The truth is a bitch.
*Over at KPIX, a friend texted me about alleged newscast, "Night Beat."
"What would McElhatton think?" Different world, dude.
*Repeat, Ronn Owens was getting destroyed in the ratings by Spencer Hughes on KSFO when Hughes was opposite him...and another: although there's not been enough time to measure the numbers, Ronnnnn will be trounced by Rush Limbaugh too.
*Prediction: Because it has little to lose KPIX will carry on with Night Beat at 10 PM if only to try to save face and protect its Veronica De La Cruz investment. Her cosmetics account cost more than the newscast has made.
*KQED Forum host, Michael Krasny, celebrated his 70th birthday on Sept. 28. Big Marin event: One of the guests was Robert Redford, who has called in to Krasny a few times.
*I've given up on SFGate. Everytime I log on my computer freezes --enough. Go to SF News instead.
*Follow me on Twitter
Karel, when KGO terminates your ass, I'll gladly drive to Long Beach & leave a present on your driveway, just for you.
ReplyDeleteI understand you don't care about Karel and his show, neither do I, but there seem to be so much vindictiveness in your comments why? He is a talk show host with strong opinions, some will like him, some won't, so what. There are several host I don't care for, but I don't wish them ill will, even Savage and Rush although it is tempting, they seem to have a nasty streak to them. Although I hear that off air Rush, is nice to everyone and helpful. Can't say the same about Savage, he seem to alienated almost everyone he comes in contact with even fellow conservatives.
DeleteHerd mentality, 9:55. If repeating vitriol and stupidity make them feel like they are one of the crowd, they'll do it. Are any of these people actually forced to listen to shows they claim to hate?
DeleteWho is Ron Escarsega and how did he blow up? A little clarification for your readers for something you've never covered would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI've had it with SFGate too. I want them to succeed, but the new sight is soooo slow. Even slower than it used to be. And I don't care much for the new format.
ReplyDeleteSo, what is SF News? Can you link an address for this site, Rich?
Rich,
ReplyDeleteHave you heard any background on what is going on with SFGATE? It appears that they fired the editors that organized the website. As well as going for the picture book.
By the way, what website is "SF NEWS"? have tried the sfexaminer and sjmerc, and both will appear to be unchanging front pages for days on end. The local free news papers are much better for local news than anything else out there now (not that this is saying much).
Ron Escaraga was the short-lived news director at KGO who was basically a good guy, but got fed up with the short-sided policies of Cumulus Radio, so he quit. He wasn't fired, although Cumulus made it sound as if he was, just to save face.
ReplyDeleteMichael Krasny is one of the best things going on local radio. He researches his subjects so well, as his academic background (he teaches English Literature at SF State), serves him well. He's interested in just about anything, and is constantly reading. He brings a great enthusiasm to his job, and is always fair when he's dealing with controversial issues on the air. He's a real treasure on KQED radio and I can say this without any reservation or hesitation, because I know the guy personally: he's a wonderful fellow too!
ReplyDeleteKarel, scoop knowledge from the inside: You are so done. Short weeks away from getting a fork stuck in your fat ass. Inside Hawthorne and one snooper in HQ in Atlanta confirm. (Not far from Ex VP of content and programming, John Dickey's office in fact,) Dickey has been selling Cumulus stock lately (within the last two weeks) following his demotion, incidentally. Karel, is in the black book. Count on it. Rich is right, you were on the list with Escarsega but with Diedra to deal with (she ended up quitting after a fight with Ron,) Barbara Simpson (who got fired), and a couple of behind the scenes people. Ron was tossed. Too many flights to LA on weekends and not following the goings on. You have been on the list for five months, in fact.
ReplyDeleteAlso heard this week: "Talk is cheap." Metheny, before he died, was not your pal. He had been feeling for the light switches with the clean-up from Ron E's horrific stay at KGO and hadn't time to deal with you. You tried to get him to "notice" you, I was told directly. That and three other management changes. The strings are being reassembled . You are on the list near the top. Atlanta calls the shots and someone (asked to be unnamed for now) is the new "executioner" in SF. You'll be plenty surprised. Your swan song is very soon. New numbers in less than two weeks, the second month of the Fall Nielsen's and the meaningless "Holiday Book" are coming. Bone up for a let down big boy. You are done. Count on it.
Heeeee's baaaaaaack. Casey Bartholomew picks up $200 Friday night and again tonight on KayGeeOh, from midnight to two. Guess Clear Channel isn't paying much at the 1000 watt blowtorch on 1230 in Phoenix. Casey still hangin' (for now) from 1-3 pm on what was little baby KOY now KFYI 2. Casey busy filling in at KOGO San Diego and ... lookie here! This week twice for his friend Jared Hart at WPHT in Philly from 6 to 9 pm before Hannity! It's a little brotherhood. Weintraub worked at NJ 101.5 FM with Bartholomew before they both got blown out of there as well. Hart and Casey are good buds You don't think Hart suggested a "re-hire" in KGO's newest time of trouble, do you? Ya think? Live and not local from Phoenix. Could a move be afoot? "The New Generation of Talk." He is bored, busy and tired. Even doing gigs for a Delaware talker! Woop!
Casey Bartholomew
11 hrs ·
Tonight from Midnight-2 am (that's 3am-5am Jersey time) I'll be on 810 KGO, in San Francisco. It would be worth listening just to see if I sound even remotely awake.
Work your magic, Mountain Dew. Work your magic.
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Is a move in store for Mo' Langan? Word is she gets more comedy gigs back east and WABC is pleased despite the historic 1.7 ratings. Hangin' with Karel on the circuit - not so much luck. Look for a move soon.
Rich is right. The ratings book from the summer. Stealth info proves it. At least five weeks, Ronn was thrashed by Spencer Silva Hughes. Unbelievable.
What about Ronn? Will he or won't he? Offered a contract extension, that is ... We'll know in 8 weeks or less. Vacation time. How long will the Ronn Xtra show from 3-5 am last? Also during Cal football and the Niners on the KayGeeOh stream? And speaking of, someone please change the jokester's on The Bone who do 10 minutes of looped jokes -- the same ones -- during the games, just before KayGeeOh my gosh unloads the last 7 minutes of Joe Starkey or Teddy Football for each game. The jokes, bits and that broad suck. The first time, not so funny, by the fifth time, they are turn offs.
That's it, kids, for now. Rich has been right on this week. The De La Cruz song is horrid. What consultant convinced 'PIX to do that piece o' crap?
Good day and great listening.
As Christine Craft sez: "Spay, neuter and love your dogs. Republicans? Not so much.".
Ron Escarsega put Casey on KGO.
DeleteJared Hart has no connection to him as far as I know other than the WPHT connection, if there is one.
Mr. Weintraub never worked with Casey at 101.5. I've seen his resume. I'm pretty sure the two aren't comrades.
Your Karel stories seem a bit over the top too. Making them up as you go?
The company believes in Metheny's idea of female talk which is a failed Randy Michaels concept, but it'll keep Langan Hangin'.
10:24 - There is a WPHT connection. I'm from Philly with many contacts there. Mr. Weintraub, (you, maybe?) worked for WCTC New Brunswick, WQAM, ESPN NY and KSFO. Southern CA, too? David was the not-so-popular producer of Michael Savage and that was like oil and water. Why I changed at the last minute on that was stupidity on my part. I should have stuck with my original feeling. I sincerely apologize. As for my Karel stories, I assure you, they are NOT over the top. No, they aren't made up as I go. They were on his webcam and site during a break at 9:30 Saturday and on the air about Rich at 11:50. His baseball giddieness was absolute fact for all to hear in the 9pm hour. His comments about Rene were in the 9 pm hour and aain in the late 11 pm hour. I am familiar with the Randy Michael's concept, but it didn't work so well at WGN, for sure, as you know. Now, those two are back at 'GN after they were rehired. Heard them just yesterday, in fact, but you are right. The point was that Lanan does pretty well on WABC, she had TV contacts, lots of clubs (I saw her at Borgota not that long ago,) and she can keep real busy back east ... radio and all. In fact, I've heard her on WABC both solo and with a co-host. A lot different and more variety than what she does on KGO. I have no reason to make Karel stories up as I go. I've been in radio far to long to waste time doing that. As you know, it doesn't take much to sink or swim on your own and there's lots of background there, as you know. Am sorry to see what happened, David, and while your open posting wasn't so popular here, your current post and your Facebook were warm and sincere. I know. I posted your Facebook about getting axed so the speculation would end. You worded it well. No, I'm not Rich, either. Good luck to you and keep in touch.
DeleteEscarsega was the former PD that replaced Paul Hosley, who replaced Jack Swanson. Talk about a man who saw the writing on the wall. Ratings changed for neither of them because of the new format. Then they let Metheny take over and make changes because he has failed so brilliantly in other major markets. The talent most cherished by Cumulus is the ability to move your head from Midnight to 6 when they tell you to do something. It's remarkable that the head of all talk programming is a guy who has never created a talent anyone knows about or has no record of success to speak of. Cheap management and cheap programming, the Cumulus way.
ReplyDeleteMy pc at first worked well with the Merc/Trib/Review. Then I mixed it up with the columnists and some beat writers. THEN, it began to freeze,or reload to an advertisement page I never clicked on..just weird things they do to keep you from posting or even surf.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of posting,I see many sites now don't even have a comments section after articles.
Eh.
Comment sections are disappearing because they are a playground for trolls, racists and people that are just plain psychotic... ahem.
Delete7:37PM.....Wrong Answer. Comments Sections are disappearing because Liberals cannot handle honest disagreement and open debate without becoming profane and issuing threats of various kinds. Hell, you can't even correct their poor spelling w/o somebody calling you names that used to be unprintable. They always get To, Too, and Two mixed up. Drives me Batty.
DeleteKarel is a mullet-headed hack. With several plums of wisdom tonight, he mentioned, sadly, to his vast audience of three that Rene Bakos didn't even comment on his show sheets for toniht's performance. "She usually does, oh well." He walked away to get a cup of tea, disappointed that the executive producer had nothing to say.
DeleteHe also mentioned that so few people "care about baseball now. No one much cares. People are being charged $10 just to get into bars to watch the game and be with friends." Larry Baer must be having nightmare fits over this news after a 3-million fan season. "This is the lowest rated World Series ever. No one cares about Kansas City and the Giants have been to the series so many times, so I don't know why we're not getting many calls."
Yep, nothing like cheering on the team that your own radio cluster supports almost 24/7 for over a half year.
You go get 'em Karel!
Congrats to Rich for the shout out from Karel at 10:30 tonight! .
What's up Karel's ass tonight? Mentioning Rich by name at 11:50 and callin him "dough boy". The mohawk entertainer shoud talk! The lard ass. Didn't admit that he's not about to get canned. If he were smart, he'd quit and save the waste of time. He could get fired for cause, easily.
DeleteBatchelor can't get on KGO fast enough.
Also, listening to Karel talk about the World Series was enough to make me throw up in my mouth a little. He wouldn't know a baseball from a tennis racked. "Yeah, the Giants won the Series 11 to 4 with two wins tonight. Are they the champions now? People don't play baseball anymore. I don't know but I guess so. I don't know. Just don't go into a bar and pay a $10 charge just to drink. I don't do that."
Hey 8:29, 7:37 here. I did forget one that you managed to provide a perfect example of; turning everything, no matter what the subject, into a political attack, whether from the right or left. Congratulations, dust brain.
Delete1:07 PM So I'm "Dust Brain" now huh? Yeah, whatever. Still, I noticed you knew better than to dispute the obvious TRUTH of all my conclusions. You're Welcome!
DeleteWhy bother? You only prove my point. :)
DeleteThe sfgate site started to go downhill when they changed their comments section. It was probably one of the reasons they got tons of traffic. People had created avatars and there were tons of regular commenters. It was a fun environment (putting aside the usual trolls). I stopped going to the site when my avatar was not viewable any longer and I had to re-enter my information. Sorry it is not that important to me. I have to believe these changes alienated a lot of folks. Anyone else had a similar experience? Half the fun of a news site is reading the comments. The idiots at sfgate seem to have been on a mission to make commenting more difficult.
ReplyDeleteI made the mistake of turning on Karel on my way home from the Giants game tonight and listening to a few minutes. What a dysfunctional, belly-gazing, self-serving, pompous windbag! And Cumulus thinks that they will get ratings by putting this loud-mouthed cretin on the air? They are really deluding themselves!
ReplyDelete1. People have been reporting the end of Karel for years, so I don't believe these rumours...
ReplyDelete2. It's cool that he's not into baseball (or football). No problem.
3. That said, he needs to take 10 minutes to educate himself on the basics of the game and stop the annoying, "I know nothing about sports...Did the 49ers hit a home run?" shtick... LOL... Get a clue Karel.
Perhaps someone in the industry can confirm this suspicion I have about Ronnn Owens.
ReplyDeleteIf Owens' ratings suck and he is getting his ass kicked by Spencer Hughes on KSFO, I'm thinking that the main reason he continues to be on the air is because he is able to sell ads with his connections to the Mattress industry.
I am serious. Is this a possible explanation?
It is hard to believe that Spence Hughes got better ratings and Ronn. I'm not a huge Ronn fan, but he is professional, often have good guests, and does a very good interview. I don't dislike Spencer, and I would at times listen to him instead of Ronn, usually because Ronn was talking about a subject I didn't care about (sports, gadgets a few others). I like Spencer when he tackles conservatives on the gay issue and religion, I like that he speaks well of other hosts (Ronn, and a few other I forgot, even if they are liberals), I don't like him when he does Obama bashing, not because of the critic, but because he is so over the top, as is many conservatives. I also dislike when he tries to guess what his audience would say, he usually does it in a fake voice "Hey man, etc." it sounds silly and unprofessional. Eathan Bearman does some of the same, except not with the voice change, that along with his elongating of words makes him virtually unlistenable.
ReplyDelete