stephanie Miller is, did I say it?, HOT, I mean, HOT! and better yet, she doesn't look or sound anything like that fat guy, Rush Limbaugh.

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FACEBOOK. After much plodding from my sister, I decided to become a "FBer", that's 'Facebook lingo for the five of you who are not on "Facebook", which took over the world a few days ago; I didn't know there was a coup, but it just sort of happened.

Go to http://www.facebook.com/ and you'll see what I mean, and better yet, you can be my "friend". I have lots of friends on Facebook, and by the way, "Mark is playing softball with the kids and Becky just ate the last slice of her vegan pizza", in case you were interested, and by golly, I just know you are.

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THIS JUST IN: A's are really pissed at Oakland and are quietly courting Fresno. My sources tell me, there's this really, really large portion of land just off....

SHOUT-OUTS: Phil Tagami, Ronn Owens, Art Spander, Andy Dolich, Larry King, John Russo, Don Perata, Frank Sommerville, Mark Ibanez, and Larry Shannon from http://www.radiodailynews.com/ , Frosene Phillips, Bill Mann, and all the gang at Another Planet Entertainment in Oakland.

It's "OAKLAND'S" A's Even if San Jose Has Ideas, But Reality And Facts Say Otherwise--How Oakland Keeps It's Baseball Squad

MARK PURDY is a sports writer for the San Jose Mercury News, and a fine one at that; Purdy's prose is one of the main reasons I read the Merc, and in spite of our profound disagreement on the future of the OAKLAND A's, I will still read Purdy's columns and posts on-line, even though he's dead wrong about where, when, and how the A's 'eventually find their safe haven in the South Bay.

Let's go over this conundrum piece by piece. The A's and part owner Lew Wolff, (Wolff owns about 10% of the team, give or take a few; the majority of the franchise is owned by GAP's John Fisher) have been unhappy with the ageing Oakland Coliseum, whom they share with the Oakland Raiders.

Wolff is essentially the front man for Fisher, who has remained pretty much in the background and doesn't do many interviews. The duo bought the A's in 2005 from previous owners Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman.

In the three-plus years of their ownership, the Athletics have had one winning season---2006, when they won the AL West, before being eliminated by the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. In the following years, 2007 and '08, the A's, with paltry rosters and a plague of injuries had back-to-back losing seasons. It didn't help matters that the personnel of the team was largely confined to the triple-A team, and it's only marquee player was often-injured Eric Chavez.

Back to Mr. Wolff. A prominent real estate developer in San Jose and LA, Wolff laid the groundwork for a proposal to build a new "ballpark village" just south of the existing Coliseum. The proposal would include a stadium, surrounded by a combination of housing and retail in the industrial area along the 66Th avenue corridor and beyond.

From the outset, it appeared the proposal was doomed from the start. Several businesses in area cried foul, as any new stadium/housing project, however promising and ambitious, was dubious at best because such venture would face a serious amount of litigation from residents, and lengthy eminent-domain proceedings given the fact that much of the proposal would require several buildings would have to be razed.

The ballpark/village project was quickly scrapped when it became apparent that both resident opposition and lukewarm support from Oakland political leaders like then-Mayor Jerry Brown and Council President Ignacio De LaFuente. In addition, some observers stated that Wolff's proposal was simply a way to make it appear that the franchise was looking to stay in Oakland, but in reality, had their sights on re-locating to either San Jose or, as it was revealed in late 2006, in Fremont, on a site just off Interstate 880.

After a series of "EIR reports", (environmental impact) site locations re-shifted due to infrastructure problems, and heavy, unanticipated resident opposition to the idea of a combination ballpark/housing project, the Fremont dream of "Cisco Field" evaporated. The A's spent nearly $29 million on the proposal only to see it go up in flames.

After the Fremont debacle, Wolff said there would be a month-long moratorium on any stadium talk. "The only baseball I want to talk about is in Arizona", he told the Chronicle's "Matier and Ross". That was in response to Oakland political leaders declaring publicly that they would seek a meeting with Wolff and again explore a way to keep the team in Oakland.

Late last week, new council President , Jane Brunner, sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, stating that the city desired MLB to look at ways to keeping the team in the Eastbay, and that San Jose would not be an option due to "territorial rights" owned by the SF Giants.

That letter drew the ire of the A's; Wolff was reportedly livid that Oakland, in his mind, was grandstanding. On Friday, the Athletics's and Wolff sent out a terse press release denouncing the city and Wolff himself saying in effect that the team wanted nothing to do with Oakland's plans for the future.

That set off a flurry of "what if's" and "we'll, are the A's headed to San Jose?" stories. KNBR's Gary Radnich was the first to proclaim that the A's "should really be in San Jose--in this area, 'that's where the action is". Radnich even joked that "we'll, I guess Mark Purdy is going to write another 'San Jose story". Local TV and radio stations, as if on 'auto-pilot' did the usual 'send-a-reporter' to local tavern in the south bay and ask fans if they'd like to see the A's come to San Jose. We'll, duh!

San Jose has long coveted the A's, but of course backed off when it appeared the A's and "Cisco Field" was a formality and would be ready in time for the 2012 season. As it became apparent that the A's "field-of-dreams" was doomed, the San Jose stories began appearing again and yes, Purdy was at it, including e-mailing me Wolff's press release and saying gleefully that the A's future in Oakland was about to end.

Really? Not so fast, Mark. Let's look at some non-debatable facts:

Now that Wolff's aired out publicly his distaste for Oakland, as a future home for his team, the question becomes, "OK, Lew, but now what?" Could he move the team? Sure, but where? San Jose. No sir. Portland? Get real. Sacramento? The same city that can't even keep it's beloved NBA's Kings, whose owners, the Maloof family want desperately out of the capitol that they've begun quietly looking at Anaheim, Las Vegas, and yes, even San Jose, although the Golden State Warriors may have a say in that development. Again, just where can Wolff go? It's not as easy as it sounds.

We do know one thing. The A's will open the season in April, in Oakland, like they have for the past 41 years. Whether or not they're thrilled about the idea of playing in what is admittedly, an aging stadium with a hideous monument in center field, known as "Mt. Davis", the Athletics will nonetheless take the field and play a 2009 season at the corner of 66Th ave. and Hegenberger road. And again in 2010. And probably again, in 2011 and 2012 too.

Why? Because, as much as Wolff and his legion of associates hate to acknowledge it, where else is there to go? Whatever leverage Wolff thinks he has is a mystery to many because, we'll, among other things, we're in a different world, literally and figuratively. There's Wolff's world and that may have San Jose in it, and then there's the rest of the world that is a part of the real world.

Let us do some 'splaining.

San Jose is indeed a booming city and has a pretty good hockey team that plays in a nice, spacious, gleaming arena called HP Pavilion. That's "Hewlett-Packard", the same company that recently proposed to its thousands of workers the idea of a work furlough as a possibility as opposed to "layoffs". Like virtually every other company in the country, HP is facing severe revenue reductions due to the deep recession the nation is in. And it's especially hit Silicon Valley, as thousands of dot.com companies have laid off workers and cut their operating budget dramatically.

San Jose has an area, near the arena, already designated for a new stadium and just last week, Mayor Chuck Reed and some overly-confidant city council people stated their desire that some baseball team, wink-wink, could conceivably play in their great city and that they'd tell MLB about it even.

In 2000, the SF Giants opened their new, waterfront ballpark. The Giants also maintained a "territorial-rights" document with MLB and Selig, mindful of the possibility that the A's, or any team for that matter, would consider the south bay/San Jose Silicon Valley for it's eventual home in an area with lots of land and cash, and great weather too.

The Giants have a massive, yearly, $20 million debt payment on AT&T Park and are concerned that any possible A's venture into San Jose would affect their corporate base, both advertising and season-ticket holders. Indeed, many of the Giants fans live in the peninsula and south bay area. A few bad seasons and conceivably any new A's ballpark would be filled with old Giants fans and maybe some advertisers with them. Not to mention the fact, that the Giants radio/TV/cable rights fees would be significantly reduced with a team in their backyard; we'll, actually 30 miles to the south, but the Giants are sensitive about that, as they should be, being that their special little splash pad-of-a-ballpark was privately financed and so, those little "territorial-rights" documents actually meant something and we will protect them to the fullest.

And if you dare try to challenge us on them, we'll see you in court along with our fellow MLB owners and the Commissioner, Bud Selig.

And that's just a few of the obstacles in the way of the "San Jose A's".

There's the story that the A's could simply pay the Giants a huge amount of cash, essentially buying their way into the region, with the backing of MLB, but the Giants have maintained that is not an option, and besides, no amount of cash would be even remotely enough to cover such things as rights fees, corporate accounts, and the like. In essence, the Giants have said to the A's, "look, we know you need a new place, and as long as that 'place is on the OTHER side of the bay, like, say, Fremont, or Walnut Creek, or Pleasanton, fine---the west bay, SF, the peninsula, and yes, SAN JOSE, is our territory, and you dare 'screw with our area, we'll see you in court".

That's a lot of potential litigation. And litigation takes time. And based on Lew Wolff's personal menu, time is rapidly running out. Even if the Giants were to somehow be bought off, there's several other issues that make the concept of the "San Jose A's" a pipe dream at best.

Like other cities, San Jose is facing budgetary issues. As more and more people become unemployed, the idea of a municipality even talking about the idea of a new stadium for a multi-million dollar sports company is an anathema to many local residents. Just ask Fremont.

And although the A's have stated they would privately finance any new stadium, inevitably, the cost of added infrastructure, like new access roads, traffic management, parking maintenance costs money. In San Jose, that's estimated at around $50-75 million alone. In this current economic environment, the idea of that cost factor alone coming from a city budget that's being slashed, would be met with severe local opposition. Just the other day on KCBS, an ad-hoc committee of several SJ residents told the reporter the group would challenge ANY idea of a new stadium in their city and one said Reed and council members faced voter retaliation, not to mention a lawsuit if they went further with any stadium talk.

Need one say any more? There's a reason why few new stadiums or arenas get built in California and that's just a few of them. It took the Giants years and years of litigation, behind-the-scenes negotiations, ballot proposals, politics, to build their new yard, and theirs was privately financed.

LA has been talking about a new football stadium for years, and last I checked, the only stadium in LA is the aging Coliseum and the 100 year-old Rose Bowl in Pasadena. You'd think in an area that has a ton of cash, they'd be able to build a stadium that the NFL would covet, but so far all the football speculation is pure talk. And apparently in LA, that's OK with the citizenry because no one cares.

So, back to the A's. Wolff and company have very few options. They could sell the team, but in this economy, who would buy? And where would they play? He could look at other sites, but again, where? and how much time would that take? Wolff is in his mid 70's, any by the time anything would or could happen, he'd be approaching his mid-80's. I don't think that's an option Wolff would like.

The last option is probably the worst, hold-your-nose, idea and on the face of it, would be met with a severe case of "aw, -hit, let's just build it in Oakland and get it over with!"

That would be known as the audacity of, get this, building a new stadium right smack dab next to the old one, where the land is available, and the area is near EXISTING infrastructure, like BART, mass transit, plenty of parking, and wait!, could be built in just under two years! Imagine that. In fact, I'd bet that an an enticement like in exchange for staying in Oakland and committing to a new 20-year lease, the city and county would give the land free to Wolff to build his new 40,000-seat palace.

This idea makes sense for a variety of reasons, not the least of which means, A. the A's get their new home and could have it ready in a realistic 2012 opening; the Raiders, who also want a new stadium, would then have the existing Coliseum to their own, and with, say, a $100 million spruce-up, as opposed to a $600-700 million stadium, (money they don't have and in this credit-crisis, banking environment, probably couldn't borrow) the Raiders could then have a relatively nice, newly football-only facility that would be the envy of a few teams, (oh, like maybe the SF 49Er's?) This makes way too much sense, but I'm just a dreamer.

Just imagine for a moment the ridiculous notion of a new "OAKLAND" A's stadium on a proven site with a beautiful view of the Oakland Hills, sitting directly next to a beautifully-spruced-up football stadium, where the "Black Hole" is a virtual paradise, and next to this newly-refurbished football-ONLY palace, is the still, beautifully gleaming "Oracle Arena", home to the Golden State Warriors? Just imagine. It would eclipse Kansas City's still unique "Arrowhead Stadium" and baseball's "Kaufman Stadium" as the only city that had stadia/arena right smack in the same area. Imagine.

Parking is a legitimate question, but theirs an answer to this, as the city and county have the auxiliary lots over the Nimitz freeway, and also the area of land where the Christmas trees lot and yearly carnival is held. Shuttle buses can be utilized, and BART could simply add more additional trains to handle the increased patronage; many fans, concert -goers take BART anyway because it beats the hassle of traffic and is perfectly located right across from the stadium(s) and Oracle arena.

This idea is the most logical and PRACTICAL. It isn't perfect, but who and what is? In an ideal world, the A's and then-Mayor Brown would have built a new, 35,000 seat stadium downtown, across from the Sears store, right next to the beautifully-restored Fox Theatre in an area that is suddenly the hippest, coolest area in Oakland, with loads and loads of brand-new restaurants and condos and lofts, but unfortunately, Jerry Brown doesn't like or understand sports, so we can dream about the "what if's and "damn, if he only knew", but that was then and this is now.

There's other sites too, like Jack London Square, but the land there is not dense and large enough according to a few developers, and the area near Laney College, just off 880, while visually delightful, would inevitably draw neighborhood opposition, and thus, more lengthy possible litigation, which again, takes more time.

The Coliseum site is a proven winner. Just go back to the days of the Haas ownership in the 80's and early 90's when 40,000 fans packed that stadium on a daily/nightly basis--it helped that ownership made it clear that the A's were going nowhere and that the only place they'd play was in OAKLAND. They also averaged 2.6 million fans, and in 1990, just under 3 million. It's amazing what happens when an organization tells its customers, "look, come out, enjoy the sun, have a hot dog, we're here to STAY". The rest, as they say, is history.

Mr. Wolff, you have a winning team here in OAKLAND this season. Everyone is talking about how exciting your team looks on paper. We're all stoked. Billy Beane has re-loaded the team with Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Nomar Garciaparra and Orlando Cabrera. The fans want to embrace this team; there's hope that these exciting new, young pitchers are looking like the "Big three", those ancient pitching wonders named Mulder, Hudson, and Zito.

Don't spoil the excitement. Don't cut your nose to spite your face. You have few options, but this one is not as bad as you would think. Best of all, it makes utter sense and it could be executed in a relative short amount of time. Just think, you'd be down there right near the dugout as the A's take the field as 40,000 fans scream their hearts out as "OUR" A's, the "Oakland A's" take the field.

To steal a slogan from a well-known company, Mr. Wolff, "Just do it".

RICH LIEBERMAN
'03-14-'09 10:42 AM PST

Friday French Fries; KNBR's Radnich Still King, But 'Where's The 'Beef?'; KCBS, KQED-FM Battle It Out And More

GARY RADNICH is an enigma; the minute you think he's beginning to approach that "mail it in" mode, the Bay Area's dominant media personality, who does a morning show at KNBR, (weekdays, 9-12) and is the Sports anchor at flailing KRON4, (KRON-TV) has you rolling in laughter as he tells listeners one of his famous Vegas stories.

Known for his hip, often "inside baseball" humor, at his best, Gary is very funny and quite knowledgeable of sports in general. Just the other day, when quizzed by sidekick Ray Woodson to name the other star player on Larry Bird's Indiana State 1979 team, drafted in the NBA, Radnich nailed it on the fly, (Carl Nicks)

Other days, lately, his shows have been remarkably bereft of the industry chit-chat, self-deprecating humor that Radnich is known for. For one thing, the show has been re-configured by someone at KNBR, who knows?, maybe Radnich himself, with a heavy emphasis on more interviews, and less callers; which is ok--one of Gary's biggest attributes is his interviewing technique, but then again, how many Bay Area sports fans are interested in listening to an obscure radio-sports guy in Buffalo about Terrell Owens? Yawn. And how many more times must we be inundated with Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News? I like Mark, but that's not the point.

Truth is Radnich is at his best if he's got someone like a Tony Kornheiser of Monday Night Football fame or even the Chronicle's esteemed sportswriter Bruce Jenkins. Both have a better "give-and-take" than the infinitely stale CAL coach, Mike Montgomery, who is a great coach, but is remarkably bland, even when he's being prepped by Radnich.

The best part of the show is the daily 30-minute schtickfest with Tony Bruno, but, as noted in an earlier post this week, even that segment has been losing steam with an over-abundant reliance on sound drops and Radnich/Bruno's infatuation with rap songs--I love Kanye West and R Kelly, but I don't need to hear their stuff every day. Just last week, when Bruno was trying to talk, the combination of one of 18 million sound drops at KNBR's studio, plus a caller's voice drowned out all of Bruno's talk; it didn't sound particularly good and destroyed what otherwise was a pretty good Bruno segment.

Another irritating factor is Radnich's over-use of fellow side-kicks, Patrick Conner, and sports/traffic anchor, Dan Dibley. It's YOUR show, Gary, therefore, ostensibly listeners are tuning in to hear you; the give and take with Conner and "Dibs" is ok, but again, not every five minutes. While part of the charm of the show is interaction between host and supporting cast, the 18-gazillion "thanks Patrick" or "that is great knowledge, Dan" sounds tedious and is not funny anymore.

And the incessant "Rich Cerruti's NBC 11" retorts, combined with the relentless, almost shameless plugs of "Joseph J Albanese", (a KNBR sponsor) has reached a point where some listeners are simply turning the dial. Just read the hoard of message boards on the Internet for proof.

Gary used to open his show with some deliciously funny, unpredictable story, usually, it had nothing to do with sports, (a frequent criticism among the anti-Radnich sect) but peppered with references to Larry King, ("did you see Cher last night on Larry's show) and Howard Stern, ("that guy is a 'damn genius) It's that type of obscure referencing that is Radnich's nadir. In other words, more monologue and less dialogue. Even Johnny Carson didn't rely on Ed every time his joke bombed; and that's when Johnny was most effective.

KNBR's Radnich still has enough energy left to somehow manage to put together a decent show every weekday, but he and KNBR need to be reminded that the show is suffering from a sort of creative malaise. Get back to the basics, guys.

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KCBS has been helped by the simulcast of KFRC-FM, (106.9) which has boosted their solid and superb 24/7 news operation, with additional FM enhancement, both from a technical and practical matter. The added sister-station has also helped in the ratings, where the Infinity-owned outlet solidly beat rival KGO in the morning-drive news, according to the January Arbitron's. In fact, KCBS is now in more of a competitive mode with KQED-FM, the local PBS affiliate that a local news show, with added content from PBS outlets from around the country.

CABLE Confrontation of the week: MSNBC Host Chris Matthews got into a contentious, often heated debate the other night with former Bush43 White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleisher. Matthews was inquiring, actually, "interrogating" would be a better word, Fleisher on the ex-Presidents war policy in Iraq, and the Bush administration's economic policies that resulted in the current recession. The interview became contentious four minutes into the segment, with Fleisher telling Matthews, "Chris, can you not interupt me so many times?" and Fleisher scolded Matthews on-air with a "How dare you Chris" when Matthews challenged him on how "9/11 was on Bush's watch, and how can you defend that?". I asked KGO's Ronn Owens, a good friend of Matthews, his reaction to the sixteen-minute interview. "Both in demeanor and substance, Ari chopped him up". Whoa!, didn't expect to hear that from Owens, who has had Matthews on his show in the past, but I couldn't agree more. Although Matthews arguments were fair, his frequent visual sighs, and yes, his constant interruptions were frankly way overboard. It's a fair question to MSNBC brass why they were so quick to recently extend Matthews $7 million a year salary--his Q rating has never been any lower, and he makes Keith Olbermann look like Mary Poppins in on-air etiquette.

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COMCAST Sports will produce a local talk show, "Chronicle Live", set to debut, April 6. It will concentrate on SF Giants/Oakland A's and MLB talk, with an assortment of sports-writers and media personalities in the area. The new show will be hosted by Oakland Raiders play-by-play man, Greg Papa, who also does Giants baseball and college basketball for Comcast.