Jack Swanson is leaving 900 Front.
After some 30+ years as Operations Director and three ownership changes, KGO Radio Operations Director, Jack Swanson, bid a "Goodbye" in a staff-wide email this morning, as anticipated changes take place for the new Cumulus ownership of KGO & KSFO.
Also out: Longtime staffer, Craig Bowers at KGO who worked as staff announcer and in the production dept. ADD: KSFO and ex-KGO PD Ken Berry, and several support staff are also gone.
The scene at Grumpy's should be lovely later.
Stay tuned.
thank you PAM HALSE irreplaceable
ReplyDeleteThey should add Gene Burns name to that list.
ReplyDeleteAlso fired today....controller Marnie Tattersal, digital director Pam Hulse, her assistant Diane Rader, and Jonathon Chew from sales, plus a couple of others. Just got through talking with one of the on-air people at KGO and they seemed "cautiously optimstic" that there would not be any cuts to the news department, but my friend told me hes also not holding his breath!
ReplyDeletePaul Hosley is now in charge of not only news on KGO, but programming as well, as Cumulus, in typical fashion is firing people and then taking their jobs and adding them on other duties that still employed people already have, meaning that there will be some overworked, stressed out folks at KGO very soon!
We all saw this one coming though, after watching how Cumulus
eviserated KNBR. My friend told me that those who were fired today were called into a room and given their walking papers by a Cumulus henchman similar to the kind of character played by George Clooney in that recent movie: "Up in the Air." What a bunch of gutless bastards!
Typical though of the way the 'Dickheads' at Cumulus operate. This is just a plain BAD company. The bay area should be up in arms over the way they are going to slowly choke the life out of another local radio
institution.
Jack Swanson was always a blowhard. During the day, a ham sandwich could have been successful as program director. Ken Berry's release is troublesome. He started as a news producer and was committed and professional. A class act. I guess Taliafero is next out the door. Ronn should tell dick cum-ulus to take a flying fuck.
ReplyDeleteover on sunny 55 Hawthorne, the word is that The Bone/KNBR promotions director was shown the door today.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to that guy who did , now is that true?, with Owens on Friday nights? anybody know?
ReplyDelete"Swanson was a blowhard?" Humn he must have blow your ass out of there for good reason boy. You sound bitter.
ReplyDeleteBerry, has been doing exactly what at KSFO, changing Sussman's diapers?
***yawn***
ReplyDeleteWake me when fat boy fitz or any of those 680 hacks are whacked...
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I don't find pleasure in seeing other people get a pink slip (Even high salaried people). God knows, I've gotten my share of them over the years. But on the other hand, many of the local radio people I have personally met, both on-air and off, could come across as incredibly smug (and in some instances downright arrogant) when talking about themselves, their 'awesome' industry and other regions of the country "they could never work in or ever be a part of." It is good to see some of these people sweat (like the rest of us) when it comes to whether they'll have a job 6 months from now, where they will get the money to pay their bills, retire, etc. . . And all of this seemingly non-stop raving about how "the Bay Area (e.g. San Francisco) is the greatest city on the face of the earth an how could life exist elsewhere" (SEE RALPH BARBIERI, RONN OWENS) has worn thin with me. So, while I wish these people well, in all candor, I am not going to lose much sleep over their plight.
ReplyDeletePlease, please, please ,,,, fire Ray Taliafero. What a jackass he has become!!!
ReplyDeleteGood insight at 5:13pm.
ReplyDeleteInteresting goings-on at KGO.
Once a mighty and proud station.
I wonder how the right-wing zealots in our community will respond to the dickheads bidding Swanson (aka Morgan's man) adieu.
ReplyDeleteThis is the sadest day I have spent in a radio station EVER...and I have been through 7 sales. These are ALL some of the kindest and most professional folks I have ever had the honor of working with...By 11:30 am every person who I reported to was gone. My close friend and collegue opened my door and said...They just let me go. He gave me a hug and was escorted to his studio gathered a few things then came back to me to explain what still needed to be compleated and was escorted out. A true Pro, a good friend and a very talented guy that the should have kept. But as they say in the Mob...just before they tuck the 22 behind your ear...Nothing Personal, it's only business.
ReplyDeleteThey promised Wall Street they would cut $50 million dollars in the first 30 days...They got
Citadel on 9/15 today is 10/14.
Every time I heard Jack Swanson on air he sounded like a self-serving blowhard who loved hearing his own voice. As I recall Swanson was instrumental in getting the weatherman-turned-right-wing-fanatic Brian Sussman his gig as well as being the brain child of the nasal "we need to talk" buffoon. For those two reasons alone Swanson should have been given his walking papers LOOONG AGO.
ReplyDeleteAs I always say - Welcome to radio. the quote "Don't let the door hit you on the way out" doesn't pertain to radio. Radio is a revolving door! You WILL get hit more than once.
ReplyDeleteOuch. @ Anonymous, I think you're perhaps too hard on Jack; he had a subtle but empowering style and knew when to stay the hell out of the way and let the work happen. I respect him highly for that. You're right about Ken, and I can't be much bothered to care about Ray or Ronn, both have egos too big to fit in the front door. I like the phonetic spelling of the company name.
ReplyDeletePam Halse? Idiots!
ReplyDeleteMany of those names I never knew, and can only feel sympathy for anyone unemployed now.
Pam Halse? Imbeciles! She is terrific.
Jack Swanson? No comment.....heh, heh, heh...
Jim Eason (KGO and KSFO retired)
Being sold by Citadel to Cumulus only proves again that it IS possible to go from the frying pan into the fire.
ReplyDeleteKen Berry is a very talented manager having been both KGO News Director, KSFO Programming Direction and interim KGO Programming Director. He is a class act and was always easy to work for with his clear directions on what he wants and how we should do it.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see Jack go, however he is close at retirement age and has a lot of friends in this town. He should be able to do any projects he wants to stay in the game.
Saddest of all is the elimination of so much of our digital media staff. We've poured a lot of energy into that effort and were making great progress.
As to news, I believe the hope is that KGO's newsroom becomes the hub for all of cumulus' news offerings in the Bay Area. More work for us, but hopefully people will keep their jobs.
Don't expect Cumulus and the 'Dickhead Brothers' to show any mercy to anyone else at KGO. Look at what they did to the staff at KNBR. Turning that place into a joke and then putting the ultimate weasel, Lee Hammer in charge. Hammer made some brilliant moves, such as hiring amateurs like Kate Scott and Dan Dibbley as well as putting an addle brained Patrick Conner (aka 'P-Con') on the air, taking away any remaining shred of credibility that KNBR once had. Bob Agnew must have been laughing when he read accounts of how KNBR had fallen into the toilet over the last few years. But now Hammer is just a vestigal organ, kind of like a dick on a priest. He has no say and no power. He would have to ask permission from Bungerhole to tie his own shoelaces!
ReplyDeleteBut you really can't blame the jackals at Cumulus for ruining stations all over the country...they were given cartte blache by our wonderful congress. When they passed the communicatons act of 1996, they gave these companies the leeway to do whatever they wanted to. The Republicans are always saying: "Oh, if you deregulate things, business will get better!" For the CEOs, for the shareholders, YES! For the people who make these stations what they are and put in years of hard work and sweat and sacrifice,
NO! So all of you fools who continue to vote republican, take that into account when you complain about the lack of diversity in programming and personality on your local stations. Operations such as Cumulus have been allowed to basically take over and gut the radio business so that their fat-cat front office folks and shareholders are very happy, because they're making money, and they could care less about giving the public quality programming.
And some idiots still wonder why this country is going into the dumpster!
so KGO/KSFO PDs get fired. Does that mean Hammer gets promoted. Again?
ReplyDeleteIf these Dickey Bros were smart they would syndicate Dr Bill. He'd do well elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMany of the other hosts are far to parochial. Most people outside the Bay Area care about Karel or Owens' special interests. God forbid they had to make money like Leo Laporte does.
At the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame Luncheon, Ralph Barbieri outdid himself with a tasteless babbling acceptance speech. He bragged about shagging some woman when he worked in Hawaii and boasted how likes to piss people off. Some 20 minutes later he closed it out by assuring he had the Dickey bros in his back pocket for a new contract. As you mentioned I don't wish ill health on anyone but what a buffoon. Whatever spec of credibility I thought he had is totally gone now.
ReplyDeleteHe is a sorry excuse for a father to his son who we all know is growing up learning nothing about morals and ethics. I feel sorry for the kid. Ralph is pathetic. That is all...
What do you expect from Barbieri? The man is and always has been a sexist. That's why he had to rent one woman's womb, and buy another woman's eggs to have a kid. No self respecting woman would want to spend anytime near the douche-bag, let alone be in a relationship with him!
ReplyDeleteFor a "distinguished" career, Ralph's wikipedia page is very short on content. One highlight listed him to pleading to no contest to a third-offense drunk driving charge. I always thought it was five DUIs.
ReplyDeleteWhy The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame thought Ralph was worthy of induction is a head scratcher in itself.
ReplyDeleteGo bye KGO. The knuckle-heads at the helm don't even realize their piloting the Titanic towards an iceburg of their own creation. What a great example of corporate incompetence.
ReplyDeleteGod save us.