The other night I was watching a newscast on one of the local channels and laughed out loud momentarily, (sorry, no "lols" allowed here) as a youngish reporter, finishing up her seg, referred to an accident scene near "Sutro mountain tower." Herb Caen must have gagged twice in his grave.
Of course, the correct phrasing would be "Mt. Sutro tower", but the bigger point was that the female reporter, (no need to mention name and station, because she and station are not the only one) had virtually no clue about this very distinct SF visual landmark. She's not alone. Her verbal gaffe was no different than a traffic reporter from Metro who called the approach to the GG Bridge "Doyle avenue" when everyone knows its called "Doyle drive"; that is, everyone but that traffic reporter.
All of this illustrates the big picture: the Bay Area, like many other markets in the country, is slowly losing its familiar core of anchors, reporters, and morning-show hosts and personalities. You can see it, hear it and yes, even read it.
Part of it is economics, the state of the nation, the growing trend of media looking to go lean and mean, and all of it adds up to a newer, younger and cheaper workforce that has virtually no identity in an area known for its rather provincial tastes, from restaurants to coffee pubs and yes, TV/radio too.
Local TV has become littered with a bunch of new faces. Cable too. Outside of Gary Radnich, Pam Moore, Vern Glenn, and a few others, KRON is chock full of many new faces, some of whom look as if they just got out of a college class.
NBC Bay Area has familiar talent like anchors Diane Dwyer, Jessica Aguirre, and Tom Sinkovitz, but the majority of its staff are out-of-towners that could very well be a team from Columbus, Ohio. That's not a knock on the local NBC affiliate, just an observation from a Bay Area media observer who remembers the days of Van Amburg at KGO, Channel 7.
Speaking of ABC7, its comforting in this environment, to report, somehow Don Sanchez, Wayne Freedman, Dan Noyes, and David Louie are still at the venerable ABC o and o. Don Sanchez? He's still there!! Yes, can't believe it, and to his credit, Sanchez can still do his thing after almost forty years at the Channel 7 outlet.
At KTVU, longtime reporters Rita Williams, Lloyd LaCuesta, Rob Roth and Randy Shandobil, as well as sports anchors Mark Ibanez and Joe Fonzi still hold court. Fred Inglis too. Is it any wonder why KTVU is the most-watched local TV station?
KPIX has Ken Bastida and Dana King; Bastida has been at the CBS outlet for well over a decade, but many people forget his many years at the old KFRC. Sports anchor Dennis O'Donnell is also a Bay Area veteran; before anchoring at PIX, O'Donnell served as a producer for nearly 20 years at the old KRON, (when KRON was actually a real TV station)
Just withing the past year and a half, the Bay Area has seen many of its noted media mainstays either retire or take buyouts from ownership. In May of 2008, Dennis Richmond retired from KTVU; Ross Macgowan departed last October, and early last week, Rosie Allen announced she was retiring from KGO Radio, although several media insiders, (including me) speculated that Allen took a hefty buyout offer and called it quits. Allen maintained that she wasn't "retiring", merely leaving the KGO afternoon news.
Get used to all of this rapidly changing personnel. Its not going to stand pat, and in fact, look for more changes in the coming months.
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