Quick Saturday Media Notes...
The recent dust-up over at KRON only reinforces the obvious: GM, Brian Greif and News Director, Aaron Pero, don't see eye-to-eye.
One thing's for sure: Pero and his open temper tantrums and yelling and screaming at some staffers may have taken its toll. Very few of the newsroom people like him and questioned his peculiar outbursts. One of those outbursts left one popular KRON personality coming outside his office in tears.
Greif has his own set of allies and enemies but he's at least lent some sanity and stability to a TV station that desperately needs it. KRON still has its issues; always will, given its plunge from NBC days and now semi-albatross status. But it has a vastly-improved news product and it routinely beats KTVU's newscasts in the early evening.
Expect Greif and Pero to patch things up, at least covertly; but let it be known that they don't like each other, that much is true.
*Best news anchor team in Bay Area, hands down: KGO-TV's Dan Ashley and Carolyn Johnson.
Ashley and Johnson, it's clear, have developed a superb chemistry and it's evident. Both have been at the ABC o and o for over two decades and trust one another. It shows. There is a bond there that allows for a smooth delivery by both, no-nonsense approach, and just enough off-story give-and-take that provides for a quality newscast.
Yeah they are a good team. My question is how do they keep Cheryl Jennings with that female anchor crew at ABC7?? With her plastic surgery she is completely un-watchable.
ReplyDeleteI don't care about her plastic surgery. What really bothers me is her bobble head - makes me seasick. Sometimes she even levitates from her seat. Unwatchable? Oh yeah!!
DeleteAs for Dan Ashley, he's not my cup of tea. He seems to be very uncomfortable with the camera and assumes a wooden posture by not turning his neck but rather his entire body. And whoever came up with the idea of constantly making eye contact wasn't too swift either. Love it when Dan leans in staring at one person while talking to somebody else. He often does this with Larry. Carolyn , however, is wonderful.
Ashley already at 20 years plus in the bay area? Christ, where do the years go?. He's not dumb,I heard him host a Commonwealth lunch..and he knew the facts.
ReplyDeleteA KRON guy in tears? They are getting too sensitive.
No Marty Gonzales today only two weeks after Ysabel retired?. Hmmm...
Ho-Hum ... boring "news". Arguments and "dust-ups" happpen in broadcasting all the time, as they do in all businesses. This isn't "breaking news", this is "business as usual." If you are going to do this kind of "slow news day" pandering, why not at least spill the beans as to who the "crying staff" was. That's the same as the irritating "unidentified reliable sources" thing.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just tell who the staffer was who got chewed out. After all, you mentioned the news dude by name -- why not the "popular KRON staffer?" This is worse than tabloid supermarket fodder. Worse yet, who cares? This isn't news.
@anon 9:54 This is a blog dear, not the New York Times.
Delete"Ashley and Johnson, it's clear, have developed a superb chemistry and it's evident. Both have been at the ABC o and o for over two decades and trust one another. It shows. There is a bond there that allows for a smooth delivery by both, no-nonsense approach, and just enough off-story give-and-take that provides for a quality newscast."
ReplyDeleteNice, I guess.
So, what matters ultimately comes down to on-screen chemistry and bonding between anchors?
This, coming off of your rant about CNN's coverage of the Boston bombings.
Style over substance? That's all fluff and nonsense to me.
What about the actual content of the news program itself?
@10:46 Since anchors have little to do with the content of the newscast, other than making script edits, they are usually judged on things like delivery, ad-libing, how they look, and if they have on-air chemistry.
DeleteFor those new to this blog, the big "news" here is that Rich no longer regards co-anchors Frank Somerville and Julie Haener on KTVU's "10 O'Clock News" as the Bay Area's #1 new team.
ReplyDeleteRich
ReplyDeleteDan Ashley can sing! When you have a chance YouTube his band PUSH..
Joe, are you tone-deaf?
DeleteI only watch channel 7 because of Sandhya Patel, Leigh Glaser and Spencer Christian. They have the best weather reporting hands down. Excellent rain and snow forecasts.
ReplyDeleteAs to the newscasters, Ashley and Jennings are just plain terrible and it makes me wonder how they got their jobs. Unless they are reading the news, they add absolutely nothing, because they do not know their subjects.
Alan Wang should be promoted as I do watch ABC on the weekends with him and Glaser. But during the week, I only watch the weather on 7.
Sandhya is a National Weather Service puppet - it's obvious to those who know anything about meteorology that she knows nothing.
DeleteDan Ashley seems like a nice guy, although he goes a little bit far in raising his eyebrows rather needlessly while reading copy.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Johnson is also pleasant, although she disturbs me because I can't tell whether I find her attractive or comforting.
KGO is the WORST of all the ABC OAO (Owned and Operated) stations. The look and feel is of a station in Fresno. I swear, you'd think they were a small-market station with no budget by the look of the product.
ReplyDeleteAt KGO, they have people like the rug wearing Dan Ashley who came from a small market and somehow has stayed at KGO for way too long.
Then there is the old hag Cheryl Jennings who I've NEVER seen report, and who has the thinnest lips of any broad on the tube. Her face is so full of BOTOX nuttin moves -- she gives me the creeps.
And the weather gal, Sandya Patel looks and sounds like some Bollywood cast off.
Last but not least is the dopey looking and acting Larry Beil -- I know reading that teleprompter must be challenging for him --- and the awkwardness of the hand-offs and chit/chat. Do any of these people talk off set.
And speaking of challenges, there is my fave, Carolyn Tyler. She cracks me up! I love watching her struggle and get words twisted. God forbid they put something with 3 syllables or more on the prompter for her. She comes off as smart as a box of rocks.
Long before you achieved such experience and intelligence, Cheryl Jennings was covering rape, mayhem, murder, politics, hostage situations,scandals du jour etc. in San Francisco, quite ably for KPIX.
Delete@3:56 well you sound like a sweet, jolly person.
DeleteWhen have any of these people done any reporting, puhleeeze....
DeleteCheryl Jennings reported, like what 40 years ago?
These anchors are glorified copy readers.
I'd rather watch some hot, young gal read someone's else's writing than some of these fossilized dinosaurs.
like, you know, like,like having, you know like sources. and like knowing how,
Deletelike the world works, and how history oft repeats itself.. PUHLEEZE!!...would like you know, be like way above your ability to like, uh, like. This is due to your like genetically like, fossilzed attention span.
watch it christine-- you're coming off as someone who believes a young female doesn't -- or better yet, can't-- have a brain, looks for tv and an anchor job in a major market. how closed minded of you.
DeleteI believe no such thing. I made no comment to that effect. I responded to a query about whether or not Cheryl Jennings, a San Francisco television veteran,had earned street cred as a reporter. I had direct personal knowledge of her years of covering all the big stories in San Francisco, so I offered my observation. You know, sometimes a long time t.v. journalist can learn an awful lot about how things work in a city.That knowledge shouldn't be discredited or devalued.
DeleteI can't stand Dan Ashley---so redundant and mentions unnecessary details that aren't relevant to the news.
ReplyDeleteLarry Beil is somewhat humorous and understands his sports.
Rich is half right, and he's as much entitled to his opinion as you and I are to ours.
ReplyDeleteYour the Man, Dan. I have been watching you for years.
Kristen Sze over Carolyn Johnson.
Cheers.
Dan is cool, calm, professional and articulate. What more could you ask for?
ReplyDeleteWhat's with Ashley?
ReplyDeleteHe has incredible, dazzlingly white teeth. I mean, it's unnatural. Has he been using the whitening strips touted by pitch man Gil Gross who's head over heels about Mr. Sparky?
Oh, what a bad hair dye job he has. When the camera zooms in on his face, you can see where he needs a touch-up. He should change hair stylists.
Does he wear pink lipstick while on camera? It sure looks like it.
He's not my favorite news anchor, but he does a decent job and I'll give him props for that.
Am I crazy or what? I mean, I like TV news readers that are straight up about the news. Strictly no nonsense, no banter or chit-chat, no smiley face in a suit, no eyebrow twitching. You can have your on-air chemistry and bonding between "Ken" and "Barbie" doll anchors. All that may make for great reviews in some circles and for high ratings, but it's also a lot of what's wrong with TV today.
ReplyDeleteLots of us might be deemed crazy, but I agree with you. Have you watched the noon news on ch 2? Only a solo female anchor with a few seconds of chit chat after the weather. That's it. No false happy talk. Just good, solid reporting without any facade.
DeleteHow often Mr Media can you trudge the same ground?
ReplyDeleteBlah Blah Blah Blah. Never before has local television news had so little influence or impact especially on key demographics who simply don't watch.
The situation, as you described it at KRON, can't be sustained. If the GM and ND are at each other's throats, that's untenable. Sooner or later, one has to go unless the other can swallow a lot of pride and turn it around. Among the staff, it's causing too much disruption and serious morale problems. The quality of news programming is suffering. To the extent the bottom line is in peril, that will drive the ultimate outcome.
ReplyDeleteI love how this post is about turmoil at KRON, yet everyone is posting about ABC7. Tells you how relevant KRON is, afterall. Its not.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Johnson is the kind of girl you want to take anywhere on your arm - plus in bed. Shes sexy in a very sort of quiet way. When she wears anything low-cut - wow... uber-tease! And shes damn reliable reading the news.
ReplyDeleteI'd have her Julie Haner and Ama Daetz in 4 way mud wrestling - anyday.
Johnson is beautiful. I always crack jokes in the news room that I'm way into her. That said, I haven't heard her speak. It's always on mute. - DW
ReplyDelete