This was told to me by a current KGO Radio staffer:
Shortly after buying KGO, Cumulus' honchos, the Dickey brothers rounded up a majority of the station's noted on-air talent including nearly all the talk hosts, reporters and producers.
It was a rally-the-troops gathering, or so they all thought.
Lou Dickey, in particular, looked weekend talkie, Bill Wattenburg, in the eye and said, (I'm paraphrasing), "Dr Wattenburg, I have listened to you almost every night since my Stanford days. I 'love your show! You're not going anywhere."
Wattenburg was one of the talk hosts fired last Thursday.
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More lies...wow....
ReplyDeleteWow! So this Dickey asshole is a Stanford guy? No wonder he axed Dr. Bill a Cal Golden Bear. Damn you Dickey, I am also a Golden Bear. This debacle just got kicked up a couple of notches. It's on like Donkey Kong!!!! (no I am not Chris Daly).
ReplyDeleteWhat, Management, lie?!?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.examiner.com/headlines-in-san-francisco/dr-bill-wattenburg-reacts-to-kgo-radio-format-change
ReplyDeletethe good doctor's take...he's not mad, he wants to get even
again...running the radio biz like a regular company (at one of my former employers, i experienced a total changeover of management, and we all were given the exact same pep talk...2 months later, the layoffs...errr...firings began, that company is now out of biz)
i wonder how long before cumulus goes belly up
Loyalty is almost a thing of the past. How sad.
ReplyDeleteNot at all surprising, as corporate big shots seem to think their positions entitle them to lie without consequences. In the 90's I worked for a great tech company in the valley that was purchased by a huge corp based on the East coast. They sent a team out to spend some time with us and one of the VPs stood in front of the assembled employees and told us they bought the company because they liked our culture, liked what we were doing, what we had to offer, and they weren't going to change a thing. Within ten days, 35% of our employees had been fired, including nearly all managers. They changed EVERYTHING. Happens somewhere every day.
ReplyDeleteDr. Bill ought to build a radio transmission jammer.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Bill is still gonna believe his 'corporations can do no wrong' mantra.
ReplyDeleteDr. Bill was my favorite KGO host. Yes, he could be an arrogant bastard sometimes, and he didn't suffer fools gladly, but there are very, very few people with his level of scientific knowledge and achievement, and none that I know of who had a radio show. He was able to see through the politics of science and shine a light on the actual facts at hand. Very refreshing. It was a great opportunity to educate yourself on Sunday nights. Too bad that's now lost.
ReplyDeleteIf indeed he was lied to, I pity the man who did the lying.
This news does not bode well for Copey. If the Dickey Bros. lied to the great Dr. Bill, it is only a matter of time before they throw the Disingenuous Black Man out on his ass. I wonder if Copey will then call his good friend Cosby for help!? Maybe the mild mannered Copey will decide to change his stance on reparations and go all militant on us!? Lol
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing Dr Bill elsewhere. There is nothing like his show out there. They should have syndicated him across the nation.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mr Dickey, I wish him the same degree of the success in the Bay Area PF Anschutz enjoyed at the SF Examiner.
So, I wonder what Dr. Wattenburg thinks of the "invisible" hand of the marketplace now?
ReplyDeleteWhen President Bush was still in the white house, I recall it was the good doctor who claimed market forces, not sitting presidents, create and / or lose jobs. However, when Obama became president, Ben would claim that "Obama needs to do this" or "Obama needs to do that" and "Obama isn't doing enough to create jobs."
Looks like that invisible "hand" just slapped the good doctor upside the head. Again, as I have posted before, I don't take any pleasure in people losing their jobs. But if anyone on the radio here in the bay area radio needed a good lesson in humility, it is Ben Wattenburg.
What's happened to radio? There's no room for creativity. It's all cookie-cutter. What a joke. Keep your crap. KQED and NPR here I come!
ReplyDeleteWow. This is not good.
ReplyDeleteWhat a disgracefull individual and a liar this Dickey guy must be.
I'm happy Wattenburg is outta there. He should have been given the boot ages ago.
ReplyDeleteWhat? He didn't call them bureaucratic bungholes and Eco freaks???
ReplyDeleteWow! Dr. Bill invented, like, everything, right? And he knows Clint Eastwood. Dirty Harry. Those Dickey boys better watch themselves cause a man's got to know his limitations!
I like the building a radio jammer idea.
Dr. Bill frequently irritated the snot out of me, but I'd at least listen to his show until I'd get my fill. I think he was especially great to younger callers and I really admired him for that -- even when I grew weary of his rants against the fat, lazy ass bureaucrats in Sacramento or D.C. Of course, I knew there was more than a grain of truth there.
ReplyDeleteKnew this was going to happen when Mickey Luckoff left. Even Brother Ray!! Late nights are going to suck with out Ray Talliferro...
ReplyDeleteI was at the meeting. In fairness, Dickey did say he used to listen to Dr. Bill from his dorm room in college, but said nothing about keeping Bill on staff.
ReplyDeleteWattenburg is a pompous, arrogant little prick.
ReplyDeleteI still remember him calling all the other shows after the Japan tsunami saying that the nuclear reactors were all "safe"
He is/was frequently wrong.
I, for one, will not miss him one bit.
Well in a sense Dr Bill isn't ging anywhere. He did his shows from his house in an undisclosed mountain location, and there he wil remain.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't live in Westwood full-time. But I bet he'll be here a lot more now.
ReplyDelete7:04pm You wouldn't have the balls to say that to his face, he'd slap you down like the little leftist turd you are. He is smarter than you'll be in ten life times.
ReplyDelete9:34.....take it like the man you claim to be.
ReplyDeleteI will not miss Dr. W's shilling for Feinstein and Harry Reid. And his telling us a thousand times how smart Obama is.
ReplyDelete9:34 (re: 7:04) - CALM DOWN
ReplyDeleteI am not a leftie but Dr. Bill certainly was a pompous ass who did NOT know it all.
10:09 - you must have listened to a different Dr W than I did.
I will not miss the smartest man -
Hey folks....enough already! KGO was unfortunately well overdue for a major overhaul.
ReplyDeleteOne was expected, but you don't blow up a venerable station and then turn it into something that will fail miserably (trying to compete against KCBS as a news-station!)
The problem is that there are very few good radio companies out there anymore. Infinity isn't terrible, but they're not great...Clear Channel is so-so, but Cumulus really should go back in the Minor Leagues where they belong!
The way Cumulus handled the KGO situation is indicative of the way they do business: keep a nice fat bottom line for the shareholders and ensure a nice big fat bonus for the front office folks. You do this by making major cost cutting moves at the stations.
That means: cut the very people who bring listeners into your orbit, who make the radio station what it is and what it has been. Cut them and replace them with what? a new all-news format?
Last week Cumulus held a long meeting (John Dickey kept everyone waiting for 45 minutes) and then he proceeded to lecture the employees before
the ones who got fired were frog marched out of the building, carrying their belongings in boxes.
Cumulus is a low-class operation.
The sad thing is...Lew Dickey's dad, who used to run the company, was actually somewhat interested in broadcasting. But his sons John and Lew are much more into making money, anyway they can.
The Dickheads really should have gone into high finance and made their bucks with the rest of the sharks on Wall Street. Who knows, they probably would have made Gorden Gecko Proud!
@11:00AM You weren't listening. You were fawning.
ReplyDeleteSo the CEO of Cumulus is actually a beneficiary of nepotism? Figures.
ReplyDeleteI for one, will not miss the arrogance of Dr. Bill. He is nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is.
ReplyDeleteYou got air-time on his show as long as you were prepared to lick his ass and worship his "superior intellect"
What a buffoon; thankfully he has stopped polluting the airwaves.
Why does bill whatshisburg so arrogant? He demeans callers just like putz & bricks. Same difference just no sports.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Dr. Bill can roll through Cumulus HQ with one of his bulldozers.
ReplyDeleteNo more companies with radio in their blood who ran some of the great stations like WJR in Detroit and WCCO in Minneapolis. Cox still owns WSB in Atlanta, but I don't know what they sound like these days. There are still some pedigree radio operators out there. But few and far between, and they tend to be family-run ops in smaller markets. JW
"Arrogance" When your as accomplished as the good Doctor you have a right to be arrogant. He's smarter than any of you. He doesn't need to do a talk show to make a living. He did it for fun. Get over your inferior selves. Crybaby, leftists.
ReplyDeleteRich, your MOLE in our building is highly inaccurate with their facts. First of all, LEW dickey was never in our building. It was John. And YES, he did in fact say he was a big fan and listener of Bill. But, he never said he was not going anywhere. He just simply stated he was a big fan of the show and loved listening to him. Again, not big Lew. Just one of John squared (Pinch) being the other.
ReplyDeleteRich I was in that room. John Dickey practically coo'd when he realized Bill Wattenburg was in attendance, and made a point of fawning over how he "grew up" listening to Dr. Bill. Of course, John Dickey wasn't in the room when they shitcanned the staff. Never is.
ReplyDeleteFor Christ sakes, don't feel sorry for Wattenburg,he is on this third wife,he is 75 years old, his wife is a young and crisp 47 and he is a loaded millionaire.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I was listening to the radio in the kitchen while my three-year-old son was taking a bath in the kitchen sink. He was engaged in a fast and furious play battle with a small plastic cheetah and a plesiosaur, when suddenly he shouted "ya damn liar!" * - and I knew at that moment that, yes, he *was* absorbing everything Dr. Bill Wattenburg was saying on the radio.
ReplyDelete*whether the cheetah to the plesiosaur or vice versa, I never knew.
For the few lefties here with no love for Dr. Bill, notice who had not one, but two radio gigs, at the drop of a hat?
ReplyDeleteAnd it was the station that trumpeted his intellect. He was usually topic focused.
I called him on ocassion, and floated science-related ideas that he either hadn't covered, or hadn't thought of. And whehn I asked him whether these ideas might work, he had the knowledge and know how to answer my questions. And in a low key way, he would give me (or us) credit for a good question or idea.
Yes, he liked a little respect, and considering his accomplishments and education, that makes sense. Likewise, he didn't like dancing with fools or those with political agendas.
right, after approval by the dickey brothers--fuck you too!
ReplyDeleteI LIVE IN HUNTINGTON BEACH AND ENJOY DR. BILL EVERY SAT AND SUN NIGHTS. SOME DECENT RADION STATION MUST HIRE HIM TO GO NATIONWIDE. HIS IDEAS AND DECENT NATURE NEED TO BE HEARD ALL OVER THIS COUNTY. I WISH ABC OR CBS WOULD LISTEN TO THE PUBLIC AND GET RID OF THESE LEFT LEANING COMMIES WHO ARE ON IN THE EVENINGS.
ReplyDeletemost of the listeners on KGO will move to the stations of their follwings
ReplyDeletehopefully there will be podcast where i can listen
The only reason I listened to KGO was DR. Bill. KGO become to lefwing years ago.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that people lost their job on KGO. But the on air personalities were getting too smug and too comfortable in their niche. It was the same crap over and over. The on air personalities were told by KGO management to "stir them up" by any means necessary, meaning say anything to get people to call and vent. Wattenberg was abusive to his audience and didn't even have to show up at the station. I called with an electrical problem and he didn't have a clue on how to solve it. Wattenberg railed against the EPA ordering gas stations to change their gasoline storage tanks because they leaked. He called on his audience to write the politicians and referred to his audience as "dumb asses" and "idiots"! Ray Taliaferro would say damn near anything and would often go off the air and play records for an hour or more. Can you believe that? Len Tillem was a great man but could be dismissive at times making callers hesitant in calling. I'm glad Wattenberg and Taliaferro are gone like I was happy Bernie Ward was finally fired.
ReplyDeleteHis political opinions are goofy as fuck but his science is pretty solid. Its hard to find a good science podcast on the air...
ReplyDeleteWatternberg was/is mostly a corporate shill and apologist for perpetual growth of the human population/economy. He berates anyone who points out that human needs aren't the center of the Universe, and that nature is worth preserving for its own sake, not just money-making aka pillaging.
ReplyDeleteAt least Wattenberg isn't a flat out global warming denier, though he speaks on the topic with typical right-wing sarcasm, as if physics is a "liberal" phenomenon and we have better things to worry about than the future of the climate we all depend on.