Gary Radnich and Ronn Owens--both morning air talent for Cumulus stations, KNBR and KGO are notorious anti-union guys. Interesting coincidence given KNBR's recent vote to join the SAG-AFTRA Union.
We're not necessarily trumping up the idea of being pro or anti-union. That's for the membership to decide but given San Francisco's strong identity as a labor town it merits conversation.
It's just interesting that both Owens and Radnich, (and most other prominent air talent), have pooh-poohed the union --until they got to their status where benefits, health coverage and the like was a given and which they take for granted. The underlings at KNBR, fed up with Cumulus' work demand, its demeaning and destructive abuse toward its employees had enough, apparently. The hard part comes now but their heart is in the right place.
Owens has decried the union many times on the air; he's said repeatedly, paraphrasing, "Hey, I have to be in a union to work." Yeah, Ronn, it's a tough life.
Radnich hasn't been as vocal but once the KNBR-union story got out he made an off-hand remark like be careful what you wish for. Yeah, until they tell you they're cutting your pension and asking you to make more contributions to your health care.
Poor babies.
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Owens has always been a low life, concerned only for himself. It's how he has made it, and still survives.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where this fits into his "socially liberal but fiscally conservative" garbage of a line?
Two big libs who think that unions are good for everyone else but them? Knock me over with a feather.
ReplyDeleteRadnich is NOT a lib.
DeleteI haven't heard the bloated one in years but I do recall him taking shots at unions and people who belong to unions. He'd always say how he never needed anyone to negotiate his salary for him because he was man enough to walk into the boss' office and negotiate it all by himself. Would love to hear Stan's insights on this...ugh
ReplyDeleteThat was Larry Krueger who said that. Radnich reaction was to have Ted Ramey off his show. Larry only talked,Radnich did something.
ReplyDeleteWhat does someone like Pat Thurston do when she's not on the air? Just another liberal Marin housewife? What about Brian Copeland? Installer at Comcast?
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Thurston, but Copeland has countless
DeleteJobs outside of radio.
Is there a point to this? If so please explain it.
DeleteA liberal on radio would have to be much more impressive to be on the air than a conservative counterpart. There is no denying this. It's mostly because the people who own the stations, and manage them (largely sales), are white male conservatives. For years they have flooded the country with the same garbage, and along the way claimed "liberal radio doesn't work!" Somehow it works in every other field of entertainment though. Why is that?
The deck is stacked against the liberal ideology in privately owned talk radio, fed by issue-ads and conservative money groups. Yet somehow the NPR stations, often with a liberal-moderate bent, are blowing their doors off.
What Brian does is act, stand up comedy, and other forms of entertainment. Yet again, he can't be on KGO full time for some reason, right?
As for Pat, housewife, or not (please let us know if this isnt a job in your eyes because that would be interesting), with her abilities she would undoubtedly get a full time spot somewhere, like other conservatives with lesser talent seem to with ease.
If you're going to be an idiot, at least be a realist.
Hi Pat
DeleteThe topic was KGO/KNBR union talk. I believe its valid to inquire as to what 2 of the biggest names on KGO (sans Owens) do when they're not on air 2 days a week. We all know what Karel does. Public personalities, public inquiries.
DeleteI am a male. Pat Thurston did not write this. I just think you're probably a simplistic misogynist douchebag for your lame and dated perspective, and likely outlook on life. If I tell you to go fuck yourself too, you might get a better idea of who wrote this.
DeleteHi John Boehner
DeleteBrian, why wouldn't you take Ronn's phone call the other morning when he was discussing Cosby?
DeletePat is married and has triplets, although they are almost 10 or even a little older and in middle school, kids take up a lot of time, and she went through fertility treatment to have them, so I'm sure she treasures every moment with them, I understand she is married to someone quite wealthy. Brian writes, performs is often on Dr. Drew he seem to keep very, very busy.
DeleteI myself enjoy Pat and Brian and listen quite often. Just an inquiry, Mr. or Mrs. incognito got defensive and hostile. Here's hoping the new KGO offers up a daily slot for either of them. Tongue in cheek humor doesn't go very far around here....
DeleteAn unrelated post/idea to consider..
ReplyDeleteWhen KRON and KGO start to merge their talent pool how about an anchor team of Dan Ashley and Catherine Heenan? That pairing would be close to the former pairing of Ashley and Carolyn Johnson. What to do with Ama Ditz? Maybe she can star in a KGO version of KTVU's Nightbeat.
Radnich is one of these people who thinks he shits gold while everyone else should kiss the ground to have a job. Blowhard who has to throw around how rich he is.
ReplyDelete"We're not necessarily trumping up the idea of being pro or anti-union."
ReplyDeleteYes, that's exactly what you're doing. You're saying Radnich and Owens are anti-union so please commenters, please join with me and start piling on about how despicable these two guys are.
You may have to do the math. Which is less expensive: Obamacare and a small Roth or Traditional IRA and Social Security that you put away from your pay, or the union health benefits and pension that cost you the initiation fee and periodic union dues? Don't forget the harassment that you'll have to deal with if a union-busting mentality manager comes on board as well. The union benefits cost having to deal with that, too.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, don't get caught up in the emotion that union leaders will try to instill. Be logical and do the math. It may be that the union choice is more desirable, but it's likely not. If it's not, you'll also have to be personally responsible for putting away the amounts each paycheck that it takes to build up retirement assets.
In understand that the Cumulus matter has already been voted on; I'm just posting this in case other stations around town are considering following the same route as Cumulus employees did.
They unionized because they have been treated terribly by a terrible company. There were no good options. Getting beaten down, low pay, etc gets old.
DeleteI think one of 12:11's points is that their treatment could get even worse with the union representation.
DeleteI wonder what these poor radio stations are going to do when SF Raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour considering that's more than what 90% of non air talent make. No wonder local radio is so smart, insightful, and innovative! Supply and demand on crack.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those too young to remember, Gene Burns used to praise his union, mainly because it provided health insurance.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for Lieberman to go for a couple of day without finding a new way to criticize Gary Radnich.
ReplyDeleteAin't THAT the truth.... Owens too.
DeleteNo surprise that these two cretins are anti-union. They're under contract and make a princely (though not deserved) amount of money. That's OK for now, but that will eventually change. Let's see how fast they try to backtrack then.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan or those two but how the hell do you figure it's not deserved? If advertisers pay for the time, at a rate high enough to cover their salaries, it's all good
DeleteCapitalism at work, and I'm a union supporter, but also believe in the free market, Ronn is not exactly anti union, he is just critical of unions, and on that point I often disagree with him, although it is possible to support unions and still critic some union practices.
DeleteIt's usually the people with their own personal services contracts that are anti union because they're already paying people to negotiate for them. They resent having to also pay dues on their six figure contracts.
DeleteKate Kelly found an appreciation for the union when AFTRA pointed out the work rules in her PSC were worse than the ones she negotiated!
These "stars" depend on the work their editors and producers provide in their behalf, and will never have their money or pull. I guess with fame comes a loss of compassion for your team members.
Ronn will say whatever the shekel provider tells him to say. I think we've learned that.
ReplyDeleteHe was the least talented host of all the people cleared out, and yet he remains. Do you think it is because he appeals to the younger demo, or because he bends over for his younger owners?
As someone mentioned above, "do the math."
I don't agree that Ronn was the least talented host amongst those fired. I think Karel was/is less talented, certainly since Gil got hired permanently on 910 and stopped taking calls, he has shown himself to be a very mediocre host, at best. I never cared for Dr. Bill, but I know he has his following. I much preferred Gene Burns and John Rothmann over Ronn, but still like Ronn, he was not fired because he had a better contract, thus firing him would most likely cost Cumulus more than keeping him on.
DeleteTo everyone from today and previous posts about the KNBR employees vote to rejoin SAG+AFTRA. SAG+AFTRA has been try to organize the unit at KNBR since 1990 when NBC sold KNBR to Sesquahana. The new company did not recognize the old Union contract and failed to re-negotiate a new one when KNBR was sold in late 1990.. The recent sale to Cumulus Broadcasting provided the break to double our efforts to bring the KNBR back into the Union. The next task is to hammer out (no pun intended) a collective bargaining agreement with the unit thats acceptable to everyone involved. Almost without exception, SAG-AFTRA negotiators are able to improved wages and working conditions for the Unit. Obviously personal services contracts are way above scale bu generally don't cove those folks working in the trenches and those people feel differently about Unions. Yes, they do pay dues to support the Union. The SAG-AFTRA pension has increased every year since its inception and is 98% funded. The Health Fund is very competitive and offers more coverage than most plans. Sincerely, Mike Pechner SAG AFTRA member. (real name and real Union!)
ReplyDeleteIs Da Lin in a union? He must be. It's the only way he could keep his job. Watched him this evening doing a LIVE shot before the Raider game. The guy continually looks
ReplyDeletedown while he is talking -- as if looking at the camera interrupts his train of thought. Don't know any other Bay Area reporter that handles a LIVE shot this way. Amateurish!
Da Lin is not the only one who constantly looks down. It's a very annoying mannerism I see a lot of anchors make. One tht comes to mind is Gasia. She looks down then does a bit of a bowing of the head motion as if for emphasis. Julie Haener and Heather Holmes do a version of it too but the bowing of the head is not so pronounced. Is this part of the Anchoring 101 manual consultants use?
DeleteGary is a selfish a-hole who would never support the union because he doesn't give a damn about anyone he works with. He's the worst example of someone in the media, (and there are unfortunately many of them), who are not team players, but care only about themselves. Radnich shows up five minutes before his show starts on KNBR and leaves the minute it is over. He cares nothing for any of the other people at the station, and he does nothing other than crack his Las Vegas wise guy jokes and talk about cross-cultural BS. But the bay area still likes this guy because there are a lot of casual fans around here. You might also notice how Radnich always refers to his underlings as "our young staff" or 'the little people' in his typical condescending fashion. Those folks who help make his show work are getting paid peanuts, but he doesn't care, as long as he can bring home a big check so that he can drive his Bentley and keep his wife with her champagne tastes happy!
ReplyDeleteA collective or a union does serve a purpose and does have its just rewards as long as the creative energies of the individual is not stifled and is allowed to manifest itself and rise within the ranks.
ReplyDeleteIf the purity of the collective is diluted by pettiness or the practice of ostracizing individuals because of their beliefs or personality traits what forms is a group that is dominated by corruption and nepotism.
How far would you go to participate or to protect the collective? Would you allow it to kill every last fiber of your soul? Your authentic energy? Your sovereign spirit?
Movements or causes start within the fertile soil of the hearts of people. A common thread must string those hearts together, that doesn’t mean destroying one another but to protect the individualism that exists within all of us.
A libertine philosophy can thrive within a collective if allowed to do so. There is no need to be communistic or an extreme socialist. It’s simply means working toward a common goal that is based on fair wages, access to healthcare and a chance for upward mobility in a very difficult world in which we live in.
Is that too much to ask for to be able to earn a living for oneself without selling one’s soul or paying a bribe? The answer is no. It is not. But if these so called gatekeepers in society keep suppressing and shackling the golden opportunities that do arise from time to time then the collective will form a whole new perspective and will front run the whole opposition with no quarter. Crushing all semblance of a civil society.
I would think all would want those standing next to them to be earning, participating and thriving. Wouldn’t that lighten your load?