Quick Monday Fast Notes...
It's official: Robert Lyles is out at KPIX. I'll try to get the exact reason(s) why but it'll be obtained through the mole academy.
--95.7 'The Game' could be helped by switching to a better FM dial area and 102.9 (the old KBLX) and now an Entercom property might help. Rumor has it that they might move up the dial--to me that helps, but still, when you build your station around a sagging Oakland A's--which consumes a majority of your on-air content, then you have issues.
Brandon Tierney is his own worst enemy. He's occasionally funny and knows his stuff, but the NY 'tude and in-your-face bravado doesn't work here. End of story. I actually like Eric Davis, if he could get a word in, but Tierney won't let him talk...As for Lund, I don't care for his style. Papa helps, but the chatter goes nowhere.
The 'Rise Guys' should stick to basic sports with some occasional pop culture. Instead, it's the SOS, (same old...) with a hodgepodge of unfunny bits and the usual morning zooish clown alley that doesn't move the needle. Maybe they should flood the studio with more Insiders.
In any event, 95.7 is in dire straits. They're not KNBR--but Knibber, as doofus as they are, has the luxury of dial position on AM and three big clients. The end result: One is hanging by the thread. The other would if not for the fact that they have the Niners, Giants and Waterfront Warriors.
--KCBS is getting utterly ridiculous with the over-the-top repetition of their stories. Like I said, OVER-THE-TOP. Doug Sovern's quality piece on the doctors who make house calls was aired at least 6 times over a three-hour period on Monday morning. Yeah, I know people are getting in and out of their cars and might have missed a report, but the overly-repetitious re-reports is not becoming of the rep of the all-news station. And it's even worse on the weekend.
--A new low for KGOne on Sunday night: just terrible and beyond embarrassing from 10- 1 AM. I only caught part of the circus and was ready to vomit. No need to even plug the idiot dumb diva from the 212 who should be ashamed. The fact that no one called the last thirty minutes should make it clear: Lady, you are so god-awful, it's a good thing Jared has you on his Iphone. Just great, Jared, keep 'em coming.
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Thank you again for pointing out that Gotham City Joker on Sunday night. She must have something on Jared because he keeps dredging her up like the creature from the black lagoon. What a slap in the face to Christine Craft. She gets the midnight-3am slot on Sunday morning and they put the Joker at 10pm on Sunday night!!?? After the mass firings I used to tune in faithfully on weekends but the scheduling is screwed up. Get rid of the chef and give us Stacy Taylor or Peter Collins, dammit. I now only catch a bit of Thurston and Karel (I did all kinds of drugs and bath salts DO NOT turn you into a flesh eating Zombie) Bouley. Things are so bad that I now tune in faithfully to the right wing Rabbi on Sunday mornings. His South African accent is entertaining as he spews against liberalism
ReplyDeleteTriple amen!
DeleteWhat have we done to deserve this inane "creature?" I wait and wait for Karel to be gone, hoping to hear Christine or Peter Collins...and then...and then this "creature" comes on and I just have to go and set my hair on fire.
She was terrible, she had Dianne Dimond on about the Edwards trial, Gil Gross had Dianne Dimond on several times, he knows how to conduct a good interview she does not. Sentence like "what the hell happened, pissed off" is an insult to us Gene Burns and John Rothman fans, we deserve better. Also the Dianne Dimond segment was replayed, I was hoping she was so bad that she got boothed out on the spot, or that KGO's phone line got flooded with complaints, but I think she came back live after that. What a disaster, it is not the subjects she chooses, it is the way she frames the subject, her voice and her lack of decent english (for a talk show host). Every time she is on I write to KGO and complain, I'm sure I'm not the only one, she had a caller, who told her what a disaster she is, and how we miss the old KGO. No one is listening.
DeleteWhy do you continue to listen? Since she broadcasts from NY, she does these shows in what is the middle of the night for her. I would guess that most of her interviews would have to be taped. Who else would be up from 1-4 am in NY to be interviewed live? I heard her once, the first time she was on. That was enough for me. Don't listen to any KGO anymore. Nothing really to listen to now.
DeleteThe beauty of radio is the ratings take care of everything. If you put lousy content out there your ratings suffer. If you put good content out there your ratings will soar. Good content takes talent and management. Good management can hire good or bad talent. Bad management can only hire bad talent. It starts and ends with management.
ReplyDeleteLund is terrible, and he just seems to always be giggling nervously. It annoys the hell out of me. And I want to listen to the Game because I can't stand the d-bags at KNBR: Raddy, Krueger, and Fitz especially. Lund needs to get canned -- he's weak. Tierney I can handle, but he and ED are a lot more fun to listen to during football season. Always enjoy listening to Papa and he has great takes on all sports.
ReplyDeleteLund should be gone yesterday; he enables Urban to become a big jackass rather than a minor annoyance.
DeleteYou are spot on about the 95.7 line-up. I too really like Eric Davis and I wish he had a better partner. Every time I hear Brandon Tierney I think of Bobby Moynihan's Saturday Night Live character, Anthony Crispino:
ReplyDeletehttp://bobbymoynihan.blogspot.com/2011/03/bobby-moynihan-is-anthony-crispino-on.html
The thick New Yawk accent and all his constant speculating about what might be going on, as opposed to reporting what is going on, is painful to listen to. He comes across as the blowhard at the bar you just wish would shut up.
John Lund giggles more than Bob Fizgerald (if that is possible) and I don't listen to him anymore.
The Rise guys are tolerable but their "word of the day" shtick cheapens their interviews, because you know all they're thinking about is how can I slip this stupid word into a question rather than concentrating on asking good questions and listening to the responses.
But nobody on that station makes me switch away faster than Mychael Urban. He is a jock sniffer who's just trying to be buddies with every athlete. He has absolutely no credibility.
I here Urban is teaching kids how to pitch WHAT ?
ReplyDeleteAgree with the KCBS post.
ReplyDeleteIf you look up the word repetition in the dictionary, you will find the following entry:
Repetition=KCBS's weekend programing.
Mychael Urban only played baseball at USF Because His FATHER was A?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Urban..was he let go? I don't hear him with Lund..I haven't caught the name of the Monday fill-in guy.
ReplyDeleteYou listen to Urban..and for a awhile now he sounds like life is painful to live through. Extreme low key..
I like what 'The Game' is trying to do, because at least they're being aggressive and creative and trying to cover all of the teams, not just the ones that their station carries. Of course they have to, because the A's have become a triple A farm club for the rest of the Major Leagues due to the skin flint behavior of owners Lou Wolff and Donald Fisher.
ReplyDeleteThe problem that 'The Game' has, is that it is trying to reach a demographic that is just not out there anymore. Gary Radnich also makes the mistake of constantly referring to "our young demographic that we have to cater to,"
but it's now pretty much common knowledge that very few young people today (ages 18-30) listen to commercial radio anymore. Most are either on their i-phone, i-pod, i-pad or cell phone...they're texting or tweeting or facebooking (and so too are a lot of the older 'demographic,' ages 30-65).
People in this country are so distracted by the many forms of media
available nowadays, that they don't have time to listen or even give much more than a cursory glance to any of them. They seem to spend more time living in the cyber world, than the 'real world' as there's this constant fixation with keeping up and connecting with the social media. I guess it's unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) how people keep up with each other these days!
I was out biking the other day in the hills, and I saw some bikers stopping on the side of the road to text their buddies and talk on their cell phones. I would think that the reason they were out riding in the hills would be that they would want to get away from all of the cyber nonsense, but I guess people want to take their cell phones and i-phones, and i pods with them because they this
obsession of needing to be constantly 'plugged in.'
One thing is certain; very few are 'plugging' into listening to the radio anymore, except for those rare occasions when they might have ten minutes of free time
in between tweeting, texting, and facebooking their
friends and buddies and work place co-horts. I never dreamed the world would be this way and that it's become this way in such a short period of time. What a zany place it is that we're now living in, in this year of 2012!
After Fridays Raddy KNBR show..where He tried to show up Kate Scott..I know it and even Kreuger knew it...Today's show had minimum Kate Scott. Radnich as best he could put her on ice. What a great guy punish her for not letting him embarrass her.
ReplyDeletebtw-for the first hour,no Kate shots at all. I thought she took the day off!
Who cares. She ruins that show anyways
DeleteAnd-you read my mind on the KCBS house call Doctor..I thought it strange early today, that a long story like that would be repeated 15 minutes later. Must have been a slowest news day that is possible.
ReplyDeleteRich, how much is your suggested donation? $25 for individuals who are not raking in the bucks?
ReplyDeleteAgree with you about Eric Davis. I'd listen to the FM, despite all the Kaiser Witch ads, if they are still running 50 zillion times an hour.
Davis actually approaches the game intellectually, unlike the buffoons on KNBR. Plus, he has the professional playing experience to add. I like him a lot. As time progresses, his delivery will improve even more. Hope to see him around for years and years.
Other than that, I just listen to Sirius NFL. Nothing like it. If Davis can get a word in edgewise, I'll go back to his show only on the FM. Nothing for KNBR except live broadcasts.
95.7 and 102.7 are both on San Bruno Mountain. They are both Class B stations. 95.7 runs 6900 watts, 102.7 runs 6600 watts. No difference in coverage - 95.7 has spent too much time and money on branding their spot on the dial. FM radio coverage is what it is! What in the world is Entercom going to do with 102.9 KBLX? R&B won't bring the numbers.
ReplyDeleteFunny, this is the first negative I have heard about FM. I've never liked it much because the coverage is usually not nearly as strong as most AM's. Also, the stations are all so close together on the dial that they sometimes overlap with each other. I thought we've been told AM is dead and anybody's who's anybody never listens to AM. Are times changing???
DeleteKRON's 6 pm newscast for the first 35 minutes had no audio. And never did KRON admit they were having audio difficulty's.
ReplyDeleteIts like every ethic of TV broadcasting is disappearing nowadays.
I hope 95.7 The Game succeeds. Otherwise, the listening public doesn't have an alternative to KNBR. Some of KNBR's hosts are just tired. At least they have Marty Lurie. They need to have Ratto on more. On 95.7 Greg Papa is the most well-rounded in all sports.
ReplyDeleteHey Rich, do you know the radio contract situations with the Warriors, 49ers and Raiders? Because I would like to see 'The Game' give knbr a run long term and I agree that they should increase their clientele for them to compete. Hopefully they can sign Warriors and either the 49ers/Raiders to be their radio broadcast home soon.
ReplyDeleteAlso in terms of changing their radio dial, I agree that they should switch to 102.9 to increase their reach and/or have an AM affiliate like what KCBS does (740AM/106.9FM).
Hopefully 'The Game' can stay in the bay area market long term because at least we can listen to something other than a SF Giant bias sports station
If The Game picks up the 49ers or Raiders (doubtful), what do they do about conflicts with A's baseball in September?
ReplyDeleteThat could be where a simulcast on 102.9 comes in. A's on 95.7 Raiders on 102.9. Like 1050/680am, right?
Delete