I asked Silverman directly if he was fired by Owens.
"Yes, I met with Ronn and after the (Whitman-Brown debate) cancellation, he said, 'this is not going to work anymore'", said Silverman by phone.
Silverman was alluding to the Jerry Brown-Meg Whitman radio debate, scheduled to air on KGO last week that was abruptly canceled at the last minute. Insiders told me Owens was furious over the embarrassing matter and Silverman himself was overly distraught dealing with the affair.
Compounding matters was the sudden resignation of longtime KGO GM, Mickey Luckoff, on the very day of the Brown-Whitman axing. Needless to say, it has not been a very comfortable couple of weeks at KGO.
Silverman insists his firing by Owens was amicable and that he himself had urged the veteran morning host to move him away from the production side. It should be noted that Silverman will stay on at KGO and do part-time producing and some TV work.
Make no mistake this has been a tumultuous time at KGO and this latest development is ample proof of the direct fallout from the Luckoff resignation. As several radio people have told me, Silverman's situation could have been diffused by Luckoff himself, (and has been in the past I'm told)
Silverman worked with Owens the past seven years and was generally regarded as one of KGO's most solid and seasoned producers, working for the notoriously demanding Owens, who still commands top-five ratings status in the overalls, (6-plus.)
No word on the successor who will replace Silverman.
Not a good sign.
ReplyDeleteToo bad, that station used to be fun to listen to.
Whitman and Brown chickened out of the debate and Mark Silverman becomes the fall guy? I don’t understand how/why Owens justifies Silverman’s firing. Kgo is in a real crisis. Rich, do you know what kind of ratings David Lazarus and Marty Nemko get on weekends? Ever since the Karel fiasco I hardly ever listen on weekends, believe me I tried but those two are horrible, especially Nemko.
ReplyDeleteReally, Ronn needs to take a chill pill. Next thing you know, Ronn will blame his listeners for him doing a horrible show.
ReplyDeleteRe question above. Lazarus (whose shows I liked) is gone. Health stress from too many gigs.
ReplyDeleteDon't know whose fault it was, but the debate attempt struck me as amateurish and a bit of an ego trip on Ronn's part. When we're talking about the governorship of the nation's biggest state, you don't arrange debates by using your talk show to pressure the candidates on the air to come debate. The three televised debates involved weeks of behind-the-scenes planning and multi-institution sponsorship. KGO treated the matter like a station promotion. Not classy. But I still like Ronn's show.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't stand Lazarus, so his departure is good news. What was with his overuse the word "dude" to refer to his callers? As in: "Dude, I totally disagree with you". Very amateurish. His topics were always boring. Pat Thurston is very good. I hope she takes his spot.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I'm already so over Owens and his ego. At first, I thought he was simply being disingenuous in his stands of issues, taking a side against which callers could argue. But I've heard so much crap from him in the last couple of years that I'm about to make NPR my morning listening instead. And if KGO indeed goes in the KSFO dumper, I'm done, done, done.
ReplyDeleteKGO dug their own grave.
ReplyDeleteWow...really? Well i used to be a big fan of KGB..oops KGO . But lately since Mickey left...yawn fest. Those ridiculous bumpers they play during the news and the morning show..what top weenie thinks those are entertaining? I too have found myself drifting away. But in all honesty having a handful of companies controlling all the stations makes for terrible radio. Good job Citadel and friends, video has finally killed radio. Oh and you guys helped pave the way...
ReplyDeleteRonn Owen's ego is big and growing by the day. He needs an attitude adjustment in my opinion. His self righteous stance is so yesterday and a major turn off.
ReplyDelete