*Did you see that 800-word free ad for "The Game" in the Pink section of the Sunday Chron? Let me get this straight: a soft, fluffy press-releasey story on an entity that no one listens to. On top of that, the subject matter was unintentionally funny.
*Speaking of which, can we all just agree that both Knibber and the FM sports station pretty much cancel each other out. Without the Giants or 49ers, KNBR is a pile of mush. And without the A's, The Game is...well, fill in the blank.
*Remember the time when Ben Fong-Torres was that great writer from Rolling Stone? Now Ben has resorted to writing coffee-table pieces, a sort of radio Readers-Digest. I still like BFT, but Jan Wenner would be disappointed.
*On the other hand, Mick LaSalle can still pen a perfect thousand words on movies.
*Some civility at KRON: The Weekend Morning News with Duron and Gonzales. Too bad they don't work Monday thru Friday.
*Maybe it's a jinx: The morning news at KPIX. Which finds itself in the same predicament of the CBS Morning Show, albeit with slightly more viewers.
*It's a lovely feeling to know that Steven Moskowitz and Pat Vatucci control about 98% of the ads on local radio. Between those guys and the mattress company...
*Ronnnnn Owens on the clock: 255 days and counting.
*If Radnich wants to get personal, I will also. Sort of.
*The people in the know who know about the people in the know insist that the housecleaning at Cumulus' SF outposts will now concentrate its strike force over to the FM properties.
*There's some fairly intense grumbling over at KGO-TV over the new female news director. I don't know the full extent of it, but some of the natives are getting restless.
*For all its new found financial resources, and it has plenty, you would think KQED-TV would be able to produce a thirty-minute nightly news show, but it doesn't. I think that's strange, don't you?
*That was a nice piece in last Sunday's NY Times written by the daughter of Giants' PBP-man, Jon Miller.
*The mark of a true professional: when a columnist who also writes a great blog plugs our little site here in spite of the fact that we have occasionally ripped, (respectfully) his subject matter: yes, thanks Lowell Cohn of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.
*Henry Wofford, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area: OK, you're growing on me.
*That Ameci's dough might have been very UN-NY style pizza, but it brought a lot of green cheese into the Knibber cluster.
*Sure, Ralph Barbieri was a pain in the ass, but those who tend to thrive in the radio biz tend to be pains in the ass. I bring to you: Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Jim Rome and so on.
*That new "more hipper" Kars-for-Kids jingle is almost as bad as the old one, but when you consider the amount of money the KFK folks spend for that crappy ad, well, you'd be fairly surprised.
*Radio drag: CW Nevius' voice and Rene Richardson's. Separated at birth dept.
*"Hi, I'm Ray Ratto and I'm going to be sarcastic for 90 seconds." ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Real original, KGOne and Knibber.
*Follow me on Twitter
I don't know why it's considered common knowledge that no one listens to The Game. We listen to it for A's baseball almost every day; on the way to the stadium and for the post game show too. Every A's fan I know tunes into that radio channel, so I'm perplexed at this notion. Perhaps those PPM's (or whatever they are called), don't track A's fans? I think the numbers would be different if they did.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ralph can hang out with Shawn Estes now full time....I remember when he came up he fawned all over him. Best part about Ralph is if recall from his commercials he owned a Mazda Miata at one time...lol
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have 2 sports stations. Personally I prefer KNBR during both commutes and the FM station in the middle of the day.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more about the newest iteration of the Kars for Kids ad. I've hated the original version for what seems like forever, but this new version kicks my venom into high gear. Since there's something called "ear candy," surely this new jingle qualfies as ear drek. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteOn a separate count, am I the only one who's really annoyed with KCBS for their failure to carry the full hour-long feed of Bob Schiefer and the gang on Sunday mornings? I've listened to that show every Sunday morning for years, in its earlier shorter version. The way it's running now, when KCBS bails after the first 30 minutes of the show, the transition is absolutely rough and amateurish.
You'd think that KCBS would want to ride the coattails of the most popular Sunday news show, but no-o-o-o-o-o. Instead we get another repeat of whatever is the current Sunday morning news.
Can any more knowledgeable reader/contributor here share some idea of why KCBS would have such an aversion to running the full show?? The present approach makes zero sense to me.
Marty and Ysabel are my favorite grey-haired Hispanic anchors...and seriously, among my favorite anchors of all time -- all class.
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet heard the "more hipper" Kars-for-Kids jingle, but now you have me afraid to turn on the radio...did they run it through Autotune?
Well, Miss Angela Alioto is representing The Razor now...I'd like to see an all out legal fight in SF.
ReplyDeleteRadnich vacillates between he either wants to make peace with your blog..or kick you to the curb. The Ralph firing probably made him lash out.
ReplyDeleteOn Top Gear some guy took his classic Bentley-in Europe where parts are easily available- to be tuned up,minor repairs. Cost him 15,000 pounds. Sounds like a lot...
"Sure, Ralph Barbieri was a pain in the ass, but those who tend to thrive in the radio biz tend to be pains in the ass. I bring to you: Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Jim Rome and so on."
ReplyDeleteThat is very true but Ralph has not followed Sports for a very long time, Tolbert is head and shoulders over him as Sports knowledge and the above people you stated as much as I disliked most of them, they get high ratings, Ralphie ratings were way down when he went solo or paired up to Tolbert, Tolbert ratings were higher when Ralph was not on the show. Sorry ralph your a has been.
The aforementioned talk personalities all show up on time.
DeleteRich, since sports seems to be a strong suit of yours, perhaps you could talk more about Rome vs. JT the Brick. I know you try and be Bay Area focused, but given the Brick's Oakland Raider's tie-in, perhaps you could do something a bit more broad based on occasion. I also don't understand the difference between ESPN and KNBR and sometimes it seems, of late, like 1050 (as last night) identified itself as ESPN, but I thought it was FOX. I don't really get it. I have been a sports fan, mostly NFL, a bit of baseball, but I listen more at night after 10 or 11, trying to fall asleep, given the personalities involved in sports, since late night talk radio, if Coast to Coast is boring, has little to offer. I am a talk radio junkie.
ReplyDeleteIntense grumbling at KGO is no surprise because of the News Director's well documented temper and weak leadership skills. Unlike prior news regimes on Front Street, she keeps an enemies list, and most long time managers wanted no part of "Trixie." Sad days ahead with a new Captain Kangaroo who doesn't have major market talent. KTVU will be the big winner.
ReplyDelete