Bay Area radio is dead.It succumbed many moons ago but officially it passed away today. Funeral services are pending.
KGO is a certifiable joke, except for Ronn Owens and a few mutants. The "news" dept. long ago faded away in place of 14,000 traffic reporters. (Nice that "Dining Around" was going on while the Arizona shootings broke out. Great non-coverage. What else is new?)
KCBS, the all-news, 24/7 outlet will never remind one of 1010 WINS in NY. While I enjoy KCBS for its mostly first-rate coverage, the constant re-issue of stories, particularly on weekends is both tiresome and irksome. Thank God for Bob Melrose and Barbara Taylor.
KNBR, the most useless waste of 50,000 watts long ago passed away. What does it tell you about an alleged radio station that uses interns to do updates. And if KNBR didn't have the SF Giants? Well, you know the rest of the story.
KSFO: audio test-pattern. A shame too considering its legacy in Bay Area broadcasting. Nobody I know ever even mentions it, let alone listens.
KFRC: 24/7 Jesus. Next.
KTRB: Brain-dead with barely a pulse.
KFOG: Used to be a real relevant FM music outlet, but since Dave Morey departed, I don't listen. Sorry, "fog-heads."
KQED: Michael Krasny is too smart to be on radio. I listen and marvel that a Phillip Roth and Robert Redford will call into Krasny's "Forum", but after that and the mostly nauseating NPR drivel, I flip over to KCSM.
Speaking of KCSM, I still don't know how you do it but God bless you all. Sonny Buxton too.
107.7 "The Bone": Uh, THIS is why satellite radio exists and terrestrial radio is six feet under--take that, "ta-ta" boys.
K-101: You know how bad it is? I miss Jim Gabbert.
KALW: Yawn
KOIT: Elevator music not fit for even an elevator
KDFC: OK, love classical, but seriously, just a smidgen of human voices?
KBLX: Soulless without soul. Used to love it. Times change.
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Try listening in a smaller market. Portland, OR (DMA 23, I think) is mostly religion, talk and rock. The jazz and classical stations are OK only some of the time. This has forced me to discover internet radio and I love being able to hear WQXR, KCSM, KDFC, and many others in LA, Canada and BBC for added measure.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of dead-today's Radnich show is now deceased. If you really want to see an unhappy host, just watch Radnich-without a doubt told to by his GM-talk hockey. He is in sleepwalk mode as hockey is the subject of the day and he dreads days when he's made to stick to a format.
ReplyDeleteYou can make an old time bay arean talk hockey,but you cant make him like it.
Just more of KNBR being 24/7,an advertisement.
My $.02. I happen to think that KCBS, KQED, KDFC and KCSM are the last standing stations worth listening to. I used to love KKSF before CC went with the canned shows (Whoppi, Dave Koz Show, Ramsy Lewis show, etc) and then ultimately killed an entire genre of music (yeah I know it was "just" smooth jazz. Straight ahead jazz (KCSM) is academic, smooth jazz (KKSF, KJZY) is for when I just want background noise driving or whatever). I've long outgrown KMEL and NEVER listened to KYLD (another common CC antic of creating a "black" and "Latino, white, Asian" themed urban stations that "compete" against other). KBLX lost it's focus a long time ago. It used to be a nice mix of fusion jazz (Hiroshima, Jeff Lorber)/ some smooth jazz (George Howard, Walter Beasley) and smooth R&B *(Anita Baker, Sade)- now it tries to compete with KISS-FM (read: old folk music in the guise of "grown and sexy"... gag on my prune juice). Speaking of KISS, I'm not that old yet. KOIT is cool but it plays the same songs over and over again. K101 ? Are they still around ? KJZY in Sonoma County sounds like a stuffy classical (KDFC= not stuffy) station from another part of the country and they play way too much Sinatra ( how do you go from Brian McKnight to Sinatra anyway ?) Yeah... I have Pandora, Mog, my out of state radio stations (WVAS out of Alabama St. University for smooth jazz and R & B)stream from phone to car radio for my music. I only listen to terrestrial radio for KCBS, and like 5 minutes of KBLX and KCSM when I'm in the mood. Radio is dead indeed
ReplyDeleteKCSM is academic? This is the music I grew up with. It used to be popular music. No commericials, not nonsense small talk, no traffic reports, no news stories that are repeated four times an hour, and best of all, lots of jazz.
ReplyDeleteAs for how KCSM does it, they do it because their listeners fork over money a few times a year to keep it alive.
Ronn Owens "Watercooler" radio is a huge waste of time. Very little substance. Forget about the State of California, Jerry Brown is lower than whale poop and Jimmy Carter in his book. John Rothmann does ok depending on the topic.
ReplyDeleteRe: KGO. Gil Gross, Gene Burns, and John Rothmann are so much more intelligent, and more enjoyable to listen to, than Ronn Owens and his enormous ego.
ReplyDeleteI blame KGO's problems on management, not on-air personalities, for the most part.
Re: KCSM academic... I LOVE KCSM and straight ahead jazz. I was trying to contrast that with smooth jazz (which I also like- for different reasons). When I listen to jazz, I have to think (for the most part) about the rhythm, the personnel, time period, etc... I love it. Other music types... is just there for the most part. I'm not knocking KCSM at ALL. I'ma member (lower tier- but a member none-the-less). Hope that clears that up.
ReplyDeleteRichie L carrying on his anti knbr rant just because he is persona non grata to g raddy... knbr with a quality morning show and noon to 3 entertainment would be a bangin station.
ReplyDeletePlease...Please, Somebody, Anybody...Rich...
ReplyDeleteCan someone in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area get a Legitimate Jazz Radio Station back on the Air??? I miss KKSF!!! I have had to take to YouTube to hear some of my favorite Jazz Musicians...
Knbr is unlistenable; much prefer getting my sports fix on Ktrb. Kcsm plays great music but the pretentious patter is hard on the ears. I disagree with your take concerning Kalw; some interesting programming can be heard there.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to other markets, Dallas Fort Worth radio is still very much alive. Mark Davis of WBAP would mop the floor with anyone you mentioned above, especially Owens or Sussman. Lee Rodgers was intelligent but talked like an old man and started to really sound old...which is why I think they got rid of him. Brian sounds like he's reading from a script most of the time.
ReplyDeletehave been hearing chatter that KFOG is about to get hit with a BIG loss to the on-air staff.
ReplyDeleteBig Rick is out. That's official. Major loss and yet another dumb move to the station that blew the chance to keep Dave Morey on 10@10.
ReplyDelete...and KALW is a great station! Prefer it over KQED....
KKHI is by far the worst classical music station in the US. We deserve a lot better.
ReplyDeleteCenter Right Leaning Brotha: RE KCSM: My only point is that straight ahead jazz gets labeled as cerebral or whatever when it is just another form of music. There was a time when Sarah Vaughan, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, and Les McCann could be heard on the top forty radio stations. Jazz is structurally more complex music but it doesn't require any special skill or knowledge to appreciate. I sometimes listen in rapt attention, but I also play KCSM as just background music. at the office, in the car, at home.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how old you are but I hope you are young because my hope is that more younger people will embrace jazz so that it just doesn't die out. I donate to KCSM because for me it's the best thing on the radio.