You're "new" 810 AM folks who want to be taken seriously, and now this...
Most of you are already aware of the 10 minutes of local news that KGO has been doing at the top of many of its news hours. That caused them to do ABC News at :15 and :45 after instead of the top and bottom of each hour.
But these ABC newscasts are Not live…they’re tape delayed 15 minutes to fit the new clock. You may have known that already…but on the chance that you didn’t.
I'm beginning to wonder if they're doing this shit on purpose. Maybe the further they phuck up, they can plead mercy to the broadcast police and surrender. That would be the best news, but don't count on it.
And I'm being accused of piling on? Really now. Maybe Karel figures, if they can do it, so can I.
Unbelievable, even by Cumulus standards.
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I have also noticed what they've done to the ABC news which used to be at the top of the hour and on the half hours. It makes no sense to have this news be late especially when they say they are an all news station. I like the ABC news and so do a lot of people. I have no idea why KGO is doing this, but I'm assuming they have an ulterior motive. The result, I believe, for now, is that people switch to CBS news or even CNN on KSCO. I'm sure that more of these lame moves will continue and we'll eventually know of their grand plan.
ReplyDeleteThat's the stupidest thing I've seen you write since this whole pathetic soap opera began a month ago. OF COURSE they're pre-recording the ABC network hourlies! Do you think that ABC would feed a whole separate newscast, just for KGO, at :15 and :45 after each hour? (And in fact it's more like :17 and :47, because they do "traffic on the 5's", and they can't air traffic and the newscast simultaneously. Oh wait, these guys could try.)
ReplyDeleteAnyone who hears an hourly at :17 after and thinks it's live just isn't paying attention. But in reality, the news itself is unlikely to have changed all that much in 17 minutes. And if you want real news, KCBS and KQED are just up the dial.
"grand plan?"
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened for a month, but reading about all the crazy things they are doing, I simply have to conclude they are all drunk.
seriously.
Whenever I've heard the ABC news, it isn't even on :15 and :45. More like :13 or :17 or :48 because of course there's traffic on the 5's. Weirder still. An all news station that doesn't even broadcast national news. 10 minutes of local news at the top of the hour, like there's really that much local news to report on any given day. And most of those stories are about a fire, a death somewhere, an accident, a celebrity marriage/divorce -- not real news that makes any difference in the average listener's life. So this new all news station is actually shielding us from national and world news and giving us local nonsense.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the ABC news that they do run is never much more than one or two stories, so it doesn't even seem to be the whole top-of-the-hour segment. The people at ABC are actually news people/journalists. The kgo folks are mostly news readers. Also, I heard Ronn joking with one of his guests that there's hardly time to use the bathroom between hours because there's only 3 minutes of local news and then right back to Ronn. It's going to be a LONG year for Ronn. What a way to wind up a career at kgo.
Top the hour news is over-rated. Mostly gay marriage and gays in the military stuff, Obama propaganda du jour or fake Michael Jackson headlines.
ReplyDeleteI'd drop it altogether and break-in when a story breaks.
Wondering if Cumulus "grand plan" is some version of a short sale. The only way their running KGO's value into the ground makes sense is if they are making a bigger, simultaneous bet on non-terrestrial radio? Would love to know the true endgame....
ReplyDeleteIt's an old radio trick, that's all. ABC News Radio "used" to be four networks - Contemporary news "five minutes sooner" at :55, ABC Information on the hour (the one KGO uses today and forever,) ABC FM at :15 past the hour and ABC Entertainment News on the half hour.
ReplyDeleteThe networks were "separated" from the main ABC Radio news in the late 60s and now, with satellites and all, they run "short form" news at :55 and it is replayed on the hour -- or, as in KGO's case, at :17 and :47.
It's a way to give CBS a run for it's money (not!) so that if people are listening to CBS News on-the-hour, some five-year-old is getting murdered in Oakland and, in theory, KGO will provide "breaking" local snooze on the hour to "counter program" KCBS, which is stuck in national news mode at that time.
Back in the day, KFRC and the stations of RKO Radio, ran in it's Top 40 days, "20/20 News". It was fast-paced, in your face, "if it bleeds - it leads" news at :20 after and :20 before during prime times in the morning and afternoon.
The rest of the hours, it was "20/20 Weather." So, you always got some kind of information at "20 after and 20 before the hour." Oh, and as a kicker, "...at the airport, operations normal!"
The second quarter hour is not as important as the first quarter hour, so, to allow KFRC and scores of other stations to say "And the hits just keep on comin'" while the competition was playing "news" -- the music stations would play the tunes.
Also, adults are still more attuned to hearing "News FIRST" on the hour. They are creatures of habit. So, hearing the CBS Chime on the hour means "Holy crap! It's NOOOOOZE TIME!" When you knew that the late Paul Harvey came on at 8:25, you'd know that "local" news was next on the half hour.
Clever group, we programmer types.
If there is, say, a huge earthquake, invasion, alien landing, etc., do you have to wait until :17 after to hear the news on KGO? No, they (and all other ABC stations,) have what's called "Channel 51" -- which is long-form anchored coverage that immediately takes care of breaking news. CBS has the same thing, but also a box called "NetAlert" which gives stations the option to go for the bulletin immediately on it's main news channel or go with a long-form feed. There's even a channel for ABC Radio that offers "non-anchored raw coverage" like political speeches and all those wonderful "programs" that are running every two hours or so for their end of year programming.
When KGO really effs it up, listen after the news and the last :30 second spot they play (sometimes), and in :30 seconds, you'll hear "ABC NewsCall #xxx" which plays back the audio cuts from the last newscast.
"We're in touch ... so you stay in touch" with ABC News -- even if we ARE a few minutes late."
There's the lesson of the weekend, ladies and gentlemen. You can be a hit at cocktails parties while listening to Karel with this kind of s*it. Maybe you'll score knowing this kind of crap.
Oh, and keep this in mind: Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Cumulus Media Networks, newscasts on the hour to its more than 2,000 affiliates. ABC News Radio is the largest commercial radio news organization in the US.
Ta-ta for now!
The end game is NOT "Live & Local." As reported this past week, the Dickey's "grand plan" is to centralize and regionalize their programming.
ReplyDeleteThey have a mass of unused and equipped studios in Washington, DC that Lew and John Dickey want to use to distribute lots and lots of syndicated programming. They have a big media center in Dallas for distributing both long and short-form music programming. The Dickeys want to do the same in Washington for news & talk stations - just like FOX News Radio and ESPN do.
That's why you may hear the name Geraldo Rivera coming to a radio station near you shortly. (Jan. 3 on WABC, New York and Jan. 30 on KABC, LA -- both owned by Cumulus and the show will be distributed and syndicated by Cumulus. The time: 10 to Noon, Mon-Fri and may be delayed on many stations. You watch ... you heard it hear first. KSFO and KGO will be loaded with syndicated fare. It's cheap, after all.
Will Leo LaPorte show up on 910 or 960? Possible because his show is owned by Premier Networks / Clear Channel and there is a migration from KSFO/KGO to KKSF and KNEW underway. Leo's flagship station is KFI in LA though he does the show from SF. It won't be on KGO no mo'. Yet, they kept Karel. Go figure.
@1:04pm--I saw Lew Dickey's chilling interview on Bloomberg 12/5 where he discussed the SweetJack tie-up with Clear Channel and said how radio industry is still fragmented. But seems like Cumulus has already missed out on biggest syndicated hosts in this market, with Rush and Beck on 910 and 960 starting next week. Will Geraldo be enough? Don't they need some A-listers for that strategy to work?
ReplyDeleteGeraldo will not save any station on the planet.....
ReplyDeleteDon't forget ... a new dual host "Red Eye Radio" is coming to KGO starting Tuesday, or is it? Will "Coast to Coast" remain on 560 KSFO. Will there be 4 mandatory SweetJack spots in every hour around the clock?
ReplyDeleteWill Jennifer Jones Lee up the giggle fits more and more in 2012?
Will Gregg Jarrett return to KGO after being beached at WGN? Doubtful.
Will Ronn Owens get a new mattress from SleepTrain? Will he take off Monday to start the New Year and take all open phones with no Jared screening? Doubtful.
Will "Up to 30" return. Probably not yet.
Will Kim Foster get a grip on the KGO Noon Nooze?
Damn, I don't even remember who's on after 2 p.m. so it must be irrelevant.
Will the KGO Afternoon Noooze remain a duo in 2012. Flip a coin.
Will Peter Finch make it off life support after 7 p.m. in the New Year? (Doubtful, but it is Cumulus, remember.)
Will there not be oodles of dead air between stories from 7-Midnight?
One thing to know -- WE the sheeple of the KGO at it's best will survive.
And so long to Officer Vice at KSFO and good luck with Sussman's new rage starting Tuesday on 560. See ya Rush!
And most of all -- THE VERY BEST to Len Tillem and Gene Burns at the "New NewsTalk 910 -- KKSF starting Tuesday.
John Rothman and Ray T -- we're thinking a lot of you.
Hang in there part time talk show hosts! We're glad you still have a voice.
No, Geraldo will not be enough. Look for him on KSFO shortly and Sussman to expand an hour to 10. (Just speculatin') followed by Geraldo 10-Noon.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
No. They just need to make money. They have no regard for listeners. They've proven that in market after market.
ReplyDeleteFolks around the Bay Area and the country for that matter, have to 'wake up and smell the coffee' when it comes to Cumulus and the Dickeys. They are NOT interested in giving Northern California any more than cursory local programming. They are ONLY interested in making money.
ReplyDeleteIf they could, the Dickeys would certainly fire even more people (and they still may do so...don't be surprised!) to save a few precious pennies.
Cumulus is just one of several companies that have basically helped destroy small and mid market radio over the last 15 years. How did they do this?
They did it by downsizing staffs and having one or two or perhaps sometimes as many as four announcers take care of a 'cluster' of five or six of Cumulus' stations in places such as Bangor Maine, Eureka, California, or Tulsa, Oklahoma, instead of allowing each station to continue to have at least a small staff each to help serve the local communities.
With local programming truncated, 'downsized' and virtually non-existent in some smaller markets, opportunities for small and mid market broadcasters to learn their craft and then matriculate upward to the major cities also pretty much vanished.
This is why you see very few 'professional' announcers being trained in the 'Minor League'
small and mid-sized markets anymore. It used to be that back in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and even the early 1990s, if you were an aspiring broadcaster and wanted to get some experience, you could go to someplace like Fresno, or Bakersfield, or Redding to get an opportunity to cut your broadcasting teeth.
But companies such as Cumulus, Clear Channel, Infinity, and Entercom were allowed by the Communications Act that was passed into law in 1996, to buy as many stations as they wanted per market, downsize the on-air staffs, and thus
pretty much decimate local community programming.
This also allowed bloviating loudmouths such as Russ Limbaugh to make multi-million dollar salaries, because he and his 'ilk' were now on put on the air on the smaller stations in place of any local programming which might have been addressing local issues and local concerns.
That's why I have to laugh when I hear these right win Republicans complaining about "too much government" in our lives.
I guess they haven't been paying attention that it was lack of oversight and deregulation that has led us to have not only a poorer and less
locally involved radio industry, but Wall Street, as well as the banking industry that wildly speculated and plundered and got away with it. Middle class Americans are still paying the price. And radio listeners everywhere are
consciously or unknowingly (those who aren't paying attention) paying the price as well, by getting less important information, news, and community service from their local radio stations.
Seems as if many of us still haven't learned the bitter lessons of the past when we
danced our way during the Jazz Age of the 1920s into a crippling depression. It astounds me that Republicans and conservatives have the temerity to suggest that it is government that is the root of our problems today. No my friends, it's
crass capitalism practiced by some un-American 'criminals' on Wall Street, in the banking industry, and yes, even in the broadcasting industry that have helped bring this country to its knees.
Hey, 12:21--
ReplyDeleteObama propaganda? Better THAT, than the RepubliKKKan bullshiite on Faux News.
I'm still waiting for Faux to mention Newt abandoning his cancer-stricken wife. Or his three marriages.
Stick KGO up your ass and report on anything OTHER then the station old people like. OVERKILL. I used to love this blog. First time in 9 days. Rich, stick with the shit at KNBR. Shit sells.
ReplyDelete-Any reader
@12:07 I'm with you..haven't been listening, but missing KGO like crazy. I am in their demo group, but they just dont f*&king care.
ReplyDeleteIf I was an advertiser on KGO I would bail. Who wants to advertise on a station which presents old and stale shit to an audience. I would be looking to advertise on a station that presents new, fresh and live content.
ReplyDeletepoor poor 9:50 ..so distressed about old people...poor dear ..may she never have to be an "older" person. little clue:"older" people in the world are the ones who generally run things and have the most money.
ReplyDeleteI applaud Cumulus and I am not a plant. They gave P-con a chance and he is killing it on his own show. Also, I really like Spencer Hughes, pretty easy to listen to and I am not even a kgo fan. KGo news seems more interesting than KCBS.
ReplyDelete"I am not a plant" 10:37 AM. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" Yeah, sure.
ReplyDeleteNot defending KGO but how is delaying net news :15 any worse than the tv networks delaying their west coast feeds by 2-3 hours? The evening news is fed at 3:30 Pacific daily with the 4P Pacific feed a repeat with any repairs that need to be done.
ReplyDelete1:50
ReplyDeleteEasy answer. KGO being LOCAL doesn't HAVE go delay the ABC News whatsoever, other than it's desire to counter KCBS. TV production is a lot more complex and when you feed a whole bunch of 200 affiliates ... some with national newscasts at 5:30, 6:00 or 6:30 from New York -- to keep things synched to LA. It is then updated if needed from there and refed in this time zone from LA, with the update feed if needed live. If it is a live update from New York, that would come at 8:30 or 9:00 Eastern which is infrequently done except for breaking news. It's a "time zone thing" that's all.
Anonymous said... I applaud Cumulus and I am not a plant. They gave P-con a chance and he is killing it on his own show. Also, I really like Spencer Hughes, pretty easy to listen to and I am not even a kgo fan. KGo news seems more interesting than KCBS. January 1, 2012 10:37 AM
ReplyDelete---You cannot be serious? Patrick Connors lives in the tenderloin, has no DL or just got his drivers license, cannot make a reference to anything without including double entendres about his personal - cigarette smoking - abusive drinking or lack of sex life. Gloated over Auburn in 2010 and can't even bring up Roll Tide to save his life in 2011. Talked about a big steaming piece of crap the other day, classy word picture Mr Hammer. Who calls himself PConn any way.
Requirements did not include NOT having a voice for Radio. His delivery makes Ralph Barbieri sound like Mel Torme.
PConn? Seriously.