Gone from the odor of the alleged "all-news" powerhouse, the insufferable KGO Radio is News Director, Gina Baleria. It took place late last week.
I don't know the background on Baleria's 86ing, but I heard she was skipping out of 55 Hawthorne like a seasoned ballet performer. There's word she has a new gig. Good. We can all sleep now. (Fired-Left on her own accord--who cares.)
Said a bud: "people are ecstatic when they leave KGO--all smiles."
Apparently, they need help too.
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Couple corrections, she was NOT the news director but assistant news director. No news director was ever hired after Hosley was fired. Gina was hired to replace Terry Conway who was Hosley's assistant. So perhaps the more shocking "news" is that this news station has had no news director all this time. Also Gina left on her own accord after finding another job. She was not shown the door. She located the door on her own and happily exited it.
ReplyDeleteGina was the asst. News Director, and she wasn't bounced out of KGO but rather, took a fulltime job teaching (where she had worked part time) journalism and new media at SF State. Good lucky Gina, I think you'll be a fine teacher there!
ReplyDeleteAs if the "assistant" ND and actual ND mean anything; she was defacto ND...and I indicated she was happy to leave the black hole. Grab some pine, meat.
DeleteI think Gina enjoyed working at KGO, but she realized the limitations, the long hours, and the poor salary were not going to be things that she wanted to be a part of for a long time. She was smart to get out of that place. In the last couple of years, Cumulus has done everything possible to turn that place into the wasteland.
ReplyDeleteIt's a credit to the hard working reporters, producers and anchors who have managed to survived the Cumulus purges, that the place still sounds professional.
But with all of the cheap, young, and naive people Cumulus now has working at KGO, as well at KFOG, upstairs at KNBR, and at the 'Bone,' they're fighting an uphill battle. Large market radio has never had so many underpaid neophytes working as there are currently.
It's one of the big problems in this country. These mega-companies are more concerned with shareholders and bonuses and profits than they are about loyalty to hard working employees and actually providing the public with the service that they are prescribed to provide by the FCC. But the FCC might as well be a dick on a Priest, for all of its ineffectiveness.
Radio broadcasting used to have to live up to high standards but no more. Turn on a major market radio station today, especially one owned by Cumulus in San Francisco and you'll near pathetic excuses for announcers such as 'Paulie' Mac, Kate Scott, Bob 'Fatty' Fitzgerald, and 'P-Con.' Of course when you have a complete dolt, corporate tool and yes-man such as that idiot Lee Hammer running the show. what can you expect?
Ten years ago, one would have been laughed out of the building for suggesting that a fool such as Hammer would be running KNBR. The fact that this ass-kissing weasel who knows next to nothing about what it takes to be a true broadcaster is now running one of the most powerful radio stations in the country, shows you how far the state of terrestrial radio has fallen.
12:13, spoken like a truly disgruntled past employee. Gina has a great job at SF State, something she really wants. Imagine a pension to look forward to. plus an awesome medical plan. As for Hammer, yes the ultimate ass kisser but he's been running one of the most powerful radio stations in the country since Agnew was uncerimoniously let go and that has been a number of years now. He began at the old KSFO when Gene Autry and Golden West owned the station (BillyBall), then to KCBS (49ers)--two real shitty broadcasters if u know your broadcast history. What r your credentials 12:13 to rip a station that is consistently one of the top 3 or 4 stations in most key demos and bills the shit out of market. Show us your credentials 12:13.
DeleteNo one is ever sad when leaving KGO. Seems everyone is ecstatic they landed a new job before the inevitable. Everyone there is hoping to use the name KGO in the hopes other people still think it carries weight. Of course, the statute of limitations is coming to a close on that move. Good for Gina for getting out while the getting is available.
ReplyDeleteBut to the point, the "news director" is the "program director" Ron Escarsega. And while I'm told he's a good person and boss, he doesn't seem to have any previous experience in that department. In other words, Gina was the low-paid News Director post-Paul Hosley.
Great point about Cumulus. They don't care about their employees, but only what they can get from their employees. They care only about their bottom line. They don't care about the audience either. They're completely representative of what's wrong with this country. You never hear a Dickey discussing programming. All you hear is "quarterly results."
I once emailed Hammer about what a horrible choice Eric Byrnes is, especially when teamed with Tolbert. His response?
ReplyDelete"Email me in a couple of months...you'll see..."
Yeah, I do see. But I no longer hear because it's tragic radio. This station rates because of the GM. And not the one at 55 Hawthorne, but the ones at ATT Park and Candlestick.
This is another perfect example of Rich telling those of us who actually work in the building about what's going on. It must be great to be so omniscient. Of course if anyone actually corrects him, it's all "spin" a perfect example of his projecting on everyone else his own psychological failings. Oh, and Michael Savage is a genius.
ReplyDeleteHey 9:56pm, you asked me about my credentials and what gives me the right to criticize KNBR. FYI, I worked there from the mid 1980s until just before Cumulus took over. I was there for their first meetings with the staff when they told us: "We won't be playing off anyone!" I didn't believe it and got out of there before the massecre.
ReplyDeleteThey immediately went back on their word and the first two days they took over set about 'adjusting their budget' by firing about 2 dozen long-time employees.
That's NOT what a good company does, but no one EVER accused Cumulus of being a good company. They were lucky to buy a property that pretty much stands on its own two feet in KNBR, but they've done plenty to downgrade it by stripping it of many of it's formerly top resources and hiring nitwits like 'P-Can' and Paulie Mac to do talk shows. That's really creative and smart radio! :(
Very familiar with the all the above. Tony s. is an old friend and I met him when he first came out from Detroit 30 + years ago when he first worked at KFOG when the station was Beautiful Music and GE owned the station. I work there now at Cumulus--wow, what this business has become. I don't blame Hammer. U must have been on air. You don't have to tell me about Cumulus. This is Radio today 2013!
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