I miss the days of Evan White and Bob Jimenez. I miss the gallows humor of Mark Thompson.
I miss the late, great, Pete Wilson. Pete was a tough sob to work with, I'm told, but one helluva newsman.
I miss the intensity of Vic Lee, the creativity of Wayne Shannon, (OK, I'm in the minority there.) I miss the days of Belva Davis, Bob Ryan, Rita Shannon, and yes, even Sylvia Chase.
I miss the gumption of a Karl Sonkin live stand-up at a fire in the Mission. I miss Linda Yee getting in the face of a crooked pol at City Hall. I miss Rollin Post's astonishingly terrific political commentary.
I miss the old Gary Radnich dissing Pete Liebengood, (good-natured,) on "Sports Final" and lampooning Tom Nettles.
I miss the good-intentioned smugness of Jim Paymar, or going way back, the deliciously funny gossip of one fast, Eddie Alexander, ("good luck, everybody!")
I miss driving down Van Ness and passing by the large KRON building, near the venerable Tommy's Joynt, where legendary stories straight out of the Herb Caen notebook evolved.
Most of all, I miss the very good people who worked their butts off to churn out solid TV journalism that was first-rate and beyond network quality.
I miss the great reporters, the news editors, the "little people" behind the scenes that made KRON what it once was.
So, yes, excuse me if I occasionally think of what once WAS and is now.
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It WAS one of the best stations in the country! Too bad Belo didn't purchase it in the eighties when they explored that possibility. We have a Belo station in Portland (KGW) and it seems to be a network quality operation (I'm thinking that's a compliment!)
ReplyDeleteAnd,you notice Radnich is nowhere to be found in the "team" picture. His anti union stance must have kicked in about that time."Team" picture? sure,as long as he's paid extra to pose...
ReplyDeleteIn the early 1980s our best shooter covered a robbery in progress on Nob Hill. Got shots of the cops kicking in doors looking for the suspect. The resulting edited piece was cinema verite. After it aired I talked to the shooter and told him how impressed I was. Then I asked if the ND had said anything to him. No.
ReplyDeleteSo there it was. The puppy had got it square on the newspaper and there were no cheers.
You 100% right on Rich! This was a great station that is now a joke. The guys at work have it on in the morning so they can watch Darya and Louisa. All I see are hours and hours of repetitive news with Vicki Liviakis doing info-mercials inbetween. I feel sorry for Vicki. She's an anchor/reporter/photographer...not a low life info-mercial queen. I hope she can get out of there to a better place and soon!
ReplyDeleteWasn't Rollin Post at KPIX? I think I remember meeting him there when I was beating the drum for a political candidate in the '70s and the station was in a cramped little building on Van Ness.
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't know Mark Thompson was only 4 feet tall.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Mayor Art Finley and his sock puppet Ring-A-Ding. BTW My sister lives near Vancouver, WA. When I'm there for a visit, I try to watch KGW in Portland when I can, they are the best in that market.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the people working there NOW are hard working people, but they are limited by Young's inability to hire decent newsroom management, a decent GM and lack of payroll, i.e. everyone is doing 3 jobs at once. If KGO/KTVU/KPIX staff suddenly cut all photogs and video editors, they'd look like KRON too.
ReplyDeleteDoes Young even formally exist anymore? I thought the company was liquidating. Wishful thinking perhaps.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to blame Young's management for the trainwreck that KRON has become... and as a a former Young employee (though at a different station) I'll cheerfully pile on... but in my experience their management (with the exception of drinking the VJ kool aid at WKRN) was at least as good as you'd find in other station groups (and I've seen a few).
The main lesson I take from KRON is that "your network is not your partner." That should have been a wake up call to every affil in the country... the net will cheerfully stab you in the back without a second thought...
Never forget that as we speak they're working on cutting you out of the equation as they transition to IP delivery. But until then, they'd love it if you'd help promote their product with your ad inventory.