Giants most powerful franchise in Bay Area sports; Media notes; Thursday pulse

**No matter the fact its radio partner has lost a great deal of cachet, the Giants and KNBR hold considerable clout in Bay Area sports media.

More to the point, the Giants are the most powerful sports franchise in the Bay Area.

To wit:

The Giants possess a virtual audio territorial rights on KNBR's schedule, with priority over the 49ers and Warriors; no matter the standings, the Giants are first banana on 680 AM, while even the Niners have secondary status and in any broadcast conflict, are moved to KNBR's sister-station, 1050 AM.

The partnership has been good to both sides; KNBR has tailored its talk shows around the Giants, (keep in mind that KNBR/Cumulus own about 5% of the team)

**Last Friday during the first A's-Giants inter-league game in Oakland, NBC Bay Area's TV crew of Jon Miller, Mike Krukow and Ray Fosse were absolute first rate in all aspects; on-air chemistry, production, and some good-natured baseball chatter between Fosse and Krukow.

In contrast, while Comcast SportsNet Bay Area has an equally talented production crew and first-rate telecasts, Krukow/Duane Kuiper on Giants and Fosse/Glenn Kuiper on A's don't carry the show like Miller/Kruk and Fosse.

**Yeah, I heard it: the 9-Noon guy on 680 AM did his usual "I-love-sports-and the Giants and don't care if they play bad on the field" blather, (in addition to taking shots at Damon Bruce and XTRA's Chris Townsend)

What he didn't gauge had he bothered to read the Giants fans heated disgust on SFGate's Giants page and blogosphere was that his rah-rah act  was counter to about 97% of the fan base. His shtick is wearing thin, even among his peers.

**Ronn Owens update: Owens contract at KGO runs through 2013, so if he gets into the radio HOF in November, (he's nominated) unless I'm told wrong, he's not going to hang it up and disappear. Of course, nothing is 100% certain, but we'll see.

**A show with a healthy following: KQED's "Check Please"; good host, fun restaurant angles and reviews and lots of hungry viewers afterwards.

**That higher-up guy at the media gulch near Broadway/Battery/Front needs to check his ego at the door, according to a few tavern owners.

**Bay-to-Breakers loses major sponsor; may lose TV too: Promise? Seriously, this event has clearly lost its energy and charm, if it had any in the first place.

It was once just OK and mildly amusing; now, its just a mess and I'm not even mentioning the morons who drink about 20 corona's and urinate on the street. Yeah, please go away.

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