Monday, April 1, 2013

KTVU hires Rosenthal as New News Director; Respected Indy Exec; Tillem has lunch with Cumulus/KGO boss; Ronn Owens Salary

News, notes and comments...

KTVU has hired Lee Rosenthal as their new News Director. He's a respected and young pro out of WXIN in Indianapolis, the Fox affiliate. Rosenthal replaces Ed Chapuis, who was recently fired.

A veteran TV guy here told me that Rosenthal is well-regarded and liked. He's also only 32, but is supposedly known as a good solid pro. We'll see. KTVU is still king at 10 PM, but its early evening newscast ratings are still tepid, which ultimately led to Chapuis getting pink-slipped.

*Len Tillem had lunch with the new KGO OM, Ron Escarsega. What comes of it nobody knows but don't hold your breath. Tillem was bounced from NewsTalk 910 last Thursday.

*Ronn Owens new salary at KGO: $475K...two years with a third-year option.

*"Live....from the Conklin Brothers studio..."? Just when you thought it couldn't get any less sacred.

*April fools "jokes": so lame and utterly jumped the shark eternity dept.

*Since I've become a total wreck with a few things on my mind, good to know baseball is back, but really I don't get too interested until the fall. In the meantime, go A's and Giants, Meat!

*Follow me on Twitter

12 comments:

  1. I did hear an ad from Tillem while listening to Karel a couple of weeks ago, I was thinking how nice it would be if he did come back to KGO, especially since it might go through another change in format.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When shows like American Idol go until 10:01pm, does that boost the ratings for the newscast in that quarter hour, even though that one minute isn't technically part of the newscast itself? If so, doesn't that skew the ratings misleadingly?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tillem talked about podcasting regularly and somehow including 'call-ins' as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here's his podcasts http://bit.ly/TheLenTillemShow.

      Delete
  4. Mr. Rosenthal, Please allow me to offer a warm 415 media welcome!

    The good news...the bay area is in desperate need of a quality news broadcast, creating a ripe opportunity for you.

    The bad news.... current Ch2 newscasts are unwatchable but easily correctable. The morning news requires a replacement anchor, the late news requires a new co anchor, and the weather report needs a new fill in meteorologist. The broadcasts in general, lack in depth, noteworthy investigative journalism/reporting.

    Your good judgment and ability to manage the existing situation will determine my interest. Execute the required changes and I will migrate back to Ch 2.

    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  5. Too bad Lamont and Tonelli weren't actually replaced on 107.7 today. The "replacement sounded good and it would be a Cumulus firing I would agree with.

    ReplyDelete
  6. John Rothmann talking to Gil Gross now on the air on Newstalk 910.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just watched that video of Lee Rosenthal from that embedded link. Is he really just 32? He looks, and carries himself MUCH older.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anybody have any inside scoop on this Rosenthal guy?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Note to Rosenthal: Welcome to the market! Job one: get rid of the stupid "thanks for trusting us" tag line. Fergodsake.

    ReplyDelete