KTVU and, specifically, lead weekday anchor, Frank Somerville deserve major props in covering the airliner crash at SFO.
Somerville and the station were almost immediately on the air moments after the first report of the jet crash from SFO. It was also helpful that Somerville was aided by both reporter, Tom Vacar and fellow anchor, Ken Wayne, both of whom are aircraft experts. Wayne, in fact, is a small-plane pilot.
Airline crashes of this magnitude are extremely difficult to cover given the overly-fluid bevy of information which can be both true and untrue given the Twitterization of news these days. Remarkably, Somerville kept it close to his notes and did not resort to hyperactive news reporting. It was both welcome and refreshingly beneficial to watch.
*Follow me on Twitter
I agree - KTVU is far and away giving the best coverage.
ReplyDeleteEven more amazing is that he was there so quickly. He's not even the weekend anchor. I bet those anchors at KPIX won't be off golfing next weekend before the newscast...
ReplyDeleteEvents like this separate the men and women from the boys and girls. Those who stay calm, focused and factual are to be acknowledged
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. The entire KTVU team is knocking it out of the park, I'm glued to my tv.
DeleteWhat procedures do these stations have for getting their main anchors on the air in a crisis situation? Somerville hit the air at about noon, 30 minutes after the crash. As you noted, Frank was all over the story, looking like Cronkite anchoring an assassination or space shot. Allen Martin at Ch. 5 didn't make an appearance until 2 p.m., Raj Mathai was on by 2:45 and Dan Ashley showed up at about 3:30. You got to wonder why Martin, Mathai and Ashley didn't just drop what they were doing and head into the station when they heard about this. ... And KRON's coverage is simply horrible. No surprise there I guess. The woman anchoring at KRON appears to have very little on-air experience. ... KGO-810 is also a mess, with host Tim Montemayor repeating any bizarre claim he can find on the Internet, like how a second plane was involved in this crash. (Tim, wait until you get some confirmation before you go with something like that!) ...
ReplyDeleteIt helps that Frank Somerville happens to live in Oakland, where KTVU has its studios.
DeleteIndeed, KGO was a hot mess. That screaming and shrill school-girl, Tim Montemayor, was hyperventilating and completely dramatic and unprofessional.
DeleteI was listening to KGO when the story broke. I had to switch to grown-up and professional KCBS 7.40 within minutes of listening to Timmy's coverage for my own sanity.
When I turned on KGO-810, late in the afternoon, Kim McAlister was on the air and doing a great job. Once again, I was reminded of how essential it is to have a functioning LOCAL news station on the radio. Thank goodness I did not have to suffer the insufferable Montemayor.
Delete> The woman anchoring at KRON appears to have very little
Delete> on-air experience...
With the exception of a few of the vets left over from the NBC affiliation days (Heenan, Moore), EVERYONE at KRON has very little on-air experience.
Timothy Montemayor is a disgrace. He is like an insecure high school jock who thinks the louder he talks the more gravitas he possesses. What a waste of 50,000 watts of air time. As for Mr. Sommerville, I live close to his lovely home in the Oakland hills, if he drove his 911 Porsche Turbo he'd arrive at the KTVU studios in 7 minutes flat.
DeleteKgo was lost - took them forever, and terrible coverage.
ReplyDeleteMr. Somerville is not high among my favorite news broadcasters. However, he has been doing an excellent job in covering this situation. I give him high marks, and extend my thanks.
ReplyDeleteTom Vacar and Ken Wayne have combined to add a great deal of information/expertise.
A job well done, KTVU!!
They are sounding like morons now. Put on the Giants game.
ReplyDeleteBetween the BART strike and this, Sal has really been earning his salary this week. He's doing a nice job too today.
ReplyDeleteRich,
ReplyDeleteThe input, foresight and coverage of this tragedy on 415 Media is first rate, accurate and your insight is spot on.
Thanks to the posters who have taken the lead, too, with their observations and input. Better than ever!
Good job % please keep it up. You coverage, here, is better than some radio stations, TV and print. I won't name names and call letters out of embarrassment. I will, however, agree that KGO and Montemayor were beyond horrible. Very unprofessional.
One of those in the crash landing from Santa Cruz with family and friends coming back to Santa Cruz from a martial arts tournament. Says he saw five flight attendants fall from the back of the plane, 500 yards from where the plane stopped. Also reported on CNN.
Good job, Rich - JB, SLO
Watching KTVU solid, solid coverage. Informative, professional, focused, fact based coverage of this tragedy. Kudos to KTVU
ReplyDeleteVacar is also a pilot, as is Fowler.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. KTVU was outstanding with this story. I quickly switched from ABC 7 because they were another disaster.
ReplyDeleteKGO-AM and KRON are clearly amateur hour. Monty and his second plane was involved was community access level.
ReplyDeleteMuch better than listening/watching that idiot Dan Ashley from KGO. The guy asked several really stooopid questions. I understand it is live and all that but come on man, a pro newsperson should be able to ask reasonable questions. I feel sorry for Jennings who is sitting next to him and even she gives out that look that Ashley is asking stupid questions.
ReplyDeleteLooks like everyone else decided to stop covering.. KRON is the only one on the air. Hmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping, begging, asking that management, staff, interns and anyone connected to KGO / Cumulus Media read this post and others here, regarding this station's manhandling of the tragic plane crash at SFO today.
ReplyDeleteWe've heard, now, in several posts and, as listeners (as I was), hearing Tim Montemayor absolutely trash any and all credibility of coverage by KGO Radio. His "speculation" at the top of his voice that "two planes were involved" was uncalled for, unprofessional and the coverage was horrendous by KGO. The absolute worse.
Second, while I could hand Pat Thurston's coverage and, especially, her experienced phone-in guests who had experience in such airline matters, I found her frequent nervous giggles and oout-and-out laugh about her "not knowing what she was talking about" sad and nerve wracking --- not to mention, unprofessional.
Third, the absolute WORST, evr.
Karel.
This group needs more training, as does the news department, on handing such "crisis".
One of these people, Montemayor, should be suspended for a month for inaccurate report and hyper interjection.
The one person who should, at long last, be F I R E D and terminated immediately MUST be Karel Bouhley.
This bastard, within the first 30-seconds of his sign-on at 9 pm, had to tell us what a beautiful day it was, how blue the sky was, how he had a "wonderful tea-date" with a mororcylist, age 32, in Long Beach and "how my new friend is so cute."
I, physically, got up and vomited. Honest.
Then we here about a plane crash off the freeway in the LA "right where I live ... not as bad as yours in San Francisco, but a plane crash nonetheless." Again, about "him".
Next, it was the God-fearing Karel, who admitted, of course, how he's a "stone atheist" and openly wonders about "miracles." "If you want this to be a miracle, you go ahead and call it that, though I don't belive in religion, I am an atheist. I had a lovely day with my new friend and we were on beautiful motorcycles with him behind me." Who PHUCKING CARES?
And finally,he wants to pontificate as if he's walked through fire a dozen times, been through SFO International more than near most everyone (a guy who rents a car everytime he goes to SF to perform because he is "so broke" all the time.
This chucklehead is an a$$hat major. No class, no style, no sincerity, all personal drama and all about him.
The asshat known as Karel must go, and go now.
The most insincere, unknowledgeable, misinformed maniac ever on the radio. The novelty of His Gayness being on the air at KGO for over a decade is not a novelty anymore. He is a boorish whiner, complainer and egocentric face of radio at KGO.
I hope there are 100 comments to this post, with thanks to Rich for doing a great job on this coverage. Maybe then, Cumulus Media will not only get the hint, but will get the message. Be done with this boob.
Thank you.
Don't forget that in another "comparison" of which HE was "so close to" in a Cerritos plane crash several years ago, this tidbit, as he described on air last night. "Blah, blah, blah, my friend Daniel was working at a fast food restaurant and called ME and said, "It's raining people, girl. Honest, girlfriend, it's raining people. Oh my god!" Karel loves it when you call him "girl" and "girlfriend." Sick creep. Then, he turns into the holy deity while announcing what an atheist he is.
DeleteI have always loved KTVU and the coverage has been excellent. Even Julie showed up for the Ten O'Clock News. It's a team effort. Job well done. I wish the station's ratings could be better for the early evening news. It deserves all the great ratings.
ReplyDeleteThe entire news department is always professional. No unnecessary chatters like those on other channels.
I live in Brentwood and have an over-the-air antenna because I refuse to pay for cable. My antenna picks-up only Sacto stations.
DeleteI was pleasantly surprised when KCRA3 was broadcasting KTVU! I was thrilled actually.
Indeed, KTVU did a professional job. (Although I have nothing else to compare their coverage to.)
High 5 for KTVU Ch.2!
ReplyDeleteKNTV props for getting the most important interview of the day.
ReplyDeleteRaj's 10 min interview of survivor Chris Levy put to rest a lot of misinformation and really clarified what happened on the plane.
A tragedy, for sure.
ReplyDeleteBut please folks, why not get it right, there is NO SFO airport. When I go to that airport there is a sign at the entrance that says San Francisco International Airport. The old very days of SFO so long gone.
It's just like saying KFC instead of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's called an abbreviation, dear, everyone knows what SFO is.
DeleteThe official airline identifier used by pilots and the FAA is SFO, incidentally. Just like the tags on your luggage at check-in.
Deletehttp://www.world-airport-codes.com/united-states/san-francisco-international-6544.html
DeleteThe airport code is: SFO
dear 7:19, I know you are hip and trendy and all young and everything, but what does "the old very days"(sic) mean? Can you enlighten us oldies on that?
DeleteDo you mean the good old days when people claiming to be "journalists" knew what SFO meant?knew there was no such word as "anyways"? knew what was "breaking news" and what wasn't? knew what a "cartwheel" was and wasn't, knew how to be calm,cool, collected and speak without hysteria in their own voices?
so long gone,indeed.
Good one, Christine. "I'm so hip, why, I can juxtopose what I want because I know what I mean when no one else does. I am, after all, the most interesting man in the world. Stay thirsty my friends."
DeleteThese comments corroborate why KCRA TV/Sacramento-Northern California chose to replace its 5 & 6 PM newscasts in their entirety on Saturday with live excellent coverage from KTVU.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, one cannot help but wonder where that lovely vixen Heather Holmes' wedding ring has gone.
Ah yes the ring. You and I may have a mano a mano to get Heather's attention.
DeleteI have to agree, Frank Sommerville has come out as one of the premier newscasters in the SF region. His on-air personality coupled with what appears to be a genuine interest in the Oakland area makes him even more appealing. Keep up the good work Frank -
ReplyDeleteI was out driving listening to KCBS. They did a great job covering the story.
ReplyDeleteI was out of town in the Truckee area but luckily KCRA (another great news station) went direct to KTVU's coverage. KCRA also had their "a" team in anchoring pretty much all night as well. They'd usually come on once every 30 mins during the KTVU coverage to talk about Sacramento Int'l airport and how many flights were there. Beyond that it was all KTVU coverage. IT was very well done.
ReplyDeleteIt was also interesting that CBS had to scramble to get Capt Sully on the air (via Skype). He was in the Truckee area talking at an air show at the Truckee Airport.