After listening to KGO (and others) for coverage both through audio and video of the craziness this weekend in Oakland, I was thinking, that maybe, I think too much.
But then, I rewound the weekend and after listening to Ronn Owens Monday morning and countless promos about KGO's new star reporter, Kristan Hanes, lay it all out there for us from points all over Oakland for her bosses at KGO and ABC Radio -- as well as being the unfortunate on-the-spot reporter for "The Karel Show" -- I've thought about my earlier thoughts.
Mel Baker was right. It wasn't Haines fault she got trapped with her friend from the Chronicle and one would think had her rights stripped and shackled while "trying to do her job." No, it wasn't her fault for being there or what happened in Oakland that caught her in an "Occupy" trap. It was the propagandists at KGO Whatever-It-Is 810 that made their reporter "the story." Something that J-School 101 teaches a reporter never to be -- part of. "The story." She found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Was I too hard on the likes of Kristan and Mel Baker doing the job they did for the once mighty but demographically challenged ratings slum- slumping KGO 810? After hearing Karel sincerely askingSunday night "Am I an abomination?" (not once, but twice, followed by his hideous hack cackling) I thought and thought some more. Yes, he is an abomination and, more so, it's a shame that Tim "Monty" Montemayor had the savvy to interview the Police Chief and an Occupier or two on late-night SUNDAY at a time no one is listening, but Karel was being his own abonimational self and was once more doing three hours of "me, me, me."
Nah. I was right. Christine Craft and Stacy Taylor were the beacons of light on KGO this weekend in the aftermath of a wild day and night in Raider-town. Reporter Hanes, tie-wrapped by the wrists from an over-achieving Oakland Police Dept. too busy to answer Karel's calls while on air (as well as hundreds of others, apparently -- but Karel's silliness made it only less palatable to see and hear, when he was interrupting people who may have needed real help.)
The weekend was, in many ways, KGO's worst hour, shot down in flames by its weakest link - Karel Bouley - who was told through his producer, Brian, on the webcast and open audio (but not on the air) to "...not interrupt the guest or cut her off." The words relayed through news director Paul Hosely who had a hell of a day managing his troops and getting the news out there to a waiting audience of 2.8% of the Bay Area listening audience. Karel paid no mind. Proof that news happens 24 hours a day everyday -- even on Karel's show, where it is laughed to pieces or horrendously overexposed by the host being the topic du jour and the reporter strapped in tie-wraps when she could have been finding out facts and getting the hell out of dodge once told she could go.
She was detained for 30 minutes and I still don't think she was arrested after someone came to her aid.
God help us if we have a 9/11 event here and Karel's all we've got to report what's going on. "I've got my Chinese made IPhone, my IPad, my 27 inch Apple monitor ... I've got Verizon Fios ... I have 21 shows to watch, honey. I've got it all except MONEY! I have no MONEY!" And the bombs bursting in air from Oakland, San Francisco or ... Karel's home in Long Beach. Damn, this makes me sick.
So the story turned into a shambles after the manhandling of the weekend on Saturday and Sunday night. The two minute updates throughout the day were fine, until they hit the 7-10 p.m. hours and had a sports jock producer interviewing the Police Chief at 10:15 p.m. on Sunday night. Gag me.
This on top of replaying, again this week, the "Red Eye Radio Truckers Show" that was already aired the night before on Friday night - Saturday morning -- again on Saturday night - Sunday morning. This is really rough to hear. I'm being so damn kind too.
Cumulus hasn't run stations in major markets before -- it's obvious. And this week proved it. No, I'm no abomination -- and I don't play one on radio. What I'm hearing, outside of a couple of gems, is an abomination. I don't see talk lasting on weekends on KGO for long.
A shame. A crying shame.
.
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I can not stand Karel!!!!! He is the worst thing to happen to KGO since Chris Clark!! Anyone remember him???
ReplyDeleteI adored Chris Clarke..a shit-stirrer with substance..
DeleteKarel was a caricature of insanity this weekend. Hey, Charles, I'll stop being self-righteous about underage (child) labor in China, skin basically boiling on people due to aluminum dust explosions (the solutions for which were discovered about 100 years ago), the dumping of toxic wastes and the exposure that many people have to them, including Apple workers, when you stop being self-righteous about your right as a gay to marry. Deal? In other words, Karel, some things are right and wrong. Poisoning people, blowing them up, engaging in child labor, etc is wrong. I don't care who else does it, Charles. Apple is the industry leader. Apple is the industry's most-profitable company. Apple has made a name for itself as being "better" than the rest of the industry. Time to act like it. Read the Chinese workers' and Chinese organiztions' newsletters, Charles. They have horns on Steve Jobs, your hero, Karel, because they hate him. They have worms coming out of Apple's log because they hate Apple. All Apple has to do is change a few things, and take less profit. That's all. But those greedy son-of-a-bitches who dress in jeans just do that to fool idiots like you into believing you are buying into a hip corporation, when it is as greedy as any asshole robber baron of the past. And you bought it all to the extent that you even put an Apple tat on your body. What a tool, Karel. What a tool. What a tool, Charles.
ReplyDeleteHey, Ronn Owens, are you like on drugs? Antidepressants? Drinking too much? Because it's carrying over into your enunciation on your show. You suck, dude. You are awful. I used to enjoy you. I listened for the third time since the blood-letting and was shocked to hear how crappy you sound. Poor guy.
Hey, Hosely, your news sucks. Your reporters are awful, and stop making a martyr tool out of a reporter taken into custody. I had that happen several times and it never made front-page news. You wussies. Grow up. Move on.
Meant to say Apple logo in my comment above somewhere, but I'm in a hurry and typing too fast. Then again, who gives a shit? It made more sense than Karel did this weekend.
ReplyDeleteNo it's not just you.(KGO has gone completely batshit crazy) Yes, you do think too much. Yoga, tai chi, and a juice fast would help.
ReplyDeleteGood column, Rich. Nice graphic.
ReplyDeleteKarel had 31 shows he has taped, but then, upon greater reflection, the warthog told us he actually had 38.
How he can afford all those expensive Apple gadgets, I'll never know.
Some of us lost our homes, our jobs, and are rebuilding our lives and don't bitch a bit about it like Karel.
Hey, Karel, stop being so self-righteous about being gay and wanting equal rights if you want us to shut up about Apple's ABUSE of workers in China.
We don't care if other companies are doing it. Apple is the worst. Check it out, Karel. Look it up. Yes, the Chinese workers are organized. They even write up their complaints about APPLE in English for morons like you. All you have to do is do the work of a journalist, Charles, but you don't. You tell us to shut up. You ignore them.
What it reall means, Karel is that you are too lazy, you big fat blob with your Apple tat. You are a tool and you are pathetic. You make a mockery of the very workers' rights your progressive fat ass says it supports. You hypocrite.
You are part of the Apple materialistic cult that awaits every little gadget you can get your fat fingers on. And then you cry, whine and yell about corporate banksters being such pricks.
Guess what the Chinese workers call people like you, Karel. The least you could do is bring attention to their plight. We don't want them jobless. We want them to have jobs, but we want them to have human rights, workers' rights. I would think an alumuninum-plated materialist Progressive like you would support workers' rights. But, you don't.
And you cry about the absence of a Progressive radio station in San Francisco and then tell all of us, who support the Chinese workers, that we are self-righteous because we have all these little gadgets, to look at our fridge and see where that was made and to shut the F up.
Nice, Karel. Nice.
Why don't you shut the F up, you pathetic blob? You hypocrite. You are not a progressive. You are a pathetic narcissist, Karel. A hypocrite. A capitalist pig who whines and whines and whines.
Try being a Chinese worker when the aluminum dust explodes in TWO plants, Karel. Try being the family, who saw one of the workers, their son, killed. He suffered for two days in a burn unit. His Mom said he was valiant and tried to hang on. He didn't want to die, Karel, to die for you, for your iPad, Karel. It was in an iPad factory that he got blown up, Karel. Feel good now? His family got $150,000, but that makes it ok, huh Karel?
See, he had a Mom, just like you, you loser. He rode his bike to work, Karel, and his fiance loved him. He was working seven days a week, more than 10 hours a day, Charles, so he could get married and afford an apartment.
All for an iPad. For you and your materialistic ilk.
Screw you, fat man. I will be self-righteous. And take your gay rights talk and shove it, Karel, because if you cannot support workers being killed by the company you have a tat of, than F you and F your gay rights cause, you hypocrite.
I'm sick of your crap. Crying about equal rights while you tell us we are self-righteous to be calling attention to worker abuse in China, just because we may have some gadgets.
Mine aren't Apple, you idiot. I chose a company with a better track record. There is very LITTLE metal on my products. They are almost all plastic. But, yes, I'm complicit too, and that's why I scream and yell and why I'm so pissed at you and your Apple cult that denies the horror in China. At least I am not silent, Karel. Not only are YOU silent, you condemn us and don't giveus a forum to call attention to this horror. Some Progressive. What a tool. The fool on the hill.
AMEN!! to everything you posted.
DeleteFor a host that is so bad and hated here on this site there sure are a lot of you who listen to Karel, and listen a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Karel fan, but like Ralph Barbieri he seems to have many listeners with an opinion.
These guys love it. For them there is nothing worse than not being talked about, having an apathetic audience.
It's tragic radio at it's worst. Plus, he's not reaching that many who listen to him. Trust me.
DeleteYeah, Frank, we listen, so what. That's our choice. Maybe we like tragedy radio. I listen to him every day when it's not pre-recorded. So what of it? Your point? That because we listen to him that somehow says he's doing his job? Hardly, Frank. Some of us are media professionals. We have an interest in listening to him. A professional interest, especially since media in the Bay Area is largely corporate-owned and is failing the public. Karel is part of that problem. He's on because he is cheap and was available. Some of us hope our comments are read and that it results in him being canned. If you don't like my reasoning, too bad. Why is it any of your business?
ReplyDeleteGreat logic there. You also eat at bad restaurants hoping the chef gets fired?
DeleteGreat stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see a Grand Heritage station with exemplary award winning hosts be fired and left with nothing but repeat news and more of the same syndication which is common through out the country. Karel is only out for himself only. Me Me Me radio!!!SEE or hear for yourself
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/KarelShow http://bit.ly/Karelpodcasts
Karel is a major blowhard he ranks right up there with with another blowhard Rush! Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's gives El Rushbo too much credit. Karel isn't up there with blowhard Limbaugh in anyway, except that Karell lies and is as misinformed on issues, topics and pop culture as Rush.
DeleteKarel is a 50-year-old gay guy trying to be a woman -- and acting like a 23-year-old. If that. No class - no culture and too crazy to realize that he is among the worst bottom feeders in radio.
So Christine Craft was on this weekend? Wish I'd had known about it so I could listen. These days I only listen to KGO If I know that she is going to be on. Otherwise, furgeddaboutit.
ReplyDeletehey 4:42....your response to Frank was way over the top and much too defensive. He was making a good point and you could have made your point in a much more civil manner. He didn't deserve the kind of response he got. If you would like Karel canned, sounding like a nut case won't do the trick. A strong argument with an intelligent tone would work much better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Karel, but really don't like the hateful tone...just sayin'
You waded through this spasm of vitriol aimed at Karel, and you thought "4:42" was the one not being civil? jeesh.
DeleteI'm sorry to have missed Christine, too. I always enjoyed her shows. She is feisty, unpredictable, takes on a broad range of subjects (and even refers to herself as a broad), and has a great voice. She is a gun-owning dog-loving liberal. She even seemed to get along with Dr. Bill. I admire how she took care of her ailing father for so many years and how she would drive down from Sacto to SF on practically no notice to fill in for a sick KGO host. I also admire her public loyalty to her friend, BW. I wish 910 radio had a spot for her.
ReplyDeleteI missed Christine's show too, but you can find it in the archives at the KGO website. I believe she was on for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThanks, that helps me narrow the search. I thought she might have been on Saturday because that's where she once appeared, but no luck there. How hard would it be for the luminaries at KGO to actually name the hosts instead of calling them "Guest Host?"
DeleteThank you, anon 9:40!
ReplyDeleteI know about and have listened to the archived shows, but it's different when you are listening to "live and local" radio. I want live and local talk radio! Ptui KGO.
I don't get 910 am where I live but 20 miles south while in my car I can.... and it was soooooo nice to hear Len Tillam yesterday I almost forgot while I was listening that I've been robbed of my previously loved KGO. RIP KGO.
ReplyDeletegreat column today - keep up the good work, Rich!
ReplyDelete(Rich listens (to KGO and Karel), so you don't have to!)
Rich, I realize this is your personal blog and your personal space but you are sound unclear. Reading you lately is like listening to someone with marbles in their mouth and who is overly invested in KGO. Why not just state the facts in your articles and let the chips fall as they may? I remember when reading you was much more fun. Of course I understand you're getting loads of hits from the ex-listeners of KGO and you'll probably slam this post but really, you used to be much more fun. I liked your gossipy tone and how upbeat and fun it used to be.
ReplyDeleteGossipy tone is not fun if it's not true. This is more than true -- it's sickeningly true. So, you want upbeat? Say something upbeat. Don't shoot the messenger. Enlighten us, please. Facts aren't gossip and facts, now, aren't always much fun these days. This "is reality ... not actuality."
DeleteWhat's up? You don't like Rich's commentary? I think it's great and spot on! Gossip is trash talk. That's like listening to Karel and "boyfriend talk" and all his shit. At times, Rich comes up with is brilliant. So what is this "...with marbles in their mouth and who is overly invested in KGO." Any more unclear than you saying "...your personal blog and y our personal space but you are sound unclear." Wow! "I remember when reading you was much more fun." Oh, like hearing about the nitwits on Knibber for days on end?
DeleteKGO was the gold standard. Now, it's like any other effed up radio station -- only worse and getting "worser".
The column made perfect sense to me and was illuminating.
You're not a Cumulus shill are you? You want it in headline form? Read the Chronicle. Oh, that's right, that aren't reporting much on the shit media in this town.
I think it is time we revert back to using the telegraph. Keep it simple. Call it...News Click :)
ReplyDelete