Friday, August 10, 2012

Karel Catfight with Pat Thurston; Inside Story; Friday Opener

I had mentioned, (and confirmed by a few of my moles here and at KGO Radio), that Karel is in hot water over at the insane asylum--better known as the new digs at 55 Hawthorne.

No, he hasn't threatened to kill Joe the Plumber., (For which he was fired and lucky enough to be re-hied by ex-boss, Jack Swanson at the old KGO--only he still hasn't learned his lesson). He just can't grasp the idea that all mikes, even when "off", are still hot mikes.

He made some rather crude and disparaging comments about fellow host, Pat Thurston--comments that got back to Thurston, and subsequently got back to PG and ND, Paul Hosely. Whether or not you like or dislike Pat Thurston is not the issue here. There's a professional rule in the biz: Never make fun, belittle or put down a colleague on-air. It's been around forever. Karel hasn't re-read the handbook, apparently.

Here's the story from a source:

A few weeks back, Karel said some nasty professional things about Thurston. Not on the air, but on his link mike which listeners can hear as he talks to producers.

Thurston was not exactly pleased and responded with a note to his highness.

Karel sent Thurston back an e-mail that was an insulting ugly critique of what a crappy talk show host she was  He mentioned how he had previously been fired. Thurston then sent a short response that he still didn't get it and indicated that she didn't want his critique first and secondly, he needs to re-learn radio 101 - every mike is presumed to be hot. Thurston then copied his note and response to Hosely, according to the source, and he was called out.

The source added that Karel is probably on probation. Furthermore, his ratings are terrible and he blames Thurston. How bad are the ratings? Enough to heighten the current rumor that even crazy KGO brass may have had enough of the Karel show and his days could be numbered.

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44 comments:

  1. I said it before and I will say it again. Karel is a delusional and self-destructive creep. He always talks about how broke he is and how he is thankful to have health insurance thru KGO. One would think he would protect his job, but nooooooooooo. If they fire his ass it may be the first sensible move at KGONE in a long while. A positive for him would be that he would have more time to attend red carpet events!

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  2. Pat is probably green with envy because Karel is a celebrity who walked the red carpet at L.A.'s Pantages Theater last week.

    And didn't Karel say in that narcissistic note to "fans" that he's also working in TV and movies these days? So who needs KGO?

    -- TT

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    1. You have GOT to be kidding!!!!! Karel is a self absorbed idiot! Pat Thurston is SUCH a better host. I was so bummed when they brought him back! It would be good for him to learn that he is NOT the center of the Universe!

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    2. Am I the only one who understands that @839 is being sarcastic? Americans just don't seem to get sarcasm unless it is spelled out for them

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  3. Doesn't surprise me. No impulse control.

    A few months back, on a weekend, I turned on Karel's show to see what he was yacking about. Have previously liked his energy, humor, but not the teenage drama and hate towards those on the right.

    He went into a diatribe against the GOP, and then went into his version of what he *imagined* a conversation would be like between GOP individuals.

    Said Karel: "There's a N****R in the White House! We have to get the N****R out of there!! ..."

    I emailed Rich here at 415 Media about the hypocrisy, and the approximate time of the slurs, but they had been scrubbed it from the program audio file.

    Karel also had a major beef with Dr. Bill, which included him giving the Dr. a full Moon at a KGO office party, and highly negative comments on Karel's personal website. GM Mickey Luckoff had to call a truce between the pair.

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    1. You've got to be kidding! A grown man mooning a work colleague at an office party and not being summarily fired?? That hovers near the top of the Crazy List.

      As was stated above, this guy has an almost total lack of impulse control. And I, for one, don't find him entertaining in the least. He routinely talks over his relative handful of callers and spends way too much of the time using the show as a means of soliciting a new boyfriend.

      The thought of what it would be like for another gay male to be involved in a relationship with a guy like Karel makes my skin crawl.

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    2. Even mentioned that he finally got "laid" on his Sunday trainwreck. Then he did that girlie-shreak right after mentioning it. Even Mr. Clean couldn't power scrub this moron's aircheck.
      ha
      Oh, and not only did he give Dr. Bill the "full Monty" -- he also allegedly "snapped a picture" full sspincter cheeks wide, from what I was told. Dr. Bill also cold-cocked him at a KGO wing-ding. Then, Mickey Luckoff intervened in a meeting.

      Karel. What a slimeball. Maybe he jerk off his sore vocal node for us tonight and tomorrow. Pat Thurston should cold-cock him to, but it's not worth the trip to Karel's Long Beach gangland hangout. Remember "I LOVE all the attention you haters!"

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  4. This dim-wit Karel is totally clueless and should never have been put on the air in the first place. Who is the idiot who hired this fool? What was he thinking in the first place? The man is totally unprofessional, self absorbed, and out of touch with reality. Unfortunately, Karel is the kind of nit wit that 'genius' radio programmers have been hiring these days because these kind of dysfunctional
    over the top dim-wits don't cost a lot of money and usually say outrageous things on the air that are 'edgy' and generate 'a buzz.'
    That's good radio? That's a laugh!

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  5. Is he the poor man's Perez Hilton? or is it now Perez Kardashian?

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  6. Pat Thurston is just not very bright. Karel on the other hand is mentally ill...

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    1. @11:34AM As they say at Fark.com /THIS

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    2. Pat Thurston is very bright and an excellent radio host. My goodness.

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    3. Pat Thurston is a frickin airhead. Her comments are so vacuous and moronic. I cringe when she talks.

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  7. "Catfight", oh I get it, because one is female and the other is gay? Because 'catfight' is a misogynist term used when 2 women argue?

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    1. A radio version of pussy galore.

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  8. Fools like Karel are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. Self-deluded, never-were, propped up by Prozac and Red Bull, they invariably end up walking the streets in urine-stained clothing, talking to themselves. Sad, really, but at least most of them never get the chance to foul a major market radio station before hitting the skids.

    Karel versus Pat Thurston? Puhleeze. That's a battle of wits with one combatant unarmed.

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  9. If Karel wasn't gay he would not have been hired. He says some good things but is too full of himself and gets carried away.

    He needs to lay off other talk show hosts. if he's friends with them then that is one thing, but to rip on those you don't like then that's another.

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  10. BJP (before Joe the Plumber), I thoroughly enjoyed Karel's "take" on things. I often participated in his on-air chat room, and was disappointed when he was let go. But, as others have said, one doesn't have to work in broadcasting for very long to learn the every-mike-is-hot lesson.

    The re-hired Karel is not the same. There's a bitterness, and nastiness, far beyond what would REASONABLY be expressed because of financial difficulties. I haven't listened for some time.

    I don't know what derisive comments he had toward Pat Thurston. I suppose that staunch, outspoken Conservatives might find fault with her political positions ... but Karel, hardly, falls into category. And, I can't imagine any other talk host giving rant to the way she conducts her program.

    I've never met Ms. Thurston, but I think the suggestion that she entertains any level of envy over Karel's "red carpet"/entertainment opportunities is ludicrous.

    Karel has the capacity to touch, entertain and inform on a talk show. He's done it in the past. I truly hope that the attitude that he's been airing, since his re-hire, reflects nothing more than the approach that he has chosen (incorrectly, I believe), for his program. I'd love to have "the original" Karel return to the air.

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    1. I agree. I used to really enjoy his program but he does come off as very nasty and bitter lately. It's not fun to listen to.

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  11. Karel's show been dumped by me since the day Karel defended Cumulus pig-vomit-management as though his life depends on it. It was pathetic.

    He did talk about being broke a lot. You might think that a broke person would value a job enough that he'd be careful with everything he says when anyone can hear.

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  12. Wow, if all of you hate Karel so much why do you still listen? I actually like to hear him talk about his struggles, recently it's been his health. As if you all don't already know, lol! He keeps all of you listening.

    All these rumors about back and forth emails and Karel bad mouthing on air. Who knows if this really happened!

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    1. Just because. It's a car lookie-looing a trainwreck to see the mangled bodies flowing out. Or a car vs. truck collision. And it is SO bad that it's fascinating to know that management, corporate in Atlanta and anyone from colleage on down can "listen in" to this moronic display of unprofessionalism and watch him get away with it.

      Preparation? There is none. He doesn't do ANY. It's his "schtick" that he thinks has made him what he is. He goes back to talking about his and his love-god husband's "break-in" at KFI 640 in LA like he was the second coming. He and Andrew were fired together and then he came back as a solo act and Robin Bertolucci fired him again, this time, for good.

      He thinks that his pal David G. Hall made him a legend.

      ...in his own mind.

      He failed horribly at Green 960 and at Energy FM, like a wounded seagull shot out of the sky. His self made syndication doesn't even get "full play" at his handful of affiliates except in a very few instances.

      He was soley hired for "side show value" to shake things up. He's never been taken seriously. Mostly, a grand experiment that wouldn't last.

      And KNX had it fill with him, too, as "entertainment reporter" on the cheap ... and fired him, as well.

      Trashy with no empathy except for himself. Very sad. Check out his webcam during the show. He'll blow soon enough, especially as he self-medicates and smokes weed on air just to show he is answerable to no one.

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    2. Because they did? You'd be surprised.

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  13. I don't think anyone does listen to him anymore. We all gave him a chance and he has become a total asshole. Maybe he always was.

    I didn't understand the logic of bringing in a younger Gay host for late Saturday night. If you have ever been to a Gay bar at 9:00 PM on a Saturday night you know they are packed with people ages 21 to 45. None of them are listening to the radio.

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  14. You want to blame someone regarding Karel?
    Let's start with Jack Swanson. What was this guy thinking when he rehired Karel. Was he nuts? Was he half asleep with he made this decision?

    When Karel made his crude and vulgar remarks (Joe the Plumber) over the air, that was all I needed to know about this guy's character and lack of professionalism.

    The blame rest squarely on Swanson for this misfire.

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    1. I thought it was Deidre Lieberman who hired him back.

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    2. Swanson new his days were numbered and agreed to his own thinking that Karel was his find in KGO history and a hole needed to "plug the dyke" so to speak.

      With Deidra Lieberman's short-term stay and direction at finding what light switches needed to be flipped, she suggested his return for a probation trial. What you hear, after a year of return, is what you get.

      Did he get to exercise a renewal option? No one seems to want to answer that question. Even Karel. He's in it for the healthcare bennies ... not for entertainment value.

      His section of time is the gallows of radio anywhere. Meaningless. However, it's the self-destruction aspects that are so sickening to hear and see.

      He should have listened to his friend Dr. Laura more ... and most of us know how she turned out.

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  15. Karel aside, I'm troubled by the sloppy and messy writing of one Mr. Rich lieberman.

    - C'mon Rich, poor grammar, using alphabet-only letters to assign a title to a person while the audience doesn't understand what the letters represent, and so forth.
    I appreciate your comments, yet I'm finding it more difficult to want to read your writing.

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    1. Nit picky, are we? Bitter, party of one, Bitter ...

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    2. Just when I was thinking I would help to support this effort, on April 1st, a lady, through no fault of her own, was called “horseface.” Well, that changed my mind about the support.

      But I’ve kept reading, and have eventually come to realize that I am not wanted here. This appears to be written for the “in” crowd, and many of the “in” crowd appear to be a group of vipers. An interested reader asked for the definition of a two-letter acronym, and was taken to task with an insulting response that could have been expressed instead in two simple words, the meaning of the acronym.

      Rich seems to be intending to improve his work in several ways; maybe he will consider spelling out some of the acronyms the first time they are used.

      I do plan to keep reading. And, Tom, “Lieberman” should be capitalized!

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    3. I have often thought that Rich should hire, well, ME, to edit his blog. Rich, once those donations provide a stable foundation for you, I do suggest that you hire an editor to simply clarify your posts- you know, tidy them up a bit.

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  16. Here's to hoping KGO kicks Karel off the air and offers the slot to Getty & Armstrong or Stacy Taylor or Peter B. Collins or John Rothmann or Christine Craft.

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    1. Won't happen. To expensive.

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    2. Stacy Taylor isn't better than what they have, and other than the women late at night Craft isn't much better either. Armstrong and Getty work for Clear Channel, and do a morning show in Sacramento and San Francisco. I could totally see them quitting CC, going to work for Cumulus, and taking weekend nights instead. This was a well thought out response.

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    3. Perhaps Christine, Stacy or Peter B, they won't hire somone they already fired. Why would Armstrong and Getty who has been on 910 for about 10 years switch to a station who in a very short time has run a great station into the ground, and who has a reputation for treating their employees with no respect what so ever.
      I suggest that we continue to let KGO know that we don't like most of their programming, and also let them know who we prefer. I would love to hear Stacy Taylor's take on Romney's vp pick. Not interested in what Maureen has to say on that subject and pretty much the same for Karel. Will listen to everyone else.

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  17. Don't Karel and Pat pretend to be ultra-tolerant liberals? They obviously need to work on their tolerance for personal attackers and Republicans. Of course, take away Republican bashing and neither would have much of a show.

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    1. Take away Democrat bashing and Rush Limbaugh wouldn't have much of a show. Strong logic.

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  18. Two no talent hosts, fightin it out. priceless

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  19. Karel Boulware is a distant relative of Peter Boulware, the four time pro bowl sack specialist of the Baltimore Ravens, who was on that great 2000 Ravens' NFL title winning team. Peter however is black and is also a republican, so you can see how little Peter the former NFL football player, and Karel, the gay white talk show host have in common. Thought you'd like to know just because!

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  20. Vice-President elect Paul Ryan!!!

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    1. I'm so glad he's going to take away those socialist programs like medicare and social security. The tea party will be sooo happy...until they figure it out.

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  21. Pat Thurston is one of the more intelligent, hard-working talk show hosts in the Bay Area. She prepares for her programs and it shows. Karel is good at talking about the things in life that we all go through, but no one talks about on the radio. He shines when he does these programs. Lately, he is coming off as angry and bitter much of the time, with a few extremely funny remarks that make me still have the show on as background if I'm around a radio. If KGO gets rid of either one, I have no reason to keep the station programmed on my radio. BTW, Pat Thurston is the only host that had a mental health expert on after both the Arizona shooting and the Colorado theater tragedy. She THINKS about issues and presents thought-provoking guests. I pay attention to the advertisers on these shows to patronize them.

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  22. Listen to both of them when I can. I do wish the casual remarks about how great marijuana is and how it's used several times a day by Karel would stop. Not every person can handle daily THC in their brain. Karel may underestimate what it is doing to his professional demeanor at his age. If KGO fires either one of them, I'm no longer a KGO listener.

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  23. I realize this is a bit late in commenting, I found it when googling Pat Thurston's show. The only reason I listen to KGO on Sunday afternoon is for her show...Once she turns it over to Karel that it for me, I turn the radio off. However 7:31p, keeping track of her advertisers and patronizing them is an excellent idea, in fact I'll make it a point to tell them why I'm at their establishment. Finally, I can't stand KGO anymore, although I do still listen to Ronn Owens, but my opinion of him as diminished, however I can understand why he stayed on and for that I'll stay tuned to his show but again once it's over I turn KGO off. It's like appointment radio

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