You forgot to mention the movement of the clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock, another minute gone by, must tell the listeners that the minute hand has moved ahead, tick-tock, tick-toc, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
No kidding - used to go to sleep with John Rothman under my pillow; now, it's directly off to dreamland. And nothing worth waking up to, either, so I'm listening to the internet radio all day (KTLK). Nice job, Cumulus.
I think you missed some spots. What about a format that is all commercials with a few news, weather and sport spots sprinkled throughout....We are getting closer.
I just turned on mattress guy. He is talking about credit card debt. I thought the story of the day would be the Ohio school shooting. A third student just died. I guess top headlines are no longer important to Ronn. Just shut him off.
Rich, did you just hear "Jared's" ignorant comments about people who lose jobs and then try to hang on to their homes?
He asked why try to hang on when you can go live with your brother.
Hey, Jared, you snot-nosed punk, ever try to go "live with your brother" when your brother has lost his job and then lost his house?
Not to mention the fact that if "you" had a brother who had a job, how could he provide for you when he's married with kids and you have three children and a wife, and you have no other relatives.
Who do you go live with then, Jared, you snarky little shit? The car is too small, Jared. Thus, credit cards, our 401K, our cash savings, etc. That's what we live on because there is no where else to go but the homeless shelter.
What a piece of dogshit, you are, and shame on you, Ronn Owens. I'm done with giving you a listen. I tuned in this morning after a long absence, and this drivel is what I get? You, a veteran, talking to this smug punk? Really, Ronn?
Wait till Karma kicks you in your ass, Jared. It will come. It may take years, but it will come, you pathetic weasel.
I caught part of that show. Ronn sounds like he is in love with his producer. You could hear it in his voice when he spoke to him. Ronn Owens is in love.
That's why we have satellite radio. It is worth the cost to have commercial free music stations that offer any type of music that someone may like. They also have some sports channels that are actually decent. And, if you happen to be into fantasy sports they have one channel that is strictly for that purpose.
It seems radio is doing all it can to drive listeners away. We are ripping KGOne these days as they seem to have perfected the game plan but many others are following.
The consolidation of stations has only benefited their shareholders, it has done nothing for quality or the listeners. Satellite has benefited from these apparent blunders as people look for something that pleases them.
I must say though that I have satellite and still look to AM radio for local news and talk as satellite is national and heavily leaning to the east coast.
Hopefully KKSF will continue is evolve as a replacement for KGOne although I am not sure Clear Channel is any better than Cummubust.
Agreed. Satellite is best. Sirius NFL is what I've listened to since it started. I lived in a remote region in Northern California and could not get KNBR about 10 years ago, which is about when Sirius started. Even though I moved to the Bay Area three years ago, I still listen to Sirius and pay the money. It's worth it. KNBR is childish, locker-roomish in the mornings; arrogant and smug in the early afternoons; and downright boring, lazy, repetitive and predictable in the afternoons.
I tried 95.7 FM but it keeps playing the Kaiser witch commercials. When they come on TV, my wife asks me to mute them, so I know my barfometer is not off since little bothers my wife. On 95.7, I counted FOUR of the Kaiser witch commercials several times during several listens. (By the way, I'm not saying the woman is a witch. I am referring to her Big Sister voice that is just creepy. Kaiser has overused it. But, then, it's Kaiser. I was born at a Kaiser and chances are if I get taken to a hospital for a heart attack or something, I'll die there. Kaiser's medical care is on par with its crappy commercials.)
Your blog post today can apply to both KCBS and kgone. Too much repetition of the same few tidbits over and over all day. KCBS traffic only gives about 2 or 3 trouble spots each time which doesn't usually cover where I happen to be stuck. Then they follow it by weather: it is 51 in Oakland, 50 in SF, 52 in Concord, 55 in Santa Rosa, 52 in Fremont, 53 in Berkeley, 55 in San Jose and on and on. In other words, the weather is essentially the same throughout the area so I don't need these 1 degree differences. I'd prefer more traffic coverage since that's what they do every 10 minutes. Weather doesn't change every 10 minutes. As long as you're going to do traffic all day long, why not do it thoroughly.
Yes, admittedly these are not good times for local radio. But...
I remember the 1970s..a great era in many respects, don't you think Rich?
Great in that the black comm,unity was producing the best kick-ass music ever...soul sounds from Motown...great performers like the Stylistics, Billy Preston, Earth Wind and Fire, the Spinners, the O'Jays, the Temps, the Ohio Players, Tower of Power (right here in the bay area in Oakland!), Sly and the Family Stone (another local band), and so many more!
I listen to some of the crap that some of these hip-hop and rap artists churn out today and there is no comparison! For the most part, the music has no soul, no guts, and certainly no good messages. It's all about bitches, and money, and sex, and there's very little romance or tenderness or happieness. It's angry, disjointed and disturbing, but reflective of these unhappy times.
Back in the 1970s, there were many problems too, but there was such a great pride in the Black community. We had our problems, but we didn't have kids killing each other with AK 47s in the streets, and crack wasn't around then. We did have the Black Panthers, but they at least were trying to instill some strength and self sufficiency and pride in the community.
It's sad what's happened to the black community, especially in the east bay today. These young kids today listen to this rap nonsense, they tattoo themselves because they think it's cool, and they act as if they have all of the answers.
And remember the 1970s was also the era of great sports teams in the east bay: The Raiders throughout most of the decade, the Warriors, especially from 1974-77, the A's from about 1971 through 1975. Those teams were also a big part of the African-American community...especially the Raiders with the 'Soul Patrol' (the first defensive backfield in the NFL that was all black...George Atkinson, Skip Tomas, Nehemiah Wilson, Willie Brown, Jack Tatum, of course the great David Grayson from the University of Oregon. Five Major League Championships from those three teams in five consecutive years! Great times!
Try WTAM 1100 AM online. Mike Trivisonno 12:00-4:00 PM out of Cleveland. Stark cultural difference listening to midwest sensibilities, entertaining nontheless
Cumulus's KGO stands for "Kill Great Oddience"..This new audience is the most traffic informed in America while the old odd listenership tunes out or tunes to: http://bit.ly/KKSF910
Yes, do listen to KKSF, especially during the day. John Rothman had Joe Getty on today, seems like they are trying to become a family, just like KGO use to be. Their ratings are up, and the more former KGO listerners that migrate to KKSF, they better the ratings and hopefully the better the programming, week-end has too many informocials, and weak programs, but give them time, and let them know when they have programming you like.
and do one better.. as you listen, find out who the sponsors are then go to those sponsors and spend a few bucks plus let them know you are a KKSF listener... more sponsors means additional revenue which means better programming because good programming does cost something...
Does anyone know what has happened to Ken Dito? He'd been doing sports updates and talk shows for almost 40 years in the bay area (even was a backup play by play announcer for the A's back in the mid 1980s when they were the old KSFO). He's always managed to find work somewhere, working at KNBR, KGO, 860 extra sports (they no longer exist), KOFY, and a number of other stations.
Ken's a local guy who taught High School PE for years in SF and recently retired, but he loved his side career in radio.
Ken was always like one of those guys who sits down on a bar stool next to you and talks sports with some opinion, experience, optimism and enthusiasm. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a place on the radio anymore for broadcasters such as Ken Dito.
Instead we are subjected to the likes of nit wits such as 'P-Con,' know it alls and blowhards like Fitz and the afternoon guy on the game, or hyperactive people like Eric Brynes.
Way back when, Ken Dito was the morning guy on KOFY, "The nifty 1050." It was a Jim Gabbert owned station then, with a 50's music format on about 2000 carts. "Dito in the morning" was the slogan, I believe.
A few weeks ago I disagreed with a poster who claimed that he/she/it had had enough of reading about Cumulus' SF stations, that it was time to drop it. Some of us countered that this is a very big story, far reaching and a significant chapter in the local media scene, media in general, and the business world too. And that the story warrants discussion here.
It does of coursse, but now I wonder if KGO/KSFO etc is starting to claim a disproportionate share of the space here, and, new developments notwithstanding, we might want to take a look at the possibility that everything that can be said has already been said. Our ranting and raving isn't going to change anything, but only foster more ranting and raving.
Remember the good old days of KSFO in the 1960s? Don Sherwood, Carter B. Smith, Aaron Edwards, (he wrote the Giants 'Bye, bye, Baby' song), Mike Powell, Chet Casselman, Kent Skov, Gene Nelson, Dan Sorkin, Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Stu 'Scoopy' Smith, and so many others!
The old KSFO was owned by a wonderful radio company called 'The Golden West Radio Network,' and they had stations in LA (KMPC) and Seattle (KVI) among other places. KSFO's old studios were in the Fairmont hotel, just around the corner from the famous 'Tonga Room' where tropical drinks were served under a south sea island motif.
KSFO was run by a benevolent GM named Don Shaw, who treated his employees with respect, dignity, and loved the profession of radio. He actually knew what a good announcer was supposed to sound like, and KSFO had boffo ratings throughout that decade.
Times have changed, and there are still a few good announcers and stations left, but they're fast disappearing under the banner of corporate radio. I miss listening to those days on the radio. Perhaps somewhere, someone has saved copies of some of those great broadcasts from KSFO and other stations of its kind.
It's posts like these that make you wish there were names behind the observations, real people to interact with.
It's true about KSFO and the way it connected with listeners. (And I'm only old enough to have gotten into the tail end of that era.) Broadcasters who are really part of the local fabric will always do that.
Herb Caen once wrote that Sherwood's laugh, if it could be translated into words, would be unprintable. Remember later in his career he hosted a Saturday TV show called "'49er Huddle," when he narrated highlights from the previous week's game? Once--1969 or so I think--he started the program, the wrong film ran (the game from the week before) and Don ad-libbed his way through most of the show.
There is something to be said for great voices. This is one of the main reasons that radio is still viable. Not shouting or performing, but talking. There are a indeed a few good announcers left. But as for the older ones, you might take a gander, if you haven't already, at a Web site called bayarearadio.org, which has a lot of fun stuff on its pages including a collection of audio files (though I don't know where entire broadcasts can be found).
I didn't know Aaron Edwards wrote the words to "Bye, Bye, Baby"! I do remember that he had a lengthy tenure as a reporter at Channel 7 after his radio days were mostly over.
You forgot to mention the movement of the clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock, another minute gone by, must tell the listeners that the minute hand has moved ahead, tick-tock, tick-toc, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding - used to go to sleep with John Rothman under my pillow; now, it's directly off to dreamland. And nothing worth waking up to, either, so I'm listening to the internet radio all day (KTLK). Nice job, Cumulus.
ReplyDeleteI think you missed some spots. What about a format that is all commercials with a few news, weather and sport spots sprinkled throughout....We are getting closer.
ReplyDeleteI just turned on mattress guy. He is talking about credit card debt. I thought the story of the day would be the Ohio school shooting. A third student just died. I guess top headlines are no longer important to Ronn. Just shut him off.
ReplyDeleteRich, did you just hear "Jared's" ignorant comments about people who lose jobs and then try to hang on to their homes?
ReplyDeleteHe asked why try to hang on when you can go live with your brother.
Hey, Jared, you snot-nosed punk, ever try to go "live with your brother" when your brother has lost his job and then lost his house?
Not to mention the fact that if "you" had a brother who had a job, how could he provide for you when he's married with kids and you have three children and a wife, and you have no other relatives.
Who do you go live with then, Jared, you snarky little shit? The car is too small, Jared. Thus, credit cards, our 401K, our cash savings, etc. That's what we live on because there is no where else to go but the homeless shelter.
What a piece of dogshit, you are, and shame on you, Ronn Owens. I'm done with giving you a listen. I tuned in this morning after a long absence, and this drivel is what I get? You, a veteran, talking to this smug punk? Really, Ronn?
Wait till Karma kicks you in your ass, Jared. It will come. It may take years, but it will come, you pathetic weasel.
10:19am: I couldn't have said it better! (And, Rich: great opening comments. They were more entertaining than KGO is these days.)
DeleteI caught part of that show. Ronn sounds like he is in love with his producer. You could hear it in his voice when he spoke to him. Ronn Owens is in love.
DeleteAnd don't get me started on airline food.
ReplyDeleteyou forgot:
ReplyDeleteinane spots,spots,obnoxious spots, insulting spots,inane spots, obnoxious spots, unintelligble spots, fucking spots, fucking more spots, ...... spots,spots,spots,spots,spots,spots,spots,spots,
spots, STOP THE SPOTS... I AM GOING FUCKING CRAZY!!!!! (am i spot on?)
Little Timmy
Yep, sounds about right. Isn't that what they said we, the listeners, wanted? Soooo boring.
ReplyDeleteThat's why we have satellite radio. It is worth the cost to have commercial free music stations that offer any type of music that someone may like. They also have some sports channels that are actually decent. And, if you happen to be into fantasy sports they have one channel that is strictly for that purpose.
ReplyDeleteIt seems radio is doing all it can to drive listeners away. We are ripping KGOne these days as they seem to have perfected the game plan but many others are following.
DeleteThe consolidation of stations has only benefited their shareholders, it has done nothing for quality or the listeners. Satellite has benefited from these apparent blunders as people look for something that pleases them.
I must say though that I have satellite and still look to AM radio for local news and talk as satellite is national and heavily leaning to the east coast.
Hopefully KKSF will continue is evolve as a replacement for KGOne although I am not sure Clear Channel is any better than Cummubust.
Agreed. Satellite is best. Sirius NFL is what I've listened to since it started. I lived in a remote region in Northern California and could not get KNBR about 10 years ago, which is about when Sirius started. Even though I moved to the Bay Area three years ago, I still listen to Sirius and pay the money. It's worth it. KNBR is childish, locker-roomish in the mornings; arrogant and smug in the early afternoons; and downright boring, lazy, repetitive and predictable in the afternoons.
DeleteI tried 95.7 FM but it keeps playing the Kaiser witch commercials. When they come on TV, my wife asks me to mute them, so I know my barfometer is not off since little bothers my wife. On 95.7, I counted FOUR of the Kaiser witch commercials several times during several listens. (By the way, I'm not saying the woman is a witch. I am referring to her Big Sister voice that is just creepy. Kaiser has overused it. But, then, it's Kaiser. I was born at a Kaiser and chances are if I get taken to a hospital for a heart attack or something, I'll die there. Kaiser's medical care is on par with its crappy commercials.)
Rich's blog:
ReplyDeletekgo sucks, kgo sucks, kgo sucks, knbr sucks, kgo sucks, I hate ron owens, kgo sucks, the game sucks, kgo sucks, creepy weather lady blog, kgo sucks, knbr sucks, creepy seduction blog, kgo sucks, knbr sucks, mea culpa, kgo sucks.
haha, hilarious. I do enjoy reading but that is spot on.
DeleteYour blog post today can apply to both KCBS and kgone. Too much repetition of the same few tidbits over and over all day. KCBS traffic only gives about 2 or 3 trouble spots each time which doesn't usually cover where I happen to be stuck. Then they follow it by weather: it is 51 in Oakland, 50 in SF, 52 in Concord, 55 in Santa Rosa, 52 in Fremont, 53 in Berkeley, 55 in San Jose and on and on. In other words, the weather is essentially the same throughout the area so I don't need these 1 degree differences. I'd prefer more traffic coverage since that's what they do every 10 minutes. Weather doesn't change every 10 minutes. As long as you're going to do traffic all day long, why not do it thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. I too find those endless strings of temps to be both meaningless and annoying as all get out.
DeleteYes, admittedly these are not good times for local radio.
ReplyDeleteBut...
I remember the 1970s..a great era in many respects, don't you think Rich?
Great in that the black comm,unity was producing the best kick-ass music ever...soul sounds from Motown...great performers like the Stylistics, Billy Preston, Earth Wind and Fire, the Spinners, the O'Jays, the Temps, the Ohio Players, Tower of Power (right here in the bay area in Oakland!), Sly and the Family Stone
(another local band), and so many more!
I listen to some of the crap that some of these hip-hop and rap artists churn out today and there is no comparison! For the most part, the music has no soul, no guts, and certainly no good messages. It's all about bitches, and money, and sex, and there's very little romance or tenderness or happieness. It's angry, disjointed and disturbing, but reflective of these unhappy times.
Back in the 1970s, there were many problems too, but there was such a great pride in the Black community. We had our problems, but we didn't have kids killing each other with AK 47s in the streets, and crack wasn't around then. We did have the Black Panthers, but they at least were trying to instill some strength and self sufficiency and pride in the community.
It's sad what's happened to the black community, especially in the east bay today. These young kids today listen to this rap nonsense, they tattoo themselves because they think it's cool, and they act as if they have all of the answers.
And remember the 1970s was also the era of great sports teams in the east bay: The Raiders throughout most of the decade, the
Warriors, especially from 1974-77, the A's from about 1971 through
1975. Those teams were also a big part of the African-American community...especially the Raiders with the 'Soul Patrol' (the first defensive backfield in the NFL that was all black...George Atkinson, Skip Tomas, Nehemiah Wilson, Willie Brown, Jack Tatum, of course the great David Grayson from the University of Oregon. Five Major League Championships from those three teams in five consecutive years! Great times!
01:42pm...thanks for the wonderful bit of nostagia..i remember it all and you are RIGHT!
DeleteTry WTAM 1100 AM online. Mike Trivisonno 12:00-4:00 PM out of Cleveland. Stark cultural difference listening to midwest sensibilities, entertaining nontheless
ReplyDeleteGood post. I enjoyed it. In spite of it all being too true...
ReplyDeleteJeez, I come here to get away from KGOne! Gimme a break, Rich.
ReplyDeleteCumulus's KGO stands for "Kill Great Oddience"..This new audience is the most traffic informed in America while the old odd listenership tunes out or tunes to: http://bit.ly/KKSF910
ReplyDeleteYes, do listen to KKSF, especially during the day. John Rothman had Joe Getty on today, seems like they are trying to become a family, just like KGO use to be.
DeleteTheir ratings are up, and the more former KGO listerners that migrate to KKSF, they better the ratings and hopefully the better the programming, week-end has too many informocials, and weak programs, but give them time, and let them know when they have programming you like.
and do one better.. as you listen, find out who the sponsors are then go to those sponsors and spend a few bucks plus let them know you are a KKSF listener... more sponsors means additional revenue which means better programming because good programming does cost something...
DeleteDoes anyone know what has happened to Ken Dito? He'd been doing sports updates and talk shows for almost 40 years in the bay area (even was a backup play by play announcer for the A's back in the mid 1980s when they were the old KSFO). He's always managed to find work somewhere, working at KNBR, KGO, 860 extra sports (they no longer exist), KOFY, and a number of other stations.
ReplyDeleteKen's a local guy who taught High School PE for years in SF and recently retired, but he loved his side career in radio.
Ken was always like one of those guys who sits down on a bar stool next to you and talks sports with some opinion, experience, optimism and enthusiasm. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a place on the radio anymore for broadcasters such as Ken Dito.
Instead we are subjected to the likes of nit wits such as 'P-Con,' know it alls and blowhards like Fitz and the afternoon guy on the game, or hyperactive people like Eric Brynes.
with commentary this insightful you might consider a career on AM radio.
ReplyDeleteWay back when, Ken Dito was the morning guy on KOFY, "The nifty 1050." It was a Jim Gabbert owned station then, with a 50's music format on about 2000 carts. "Dito in the morning" was the slogan, I believe.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of Ken lately either.
A few weeks ago I disagreed with a poster who claimed that he/she/it had had enough of reading about Cumulus' SF stations, that it was time to drop it. Some of us countered that this is a very big story, far reaching and a significant chapter in the local media scene, media in general, and the business world too. And that the story warrants discussion here.
ReplyDeleteIt does of coursse, but now I wonder if KGO/KSFO etc is starting to claim a disproportionate share of the space here, and, new developments notwithstanding, we might want to take a look at the possibility that everything that can be said has already been said. Our ranting and raving isn't going to change anything, but only foster more ranting and raving.
you have a point, of course, but we're all still mad and want to talk about it!!
DeleteRemember the good old days of KSFO in the 1960s? Don Sherwood, Carter B. Smith, Aaron Edwards, (he wrote the Giants 'Bye, bye, Baby' song), Mike Powell, Chet Casselman, Kent Skov, Gene Nelson, Dan Sorkin, Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Stu 'Scoopy' Smith, and so many others!
ReplyDeleteThe old KSFO was owned by a wonderful radio company called
'The Golden West Radio Network,' and they had stations in LA
(KMPC) and Seattle (KVI) among other places. KSFO's old studios were in the Fairmont hotel, just around the corner from the famous 'Tonga Room' where tropical drinks were served under a south sea island motif.
KSFO was run by a benevolent GM named Don Shaw, who treated his employees with respect, dignity, and loved the profession of radio. He actually knew what a good announcer was supposed to sound like, and KSFO had boffo ratings throughout that decade.
Times have changed, and there are still a few good announcers and stations left, but they're fast disappearing under the banner of corporate radio. I miss listening to those days on the radio.
Perhaps somewhere, someone has saved copies of some of those great broadcasts from KSFO and other stations of its kind.
It's posts like these that make you wish there were names behind the observations, real people to interact with.
DeleteIt's true about KSFO and the way it connected with listeners. (And I'm only old enough to have gotten into the tail end of that era.) Broadcasters who are really part of the local fabric will always do that.
Herb Caen once wrote that Sherwood's laugh, if it could be translated into words, would be unprintable. Remember later in his career he hosted a Saturday TV show called "'49er Huddle," when he narrated highlights from the previous week's game? Once--1969 or so I think--he started the program, the wrong film ran (the game from the week before) and Don ad-libbed his way through most of the show.
There is something to be said for great voices. This is one of the main reasons that radio is still viable. Not shouting or performing, but talking. There are a indeed a few good announcers left. But as for the older ones, you might take a gander, if you haven't already, at a Web site called bayarearadio.org, which has a lot of fun stuff on its pages including a collection of audio files (though I don't know where entire broadcasts can be found).
I didn't know Aaron Edwards wrote the words to "Bye, Bye, Baby"! I do remember that he had a lengthy tenure as a reporter at Channel 7 after his radio days were mostly over.