Several of you have sent e-mails and comments on the comment line here complaining about KTVU's coverage of the Giant's World Series run.
Has KTVU gone overboard? Of course. Don't they, (media), all? Has KTVU run repetitious, predictable and saturation reporting? Yes, yes and yes. Has the ludicrous and over-used "Team Coverage" run amok? Yes and Yes, again.
I'm not surprised about all this; KTVU isn't alone to be fair but since when did actual news coverage trump a Giants Post-Season appearance? Never.
KTVU is simply over-milking its FOX affiliation, (and now, its owner), network association with the World Series with the predictable anchors/reporters en masse covering everything/anything Giants. It's an editorial/sales dept. tour de force for the station and it's making globs of money for Channel 2 and driving first-place ratings. In a perfect world KTVU would be a little less busy but this is a different world. Thus, you get extra-sized Panda-hat coverage.
*Bumped into KPIX/KCBS vet reporter, Mike Sugerman last night doing a live shot in Downtown Oakland, (and reading this blog--good for him), about the upcoming election. Sugerman: "I like Night Beat", he told me. Mike, you're a cool guy and been in town for over 30 years so you should know better but I respectfully disagree. Nice cigar though.
*Tuesday's column about the Giants and Downtown SF: replay exact scenario for tonight. Could be bedlam if Gints win considering the hot weather and pre-Halloween scene. REPEAT: God bless the SFPD. Can only imagine what the HOJ might be like tonight after the game. Of course if they lose, you'll probably be able to nail a table at Tadich at 8.
*Wasn't that long ago that both KPIX and KRON were neighbors on Van Ness. Now with KRON less than a month away from moving into 900 Front, (where KGO-TV resides), and PIX on Battery, three of the big 4 will be less than a mile apart. Good news for Hunan, Grumpy's and the Old Ship.
*Darya on the Embarcadero: Good news for all the sailors.
*Da Lin: If Mr. Spock was Asian.
*Ronn Owens: Hadn't said a word about the Giants all year--suddenly comes out of the barn and hasn't stopped yapping about them all week. Maybe cuz good friend, Larry Baer, gave him two lower-level tickets to the World Series. Ronnnnnnnnnnn tried to return the favor by offering Larry a Temperpedic mattress --Baer politely said no thanks. Ronnnnn will be wearing a Panda hat all November.
*The TV reporters in town who used to make the big bucks have seen their pay almost cut in half in recent years. Long gone are the $200K a-year "average" reporters; now, most of 'em are lucky to pull in half that.
*Radnich Salary Breakdown: $350K from KNBR; $150K from KRON and a cheeseburger and orange soda from Comcast.
*Andy Baggarly: A younger Kevin Spacey with less hair.
*Dear Amy G: at least you work hard and know baseball as opposed to the Kate Scott scrambled eggs who doesn't know shit.
*Heather Holmes: Carly Simon if she were 40 --plus Holmes has more vain.
*Christin Ayers from KPIX: MSNBC wants you. Hell, so do I.
*Even if the dummies at KQED think they got their union issue fixed, they would be severely wrong. Ask the rank and file, secretly, of course.
*Tony Bruno is not coming to The Game to brighten up the morning. He's too much baggage, would ask and need too much money and the only sports tonsils 95.7 FM hires are contest winners.
*Gil Gross: Elliot Gould, 2014, without very little hair.
*Jon Bristow and Jennifer Jones-Lee: Donnie and Marie. Although she's a little more country and he's a little more rock and roll.
*Ronnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn had a rough week. He was supposed to have lunch with John Handlery at Perry's but forgot about Gavin Newsom at the Daily Grill. Advantage, Newsom, 12 extra gadgets and a free meal.
*Linda Yee at PIX: best and most-seasoned veteran street reporter makes least amount of money on staff. That'll fire up morale. (Gammmmmmmme Offffffff!)
*Tony Kovaleski: If Robert Duvall was 63.
*Elyce Kirchner: You can investigate me any damn time you please if you know what I mean.
*Vicky Nguyen: Psst, smile, it's not against the law.
*Follow me on Twitter
KTVU are part of the SF Giants ownership group, no?
ReplyDeleteNowadays, it appears they are not:
Deletehttp://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/front_office.jsp?c_id=sf
No, but the Giants are minority owners of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (why do you think the A's wanted to move over to CSN California?). While another division of 21st Century Fox is also a minority owner, this is KTVUs one chance to tie themselves as tight to the Giants as they can. They only carry games based upon the national Fox contract after passing on the Giants in 2008. So, they need to seize the spotlight while they can. CSN and KNTV have better access to the team, now.
DeleteNichole Wallace the ex republican,now liberal who is the new milf on the View?...An Amy G. look. Not twins- but fur sure sisters who look,sound,a lot alike. MUCH alike.
ReplyDeleteShe gets me to watch the View again...
As long as the TV is set to 'mute'.
Deletemen who watch the view=girlie men
DeleteAs if you needed more proof Rich is creepy...
ReplyDeleteKreuger brought up that commercial AGAIN. This time he left out referencing raddy and stuck to "its funny"..at that, Kate Scott agreed uhuh. Radnich? did a whistled in the dark kind of laugh too. Yeah, he knows Larry - and me- are flashing to Radnich doing the Heenan rub a few weeks back.
DeleteMy favorite part of the KTVU team coverage was seeing all the sad sack folks near Civic Center watching the big screen tv. Someone had a sign that read: "I've been here since 5am!". As the bloated one would say: "who does that? Who has time!?". Why would anyone boast about that?
ReplyDeleteIs anything sadder than seeing a guy in his 50s near tears because the Giants lost? I screamed at the tv: "dude get a life! It's not too late". I'm a Giants fan but the over the top coverage is ridiculous. I'm so tired of all the bandwagon fans that I almost want the Giants to lose today.
These bandwagon fans (Giants) came on board in the year 2000.
DeleteThey are so obvious with their fained over-the-top enthusiasm.
Great column this morning Rich. I felt like I was reading the Herb Caen version of what's happening in local radio. One thing that I won't miss when the baseball season is over: The insufferable front runners who wear Panda hats, scream and jump up and down like a bunch of grade-school, attention deficit idiots after the games on the post game Comcast shows from Willie Mays Plaza, while the hosts smiles and try to seriously talk about the game. Why do they do that? They look like total idiots! Also: They wouldn't know Willie Mays from a cheeseburger, and they know less about the Giants than some guy in Russia. 90 percent of them are frauds who never heard of Candlestick Park, and they just want to be seen at the big party if the Giants win tonight. However they won't, because Bruce Bochy stubbornly refuses to pitch Madison Bumgarner on short rest. That's a HUGE MISTAKE, mark my words!
ReplyDeleteYES! Thank you. What this guy said....I've been saying since 2010. The insane marketing (which I understand) has turned me off in regards to the team. I get that the multimillionaires (10-50 times over) that own the Giants need more money. I get that the skinny daughter and the fat daughter need to keep their lifestyles up as well. Doesn't mean I have to like it tho. Sad thing is I remember when all of this was going on in the late 1980's except it was the Oakland A's everyone was in love with at that time...and I was the sole person I knew rooting for the Giants in the '89 World Series. At least I can find solace in that attorney that was on Ronn Owens last week guaranteeing the A's will be in Oakland soon. Real soon. He's going to bring it all the way up the line in the courts. Then we'll see the Giants "diehard" fans flock to SJ and we can all enjoy reasonably priced seating again.
DeleteThe A's are already in Oakland.
DeleteSmart lawyer...only guarantees things that have already happened.
DeleteKate Scott's scrambled eggs are massively hostile, and not funny. She may think she's pulling it off as a "bit", but she's not a good enough actor to put a veneer of "funny" over her narcissistic and angry comments. Yesterday the tone of voice she was using when telling Raddy to not "jinx" the Giants was so over the top it was almost (but obviously not) frightening. I changed the station immediately.
ReplyDeleteKNBR, lose that garbage. She's losing you ratings!
Yes, she is repulsive in many respects.
DeleteLooks like your'e getting more down on Ronn with two N's..rightly so... and Larry Baer is the ultimate kiss ass, took doing everything political. when it comes to good people like Bill Newcomb, Dusty Baker, Stan Conte, Hank Greenwald it's under the bus...
ReplyDeleteHank Greenwald despises Larry Baer.
DeleteWith good reason and he is not alone in that sentiment.
Radnich and Paul Lynde.
ReplyDeleteDid you catch Claudine Wong talking to Giant fans? A- mazing!...she had big smiles,talked normal,had personality..and showed lots of..arm. She had on a Giant's jersey.
Rich: you'd better watch the Da Lin comments. Seriously, that's close to actionable.
ReplyDeleteAre you Mr. Spock's attorney?
DeleteJust curious....how would that be actionable? Is it "free speech"? I've always wondered how far we can go in comments without going over the line legally. For instance, can I call a particular female at KRON a garden tool? Or do I have to be vague like the whole "a certain female morning personality".
DeleteParamount's. They don't take their Trek franchise lightly...
DeleteSaying that someone looks like Mr, Spock could be considered a compliment to some people. I don't see how that could threaten the Star Trek Franchise. The Simpsons, SNL, Family Guy and many other programs and comedians have done Star Trek parodies I believe that falls under the protected free speech category
DeleteRich...why is Bruno too much baggage like him on air but he goes through jobs....
ReplyDeleteThat's Good Knowledge
DeleteA look at when KPIX & KSFO were in the same building on Van Ness.... http://bayarearadio.org/schneider/ksfo-kpix.shtml
ReplyDeleteThe Golden Beaver won't criticize the company. Why should he? You love your mother, pure & simple, and you know which side your bread is buttered on. Don't put Sugarman between a rock & a hard place. Next time ask him for an aircheck from his radio daze at KCSB-FM, and the next time you're up in Sacto, Czech in with Dandy Dan Adams for his views on the 415 media scene...
ReplyDeleteI want the Giants to win soo bad. But..a rotation that has Peavy, Vogelsong- two Journeymen who weren't in Journey, and Hudson...the old man who you know hasn't a chance in hell of tossing a shutout..and KC's pitcher does.
ReplyDelete2010,2012...Cain,Bum,Lincecum, were a solid staff. Wilson and with setup guy Romo the bullpen.
So,what a story it will be when we win!...yep.
Hudson wasn't in the Hudson Brothers either.
DeleteTHEY dude, not WE. What's your position? left right out?
DeleteThey are playing the game while you're sitting in front of a 30 y/o TV in Richmond.
Vicky Nguyen.. Serious Stone face when Investigating. Smiling and completely different when anchoring. The latter is much better.
ReplyDeleteIf the Giants lose the World Series, does that mean KTVU has to "fake it" with their SF Giants orgasm coverage?
ReplyDeleteBaggarly is younger, and spacey.
ReplyDelete"*Ronn Owens: Hadn't said a word about the Giants all year--suddenly comes out of the barn and hasn't stopped yapping about them all week."
ReplyDeleteAs if the Giants don't have enough bandwagoners.
The good news is after Friday's parade, we won't have to see those pandering, ass-kissing, fluffy news pieces about Giants any more until next Spring.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad you pick on Da. He's one of the nicest, hardest working reporters I've ever known or worked with. Going after his looks is a cheap shot.
ReplyDeleteWhy not open up the comments about your appearance, Rich? In keeping with the science fiction theme, if Da looks like Mr. Spock, you look like Jabba the Hut. 10 pounds of shit stuffed into a 5 pound bag. More chins than Chinatown's phonebook. Go shove another steak into your face hole, Richie boy.
I know you won't publish this because you're a hypocritical blowhard, but you'll see it, and that's good enough for me.
Hey 1029, what do you look like? Do you look like the second coming of Junior Sample from Hee Haw? Do you have a face that cracks mirrors? Have some more sugar. Go suck on a bag of C and H.
DeleteRemember, those who live in glass houses...
Wow, you have some serious anger issues. You may want to get some help.
ReplyDelete