No, it wasn't just you.
KNBR is predominantly white. White male-dominated with but one token woman and a black man.
To wit: 5-9 AM: Morning Show: Two white hosts, a white producer and board op.
9-Noon: Two white hosts, a white producer and white newswoman.
Noon- 3PM: A White guy and a Black guy. White producer.
3-7 PM: Two white guys and a white producer.
Are you beginning to notice a trend? Oh, and from 7-10, a lone screamer who is, yes, white.
I'm not one to give a rat's ass about racial/gender make-up--I'm more quality. But Knibber is decidedly WHITE and in a city that professes to be the centerpiece of divergence, there's something to ponder there. Maybe the WHITE PD should meet with the WHITE Cumulus SF Market MGR and explore all options.
*Dear Raddy: For a guy who makes it a habit to make fun of "bloggers", you sure like reading me and apparently can't have enough of me. As for your distaste of in-house "snitches" over there at 55 Hawthorne, hey, they're pissed. They get treated like crap and need someone to get the word out. Maybe every now and then, when you're not buying a used Bentley, you could throw 'em a bone. I know you have a ton of overhead, what with a lowball "contract" you bragged about and the fact you're working on an "at will" basis at "Buster Brown-KRON." Bottom line is those in glass house shouldn't throw stones.
MEDIA NOTES...Ronn Owens is now mulling life after KGOne with a contract expiring Jan. 1. Owens is not going to get his million-buck payday anytime soon, but a few players locally may offer him a smidgen just to mind the store...I'm hoping I'm wrong about Gene Burns but the more I hear the more I feel he's not coming back anytime soon...Damon Bruce over at KNBR 1050 took some pointed jabs at Entercom's 95.7 FM, The Game on Thursday. Most of what he said was spot on--I just hope the doofus PD over at The Game took notice. You can hire and schmire all you want, but again, NO ONE IS LISTENING! Gees, Barrett, your grand experiment is an utter failure. Maybe you should hire another Insider, preferably one that has something to say and doesn't tweet 24/7.
*Follow me on Twitter
Radunich disgusts me, how does he still have a job? The Last time i accidentally heard him for a minute he was telling inane, non sports stores. Thats the problem with knbr, all the hosts talk about themselves more than sports!
ReplyDeleteI dont think radunich counts as white cause if i recall he always thinks he is black.
Your last point is a home run.
DeleteThe Black guy from noon-to-three says, 'cats' 'brotha' and an occasional reference to the '70s sitcom "What's Happening". But he lives in Marin, wears tight jeans, snowboards and listens to Metallica. Umm . . .
ReplyDeleteI hate when people malign the "blackness" of a guy because he isn't all ebonics on the air. Drives me up the wall. The dude obviously likes the gig and is pretty good at it, and he's paid well enough that he doesn't have to live in East Oakland/Hunters Point if he chooses not to. Question his knowledge or talent, but leave that other crap alone.
DeleteExcellent response, Mr. Mathews! Thanks for stating so much better than I was able to!
DeleteNothing wrong with the 10:05am post.
DeleteYesterday I accidentally switched on KNBR and Ralpharoo inferred that Al Davis OBVIOUSLY had a bounty program like the Saints, with absolutely no proof. "Click". KNBR has been removed from my preset channels. Never, ever, ever will I listen to that jackass again.
ReplyDeleteRalph is a loser. He likes tweaking his guests by asking "over the line" questions (how's that for hospitality?), talks over his callers and co-hosts (to the point that Kevin Lynch once had to say, "Let me finish!"), and loves calling athletes "chokers" (for some reason, he loved to call Tom Kite, the golfer, a choker, just for finishing 2nd in tournaments so often. Huh? Finishing 2nd beats finishing 3rd, 4th, or being an armchair quarterback/golfer). What a loser.
Delete10:05, what are you saying? That if a person doesn't conform to a cohort's internally accepted stereotypes, they're not part of that cohort? In other words, just because Rod Brooks isn't shouting "beyotch", "ho", and "yo, dawg", he's not black enough?
ReplyDeleteSo, you probably hated Johnny Otis, too, because he considered himself black...
Talk about racist...
Excellent statement
DeleteI have a bad feeling about Gene Burns also. The past two Saturdays on Dining Around, Joel didn't even give any update in the opening minutes.
ReplyDeleteYes, and someone a while back mentioned about him being in speech therapy. At his age, with his medical history, this doesn't sound encouraging. Whatever his most recent setback, it appears it was far more serious than anyone wants to discuss. Gil Gross mentioned this week about meeting with Gene and that he's improving and will tell his story when he returns etc. etc. etc. (the same thing Gil has been saying all along), but there is never any kind of timeline given, just the standard "he is improving". I'm guessing he will not be back, especially since the local talk radio format is so iffy right now. Who knows if 910 will even have the slot still available as local talk by the time if and when Gene recovers?
DeleteI hope speach therapy makes him sound less pompous.
DeleteWhile I feel terrible about Gene Burns, I would love to be able to hear John Rothman every day.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes! We should all be contacting the station with requests for more, more, more John Rothman...especially during this heated Presidential Election. We are missing so much of his valuable political experience/wisdom.
DeleteBe a squeaky wheel!!!
I heard Radnich mention something about Romney. Thats the rub with Radnich -despite the ferocious evil racist email he must get for having a black wife and dark skinned children..his own political and social outlooks makes him part of the problem NOT the solution.
ReplyDeleteAnd Bill and Lew and Lee at KNBR..its no accident Rich. They are so intent at keeping KNBR as white as possible..even the fills are required to be white..Lynch,Robinson,Hank's kid,Ratto, and some guy with Ralph..never a single ethnic type. No matter if he's a repub. Thats hard core KNBR discrimination. Same for THEGAME. No Wolford or Vern like last year..its Brody or Kozimor..same for 1050,etc.
And as kids we were taught that there were going to be laws to stop this. By 1984...
more people probably read this post about Bruce's comments than actually heard them. Talk about no one listening. Didn't 957 just beat 1050 in the ratings post the other day?
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. What exactly did he say?
DeleteAlso Bruce knows he could get away with saying edgy stuff because he knows not that many are listening. TO be honest, that's kind of the only thing that makes his show interesting enough for me to listen to from time to time. Other than that his on air persona is basically "I know everything! I was saying things a week ago that other shows are barely talking about now! I am far and beyond the best radio show there is!" That gets annoying real fast.
Bob Fitzgerald is so white, he counts as two white guys.
ReplyDeleteThen I am a proponent of more "white on white" crime.
DeleteThat (11:49am post) was worth two points!
DeleteGary Radnich is irrelevant. Period. He rarely -- if at all -- attends games. He's all about himself and it shows in his show and on KRON. People: get this -- he knows nothing about nothing. He's about as credible as an expired credit card. Wake up everybody!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope Gene Burns makes it back. And if not, I'd love it if they had some kind of a local going away party for him in North Beach or elsewhere, where fans could say goodbye to him, in person.
ReplyDeleteTalking about WHITE-ness... what was KGO radio (810 AM) like for decades??? Little diversity there...
Ronn Owens - white, Jewish, liberal
Dean Edell - white, Jewish, liberal
Len Tillem - white, Jewish, liberal
Gil Gross - ditto
Rich Walcoff - ditto
Gene Burns - white, Libertarian
John Rothmann - white, Jewish, liberal
General Manager, Mickey Luckoff - white, Jewish, liberal
I guess when you added in Rosie Allen, they considered that "diversity", though her ocassional snide comments on racial matters gave her up as a Far Leftie.
I always loved the voice of the new reporter from Oakland... was that Greg Jarrett? The man I am thinking of is black. Yep, how progressive... stick the black reporter in Oakland.
Godspeed to Mr. Burns.
Greg Edmonds is who you are thinking of, I think.
DeleteYour post on the composition of KGO is sadly true.
DeleteRonn isn't really a liberal. Maybe certain types of people are drawn to certain types of careers and tend to be good in them. Think basketball. Jewish men, when I grew up, tended not to be athletic and were thinkers, jokers and talkers. The black kids, when I grew up, tended to be much better at athletics and creative type things although of course there were some who were very bright. If you look at comics you see minorities in general,at least in past decades.
DeleteI got the KGO newsletter one year, and it looked like a truly White Christmas!
ReplyDeleteFunny how their conservative counterpart in LA, KABC radio, was far more diverse with folks like Larry Elders hosting prime time programs.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Damon Bruce about 'the Game.'
ReplyDeleteSo far, they've shown this area absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, nada, nichts when it comes to creative or different sports programming. As bad as KNBR is, there is very little to recommend on the air at 'the game' as an alternative.
Tierney sounds like aknow-it-all east coast guy, Eric Davis always wants to argue and tell you he's right and you're wrong, Lund sounds like the kind of guy who likes to delights in irritating people, and Dibbs needs a new voice...his current one is extremely annoying, but typical of the kind of disfunctional sound that
radio stations want on their air (for god knows what reason?) these days.
I don't understand why they hired a bunch of mostly out-of-town mediocrities in the first place...who did they think was going to want to listen to these guys?
95.7 has problems, for sure, but KNBR is just garbage, I've only switched dials occasionally when no local host is on.
ReplyDeleteYou slam Radnich, appropriately, for playing the gratutitous race card, then you do the same. Hello. It's RADIO, the one medium where race of all things shouldn't be on anybody's list...
ReplyDeleteThat Radnich "No Snitches" rant yesterday was so bizarre I'd have to say it must go down on the KNBR highlight real for the surreal.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anonymous Post at 12:09 - it was to the point!
ReplyDeleteLiberman: Stop with the "white" stuff puleese! Is your name DeNiro?
Radnich is just so about himself now that he is no longer entertaining. But sports radio has always been about attracting a younger male demographic that talks about being "badass" and you continue that rant when you spout off and think that you're more capable than the KNBR folks. That's why I only listen to the broadcast of games. Just give me the facts.
And that's that!
Thanks, 1:10, I agree with the "stop with the 'white stuff.' " BESIDES, let us not forget the WOMEN that were/are on KGO and yes, Brian Copeland.
DeleteRich--if you don't have enough subject matter, you really don't have to write one every day. I say that with the greatest respect--I enjoy many of your updates!
The 'they only hire white people' bitching is so tired. Can anyone name 1 non-white guy that they should hire? It's like complaining, 'there's too many black pro-athletes.' If they're good enough, they would have a job.
ReplyDeleteWell, not now!
DeleteIsn't the 957 on air talent predominatly white?
ReplyDeleteI heard Brian Dopeland thinks he's next in line for Owens gig. I don't think he does 7 live anymore, he's never on the show which is good because that guy is horrible on TV. Face for radio and a voice that is worse than nails on a chalkboard. Whoever is in charge of hiring that guy should have their head examined.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with good 'ole uncle Gary is that his schtick has gotten stale over the years and he thinks his own farts don't smell.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to also think that if you get into specifics about local or national sports, that you'll turn off your audience! What! Isn't KNBR an-all sports station, and don't most of the listeners at KNBR listen because they're interested in sports?!
I understand the need to be funny and irreverent, and over the years Gary has been quite engaging in those areas, but he really needs to stop talking about Beyonce and various Hip-hop artists, and cross cultural nonsense because 1.) it's not relevant to an all-sports radio format and 2.) it's really not very interesting!
Gary is lucky to have had as lengthy a career as he's had, being pretty much a one-trick pony. His TV work is still excellent, because he doesn't have to hold forth for a few hours and can pack his little jokes and other nonsense into a nice neat little package. And KRON, which he knows better than anyone, is very lucky to have any quality-talent available, considering how that station has gone into the tank over the last decade.
I think Gary's radio days are numbered however, as even his loyal listeners are getting turned off by his yelling and his posturing and acting juvenile, just to try and get the attention of as he puts it: "our younger demographic." I would also love to hear Gary stop using inside radio terms like that on the air because first of all, they're not going to register with the listeners, and second of all, they have nothing to do with sports.
As one of the earlier posts mentioned, Gary is still an excellent interviewer. He asks thoughtful, interesting, and provocative questions, usually without putting his subjects at ill ease.
But he needs to (and he won't) stop pretending that he wishes he was African American. If I were African American, I would be tired of his patronizing act and click off the radio whenever he would go off on his tangents.
Did you say juvenile?
DeleteYou have described the entire KNBR on-air talent.
F--- Damon Bruce. He had his shot on the big signal and faded out. Now he's back to the pea shooter which can't be heard in half of the Bay Area. POS.
ReplyDeleteRonn Owens - white, Jewish, liberal
ReplyDeleteDean Edell - white, Jewish, liberal
Len Tillem - white, Jewish, liberal
Gil Gross - ditto
Rich Walcoff - ditto
Gene Burns - white, GAY, Libertarian
John Rothmann - white, Jewish, liberal
Fixxed that for you Rich
Oh dear 1216, we didn't need to know that, rev 2.1 white, agnostic, libertarian is the appropriate category for Mr Burns. Of course the predominate demographic on this list are the ones pining for more Rothmania.
ReplyDelete