The Paris terrorist attacks and subsequent aftermath --a massive story, not just an international story but a story that hits close to home, here, still living in post-9/11 America.
We viewed it on our smartphones and laptop--watched it live on CNN and Fox News. It was in our conversation and made for perfect fodder at the office and near the water-cooler and why wouldn't it? After all, it was at the top of the masthead and only brought back those disturbing images of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. We never forget.
Only here in the Bay Area the only talk show on the radio, hosted by some silly fill-in named Brian Copeland, they were talking about the Olympics and SF's failed bid. And twenty minutes later, something equally doofus and out of place, out of mind. This time I won't fault Copeland because he was only following orders from the infamous handbook --KGO's manifesto--that you people are really dumb and that it's good and vital, hosts, to keep it dumb, dumb-it-down.
Yes, they think you all are dumb. Dumb and dumber. Imagine that. Those 12 of you left that actually give KGO any of your time, well that's some serious stuff. That's some serious business. It doesn't shock me anymore because nothing shocks me anymore.
The events in France --three days of hell in the heart of Paris and beyond --with over 12 people being murdered and ambushed; with images of the Jewish grocery store and its "Kosher" customers running out of the market as machine-gun fire rang forth--well, we know what happened.
This sort of incident made for red meat discussion and reaction on radio stations like KGO. Nowadays they tell their hosts to talk about American Idol. "Lifestyle issues" --Paris is too complicated and fraught with that nasty undertone, so frightening, so not worthy of the discussion.
Keep it dumb. That's what KGO and Cumulus thinks of you.
I'm supposed to not talk about this. It's old hat. If it were KGO's way, I wouldn't be surprised had they not called in Chef Ryan Scott during Ronn Owens time slot to talk about arugula cheese omelets as the bodies were being counted in Paris. After all, you listeners are incapable of dealing with such trivial matters as the Paris massacres and international reaction and consequences. As a reader of this site mentioned, 9/11 would have been relegated to a news update on KGO/Cumulus--after all, you people are just plain dumb. Got it?
Fortunately, we had alternatives. We had the cable channels to turn to--something that CNN, even in its Don Lemon-era ways, can do right by providing a first-hand look at what's taking place. It's not perfect by any means but at least it's there and live for all of us to decipher.
We have other radio. Thank God for KCBS too which provided up-to-the-minute reports and whose anchors interviewed experts about the goings-on and how and what France faced; how the US and the West would react to what transpired. Fortunately, KCBS and others have respect for their audience and don't think they're dumb.
It would be easy and convenient to dismiss the dumb-it-down dictum at KGO because it's so farcical to even contemplate as semi-serious only it's true. The 20 topics-an-hour, the PPM-era is KGO being kgo--that's how much they take you all seriously.
If it weren't all so serious it would be laughable.
Now, here's Chef Ryan Scott with a great muffin recipe.
*Follow me on Twitter
great column, Rich.
ReplyDeleteWhen they head "Paris" KGO planned wall to wall coverage. Then they realized it was the city, not Ms. Hilton.
ReplyDeleteVery well conceived and written, Rich. One of your best. Now, we few hear Karel say, "but I was only doing what Rene wanted me to do." Screw you, flake man. Your days are up....along with some others.
DeleteDuring this awful tragedy I mused how much I missed Mr.Burns
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteRandall Bloomquist said it best, "it's what kevin would have wanted."
ReplyDeleteNo news on KGO anymore. Remember the Napa earthquake? I instinctively turned to KGO and nothing...some overnight drivel from lord-knows-where. I switched to KCBS and they were right on it! SAD.
ReplyDeleteTime to start calling the advertisers on that station ... and scold them for their decision.
DeleteThat you will NOT patronize them simply for the fact they are on KGO.
You can start with ..DGDG.com
The Del Grand Dealership group.
If they were to talk about in-progress news, listeners would tune out to listen to good coverage from a different source.
ReplyDeleteToo risky to let on that something big is happening in the world.
Horseshit.
DeleteI stay much smarter by reading blogs by someone who talks about the breast size of reporters and meteorologists.
ReplyDeletebtw, You heard the news? Their putting a zipper on the Golden Gate Bridge. Every newscast on all channels leads off with that tragedy.
ReplyDeleteWe can always look forward to Copeland's riveting "Driving while black" stories.
ReplyDeleteOr growing up black in a white neighborhood.
For those who don't know, Copeland is a black guy.
kgo: the stupid station!
ReplyDeleteLet me echo the others who complimented you on this column. The utter, massive failure of KGO to provide a platform for discussion at a time when the very core of our democracy has been attacked, well... only those who remember KGO as a refuge in times of community crisis can appreciate the loss. In a way I wish they would just stop the pretense and turn themselves into a country-western station, just singin' the blues.
ReplyDeleteGreat points Rich. As a former KGO listener for over 40 years the downward spiral is something to behold. There seems to be a dearth of radio talent these days or perhaps I was spoiled by the KGO lineup . Ones like Ira Blue, Jim Eason, Gene Burns that could light up the phone lines. Now the radio mantra is take few or no calls as a model when in the past if a show couldn't get calls it died, especially when very few call and you get the moronic and not worth putting on air. Disclaimer: some bad calls or guests are radio gold and can be hilarious. Fairly new here, maybe should pitch in my two and a half cents a day. Steve
ReplyDeletethe most important thing for a radio host in a major market to understand? What to do if the "President gets shot." Sounds like the KGO hosts don't.
ReplyDeleteIn the old daze, Mickey would've sprung to send a KGO reporter to Paris. And the hosts would've been free to give the subject deep, but not total coverage. 8:19 is right that fewer calls = boring monologs and I think KGO isn't getting many calls, because the hosts change the subject after every break, so callers can't keep up. Both Karel and this new Chip Franklin spew a jumbled stream of consciousness, full of digressions and self-interruptions that turn a 1-minute story into 7 and make it mostly about themselves, instead of teeing up a topic and mixing it up with callers. Good or bad, callers continually offer the prospect of something unexpected, and that's how we used to score massive TSL in the glory days of the diary method.
ReplyDelete