Yeah, maybe it was the 415 Media jinx indeed...KTVU's coverage of the Occupy-Oakland protests/clashes with Oakland Police had loads of problems Tuesday night.
First their "10 O'Clock News" gets delayed till 10:30p by the junk of Simon Cowle...then they go to a lengthy and well produced combo live/taped multi reporter piece on the mayhem at Ogawa Plaza. Then to top it off, the mikes go dead--no audio...not a peep...said an e-mailer to me: "it's now 10:43 pm and it's still silent as a tomb." Oh shit dept. indeed.
When the coverage did continue, multiple F-bombs littered the air and, also according to a reader, several middle-finger salutes and awkward reporter banter amid the chaos.
Well, you want colorful clashes and tear gas during live shots, you'll get it. It's the heartbeat of local TV news and you'll be seeing a lot more
*KGO Radio's Ronn Owens summarily trashed the Occupy Oakland protesters on his show Tuesday. Look, a lot of these people are well-intentioned and peaceful. Not all are bums and homeless. And while I'm against the idea of tents and open-flames in a public plaza, I think a majority of the protests have been relatively calm, (save for Tuesday night's rent-a-mob).
Owens did find the time to over-hype his mattress account, (of which he gets mucho moolah) and plug, (for the gazillionth time) his comped cruise trip in March. Maybe he can get one of the Oakland "bums" to read his mattress spot--he's asked everyone else.
*I'm well aware of the other anchors like Ken Wayne who do solo shows; I was referring to Wayne in particular because I think he's one of the best. Yes, I love Vicki Liviakis and Pam Moore, Gasia too, but Wayne is my favorite. (Although the ladies rule in other departments, rim-shot!)
*John Lund, you're starting to grow on me which is scary. (See, I occasionally listen to that station).
*Speaking of KTVU, ND, Ed Chapuis, I'm not trying to pile on--I'm merely writing what I hear from a lot of your peeps. If you want to respond, you know how to get a hold of me. In the meantime, hope everything else is OK.
*Comcast SportsNet Bay Area is supposedly freaking out at the prospect of no Warriors games due to the NBA lockout, thus, how to fill time? How about the idea of quality programming, that's a good start. Maybe one-on-one interview shows. What a concept. But apparently we're going to see a lot of "Classics" shows. Can't wait.
*No, I didn't watch the KRON coverage of the Occupy/Oakland clashes. Just can't stomach their reporters, plain and simple. Stanley Roberts and that's about it.
*Follow me on Twitter
CBS5 went more than 11 minutes last night with one reporter ...
ReplyDeleteI watched the KTVU 1030 last night and had audio all the way through (via Direct TV- no audio drop outs that I could remember- Just Jana Katsuyana about to cry from the tear gas cloud. Good shot of the tear gas approaching like the death plague scene in Heston's 10 Commandments though.
ReplyDeleteI actually listened to Ronn Owens for a bit yesterday. I have NEVER listened to Ronn Owens and haven't listened to KGO since Pete Wilson passed- save for a couple of times Copeland was subbing on Sunday mornings talking about his grandmother and insurance- anyway... Owens was the most balanced of the story mid morning yesterday. I was at work and wanted to hear discussion on the Occupy Oakland and started out at KPFA with Democracy Now and I found that to be way left of my liking, I then went to KSFO and Rush was rambling off all kinds of nonsense. I could have gone to Forum on KQED but didn't- I ended up on KGO and Owens was holding down court pretty well. H e took calls from supporters of Occupy and asked them common sense questions- of which they could not answer without resorting to odd manifesto type stuff. Owens stated more than once that he supported the original aims of occupy but that at this juncture, there was " no there there" (paraphrasing). He also supported their right to Free Speech but gently asked about the REST of the public who have the same right to enjoy the plaza. He tried to be reasonable in my opinion
It was a Comcast problem with KTVU last night. Anyone watching with antenna, satellite or online didn't have a problem.
ReplyDeleteThat mob in Oakland, smashing windows on CHP cars and throwing paint at cops, has nothing to do with the Occupy movement and it's objectives. And as long as the media highlights them, with reporters and cameras all over the place and helicopters hovering overhead, they won't go away. A lot more violence ahead, it's what the anarchist in the mob want. The Occupy movement would do well to disavow these clowns who are turning people against them.
ReplyDeleteWe are in a police state..you cant protest if you make trash? You need permits?..and arrests for pointing out the gap between the filthy rich and everybody else? They should be given awards for not burning down the city,something that would have been done in the 60's...and THAT made change.
ReplyDeleteWhy the fuck would anyone want to occupy Oakland?
ReplyDelete10:07, that's because one reporter is all they have. (rim shot!)
ReplyDelete95.7's Lund as I said before with Papa is a winner...KNBR is instantly turned off when that pair are at it. But Lund does a good job with Urban and others. The cracks at 95.7 are Teirney and Davis..they got an act that's old already. Tough guy Brandon defering to 49er apologist(even when they win,he's a Krukow) on every point..stand up for once man and say to Davis he's wrong-at least once a week?
ReplyDeleteThe Morning show is getting a bit weird...Dibbs is getting waaay out there and Kreidler isnt following. Although,the putdowns are funny-gotta admit that.
I did,in the car go to KNBR's morning show for a minute..terrible!..like soft porn sports. Whats the point? They blow Harbaugh all morning-in awe at how he draws on a blackboard!..true!
95.7 Has KNBR on the ropes..and like the A's seems to be happy to settle for mediocre. The knock out punches are being pulled.
We heard only short bursts of garbled audio for much of KTVU's 10:30 newscast, but then we put on the closed captions and they worked just fine. That's how we knew it must be a Comcast problem. We stayed with KTVU despite the audio because they had the best pictures.
ReplyDeleteFor a group that advocates recycling, they leave a LOT of refuse behind them.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing they recycle it seems are 1960's hippie rhetoric.
Rich: right on on Owens. Owens, the self described "centrist" is nothing but. It's pathetic to see him increasingly tilt rightward and parrot the Tea Party, as he did on today's program. It was hilarious to hear him try to portray himself as an ordinary guy, when his comp package runs north of seven figures.
ReplyDeleteRich, thank you for calling out Ronn Lowenstein. I wonder if "The Voice of Reason" realizes his arguments against Occupy sound exactly like those of the toppled strongmen against protesters during the Arab Spring. What is funny is I did not hear Lowenstein complain that the folks who toppled Ghadafi and Mubarack lacked proper permits for the town squares. Lowenstein would have made for a good strongman, thank God he is stuck selling matresses instead.
ReplyDelete@ 10:26AM...I thought that the problem with the audio might be due to Comcast....Ugh!
ReplyDeleteSaw a few minutes of KRON coverage and it was a total disaster. The footage looked terrible and pixelated, shots were uncoordinated and never synced up, audio was a mess and it seemed like nothing was working. A team of two monkeys with moderately decent smartphones could have done better.
ReplyDeleteSo, it was typical KRON!
i saw kron too at 11pm and their live reporter kept coughing and could not talk because of the tear gas. why do reporters try to be superman? tear gas is meant to incapacitate you! why bother staying around. go seek shelter in your news trucks with the windows CLOSED!!!! is any job worth dying for? certainly not a job at kron, lol!
ReplyDeleteI for one wouldn't mind several classic Giants games taking up those Warriors timeslots. It would be especially cool if their definition of "classic" went beyond just the past couple of years.
ReplyDelete"Why the fuck would anyone want to occupy Oakland?"
ReplyDeleteThe quote of the day!! Thanks for the laugh. :)
Of course Owens does a lot of mattress commercials. Where else is he stuffing his money? BA-DA-BING!!!!
I like Lund too. Energetic and likable. Him and Papa are great. The others are still good even when Urban seems to have a chip on his shoulder.
I'm still giving Tierney and Davis a chance but I turn the radio on hours later and the two are still hashing it out about the same subject. It is great they are doing some REAL sports talk but, at this rate, these two are going to burn out and get sick of each other after another month. Maybe breaking up the routine with more guests, listener calls, or something different to break up the back and forth might help.
Townie isn't bad either. He did a bold move with a topic last night about what Obama should change with pro sports, meant to be lighthearted with the Pres in town, while steering away for the politico back and forth bashing. At least the radio did. The Facebook page did go to hell quick.
I've still gone cold turkey with KNBR since the Giants season ended, Marty Lurie went into hibernation for the winter, and Gary's little coward vacation stunt with D-Bruce.
No Warriors is an excuse to do more time on that demographic driven sport of Hockey-the sport 88.9% of bay area sports fans have NO interest in,but Comcast covers like its a religion since those who like it are Danville- Silicon valley types who have disposable income.
ReplyDeleteComcast isnt sly in who hockey appeals too..and the excess time it gets on air is proof.
MORE OF THEY DO READ THIS BLOG:
ReplyDeleteKreidler and Dibs went out of their way to say that "Some missunderstand" the two,and that they are really buddys.
Sure,I heard that before. Then Dibs left his close friend and later via Monty called him a tyrant.
Or,that D.Bruce and Raddy are good friends..then D.Bruce says Raddy whines like a little girl-funny,but I did post that Radnich lately had been acting almost girly cute here on 415..Bruce confirms that-lol.
So my point is...Kriedler and Dibs tolerate each other. Buddys?..we'll see.
The audio problems at KTVU our outside of our control and have been driving us nuts. The engineers at Comcast can't seem to figure out the problem. It's pretty damn horrible in the newsroom when we watch the monitors at our desks go dark! That said my coworkers have been doing some amazing journalism in covering the protests. Whether its the reporters in the field getting tear gassed or the camera folks getting the vid of the canister tossed by the cops at the demonstrators trying to get the injured Iraq vet out of the way, some damn fine work has been done, despite special Ed.
ReplyDeleteMR.INAPPROPIATE: DAVE BENZ.
ReplyDeleteOn Comcast-"What costumes are you going to wear?" he asked Kawakami and Ostler..they mumbled something ...then Benz asks "Anybody going to be Al Davis?". YEAH Dave!-funeee..the uncomfortable feeling took over all.
Idiot.