JIM EASON, late of KGO and KSFO Radio speaking via my e-mail line...
I couldn't be happier to be OUT of talk radio, and especially OUT of KGO and KSFO.
Someone sent me an email recently, pointing out that I came into Bay Area radio just as
"talk shows" were getting very popular -- and I went out of Bay Area radio just as the "talk shows" were going down the tubes.
It took a few weeks to get out of the habit of listening to talk shows, reading papers and magazines, and watching TV news...but I broke that habit. I read books that I WANT to read, watch old movies, and spend a lot of time listening to music. No news, no talk, and I couldn't be happier. After 30-plus years of talking, listening, and fighting with idiots who ran radio stations without any knowledge or talent or intelligence.
Maybe there is a future in MUSIC radio....but talk is dead.
*Follow me on Twitter
Touchy-feely-self-esteemy..... one of my fave all-time Eason Lines. Nobody like him since. He's missed. But talk is dead so he's better off where is, with an occasional glance back at how good things used to be.
ReplyDeleteIf only Jim Eason would not "broad stroke" his comments and make it all about "him". I liked Eason and respect his opinion bitterness. However, rather than take up valuable reading space, how would Jim Eason address 1) horrid part-time and fill-in talent on KGO, KSFO, KKSF, KNEW? So much here sounds worse than backwoods North Carolina radio, let alone major market Bay Area. How about his feel on national talk? Savage, Limbaugh, Levin, etc.? He may not listen, but surely, he's aware of the goings on. How about the new crop of "call me up and put me on" fill-ins like Casey Bartholomew from New Jersey, Weintraub, Craft, Karel, Thurston and others who stink-up huge wattage former powerhouses like KGO? Speak specifics, Jim. The ABC, Citadel days are long over. Cumulus has proven its worth and its stripes. Talk show hosts don't have the power so many think they do. They are a number making more than they deserve. No one has discovered that "magic" and why AM is dead and programming on both AM and FM is dying. When people knock repetitive and boring KCBS is, you know there's trouble. Tell us more, not just about the "you" or just moving the chess pieces of "talent" around.
ReplyDeleteMight be a future in FM Music,but the future died for Music on TV. We all know MTV dropped vids for the most part,but now I see that they have dropped music vids on VH1 and MT2. It used to be you could see "classic" 80's and 90's music vids on those last two. No more but for maybe an hour at some late hour. Do you know they can and do show re runs of 'Martin' ALL DAY long?..one after another. And reality shows I never heard of.
ReplyDeleteIts like even over 40 is a demographic not worth programming for. It used to be 60.
MTV plays plenty of music videos on the upper tiers of cable...
ReplyDeleteMTV Classics
MTV Soul
MTV RB
MTV U
MTV Tres
And a few more....
Where is Jim living now? I thought he moved to North Carolina. Talk radio is a loss, but they failed to hook in enough from the next generation, so they are no more.
ReplyDeleteBest Eason line. When he referred to the San Jose Mercury News as "The Monkey News". And was he ever right on that assessment.
ReplyDeleteI always loved Jim's comment about "White House liars...oops I mean lawyers".
ReplyDeleteJim, we all miss you and your common sense.
ReplyDeleteJim Eason was already over the hill when he left radio--and that was 14 years ago! Why would anyone thing he would be any better today?
ReplyDeleteI love Jim Eason and have known him personally for nearly half a century, but his last statement about music and news could not be more the opposite of the future. His angst is just plain burnout. He was so intensely and passionately immersed in news and intelligent commentary that he needs the relief and fantasy of recorded music. If I were him I would be doing exactly that. But music on the radio is dying before our very ears as it caves to the practicality of personal, portable mobile media devices and aps. I wouldn't invest time or interest in radio as my source of anything but news or opinion.
ReplyDeletedo what you can but behave yourselves!
ReplyDelete