KCBS/KGO excell...KNBR's toy-dept. Morning Show morons give lip service to tragedy...KSFO's Sussman's ill-timed moment...TV coverage generally good...
**Shades of the '89 quake and Oakland Hills fire. It was eerily familiar in both visual and eyewitness accounts.
When the initial explosion took place in San Bruno, I was at a sports bar watching the football game and had a commitment to get to in the Eastbay, so I did not get to see any TV coverage. (And thus, had ten different e-mails with the KRON/Howard Stern-caller faker--sorry, that's just not funny anymore.)
I did get a healthy dose of radio, including KGO and KCBS. Both were very good and informative in the information and interview dept., including good one-on-ones with fire officials, people at the scene, and those victims who lost their homes.
KGO: Tidy, reliable and good info. Morning news anchor Jennifer Jones-Lee, in particular, almost nailed down a PG&E spokesman about reports circulating in the area of people calling PG&E earlier in the week, who smelled gas. Jones, to her credit, didn't back down when the guy tried to backtrack...
KCBS: Good. Holly Quan and Tim Ryan, excellent on-scene reports...John Evans once again in the overnight: just a spectacular anchor whose calm demeanor was welcome over the sporadic "shouting". Evans is quickly becoming the "go-to" voice in Bay Area news radio. Props also to Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh-Taylor.
KNBR: I made it a point to listen to the opening of the morning "Murph and Mac" show to hear how clown A and B would handle this: They outdid themselves. Actually, it was "Murph" who opened with an innocuous, twenty-second, (I counted) "we know what's going on--we try to take you away from these things", blah-blah-blah..." before foolishly, immediately, droning on to Giants hysteria. Even by the ridiculous KNBR "standards:, it was pathetic, out-of-touch, out-of-line and so, so amateurish, but Smurph and Crap are consistent. You get what you pay for.
KSFO: Brian Sussman made an ill-timed comment, (at the top of his monologue), to suggest the San Bruno explosion would now allow "left-wing" groups to argue environmental issues having to do with natural gas, or something like that. C'mon man, seriously...
TELEVISION: As indicated, only saw morning-after coverage and most was fairly solid. In a story like this, news helicopters are a good thing to have--in that dept, props to KGO/ABC7, NBC Bay Area and CBS5.
TRAFFIC: KGO Radio's Stan Burford provided steady, informed, and quite a needed load of levity, both Thursday night and this morning, advising motorists to use alternate routes near the area, especially those going to SFO, ("Stay on 101--avoid 280", asserted Burford.)
The PG&E Spokesman 'moment: On that same interview with KGO's Jones-Lee, Jeff Smith said unequivocally, "if we, (PG&E) are ultimately found to be responsible, (for the gas line leak, assuming that's the cause), we will be accountable." Most PR flacks in this situation would be cautious to the max, given the magnitude of the explosion--give Smith credit for at least trying to sound fairly reasonable. (They're not all a-holes)
OVERALL NOTES: Yeah, we all at first thought it was an airplane, (a mere two days away from 9/11...still, some residents gave eyewitness descriptions that they heard "airline-like" noises and a series of "booms"...tuned back to the idiot show on KNBR at 6 AM to see if someone had a grip: nope, the brain-dead duo with their other dopey-dopes MADE NO MENTION of the calamity...as I scribble this, death toll is now seven and climbing; over 50 houses destroyed...Spokesperson Smith was equally candid on KTVU's "Morning on 2"...In the "I can't believe this" dept., KTVU reported sporadic looting in the area...
DEVELOPING STORY....
As the story unfolds in San Bruno, we'll monitor and post periodically if the situation merits...
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isn't it unfortunate Dufus Murphy does not have any family in San Bruno. Otherwise his attitude would not be as such. Why anyone tunes on that pathetic pile of trailerpark trash is beyond me. Listening to Dan -didnot do any-Diddley?? Yup, that would get me to listen...yawn! Too bad i am not in radio otherwise i would make it job 1 that you would not ever hear about these ass clowns! And i would not be suprised that Pea Conn would have his own say. Why, would KNBR let go of Dan Sileo is beyond me....right now Joel A Spivak Speaking sounds much more right than Mac and
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Respectfully disagree with KGO's coverage as good at times it seemed like a soap opera with inane side comments by the anchors. KCBS was great- they were describing what it was- which was a trajedy of major proportions. Pains me to say this about KGO, as I go back to the Ira Blue era.
ReplyDeleteI think your assessment is pretty good. I liked KGO-TV and KTVU. Radio: KCBS better than KGO because they are more serious. I like that about KGO and KTVU too, more serious. I makes me upset that KNBR would not even mention the tragedy. The again I have never liked that morning show and I'm a sports fan. Radnich did a much better job at keeping it all in perspective.
ReplyDeleteEarly on in the event, KPIX had the best helicopter video. KGO was almost close 2nd. No one has mentioned that the explosion even registered as a small 1.3 earthquake.
ReplyDeleteKPIX coverage was superior to the other TV outlets except from an on scene 'videographer' or whatever they called him, a KPIX employee who continually said that the "smell from the burning jet fuel is strong". Ignoring the 'just the facts' part of reporting.
ReplyDeleteA guy with a British accent phoned in from the neighborhood with what was perhaps the best eyewitness account of the tragedy--also on KPIX.
Rich like you I was away from the TV when things took place. I was happy to see KGO using the internet to simulcast their news. As far as I could tell they were the only station to do this. Some of the Sacramento stations came on every hr but that was it. What made me frustrated was the fact KGO had a "retired firefighter" on the air via phone. He was makign statement that were totally untrue. Rather than have someonr than have osmeone listen to the scanner traffic online FOR FREE, and hear the CalFire AA say "Copter 106 is staying up as long as he feels safe." this "retired" FF said "well they won't fly copters and tankers on this fire becuase it will do no good. HELLO it's on TV we see these in the air making drops!?!?!??! The best source ended up being Radioreferrence and the live scanner traffic taking place, you could hear what was happening and what the requests were for. Within the first 10 mins of the incident CalFire had crews from SCU (Fire was in CZU) respnding code 3 (Santa Clara, Alameda, CoCo Counties). This story will obviously grow and there is a lot more to it. Sounds like they feel there is nobody missing so that's one blessing.
ReplyDeleteI did watch last night. All night. Every station. Dan Ashley, KCBS entire staff, Ken Bastida, Alan Martin--- all stars in last night's fire. I was so impressed in their ability to anchor for hours on end without scripts (tv people). KCBS radio coverage was awesome. I really think at times like this it brings out the best and worst in reporters and these few stand heads and shoulders above the rest of their colleagues in the bay area media pool. Also, the news photographer who had his own camera in the neighborhood and described in detail his story on ABC7 was excellent. No matter what station or how bad/good their night was, they all did great considering the circumstances with such an urgent and fluid situation. But seriously, KRON failed because they need a news chopper. I had no reason to watch a static "glow" above trees when every other station had a live shot. Also, the anchors kept telling me to "look at the flames!" You don't think I know that this is serious? Just my opinion. Jennifer from Alameda
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