*Simmons died Sunday at the age of 91. He was not only a great broadcaster who possessed uncanny humor and insight he was also fiercely independent and didn't take any crap. Ask Mickey Luckoff, the former VP of the old KGO. Luckoff regularly battled with Simmons behind the scenes--this took place while the 49ers, whom Simmons broadcast games for on KGO in 1989 abruptly left and essentially told Luckoff to stuff it up where the sun didn't shine. Soon after, Joe Starkey took over for Lon. Luckoff got tattered over the affair and the 49ers and KGO lost the services of Simmons. The battle? Money was at the heart of it. Like I said, Simmons didn't take any crap and never liked Luckoff. Fire and ice for sure.
*Hey, Breaking news!-- KRON is looking for a new Executive Producer--Fucking Brilliant!
*Follow me on Twitter
If I recall correctly, Lon also had a battle with the Giants during the Lurie era. This eventually led to his move to the A's, and some added satisfaction when the A's swept the Giants in the '89 World Series. Lon returned to the Giants after Magowan became Managing Partner.
ReplyDeleteHis beef wasn't with Lurie....
DeleteThanks for the clarification.
DeleteThe multiple reports that I heard in the '80s, stating that it was with Lurie, were fallacious then. I am actually glad that this was the case. I have spoken with Bob Lurie on a handful of occasions, and he was always nice. Lurie also seemed very sincere in his attempts to do what was best for the Giants, and their fan base. Luck certainly wasn't on his side during much of the period when he was owner.
It's a fact. Always the good people get screwed. As much as Luckoff was good for KGO, he probably didn't have to do what he did to Lon Simmons. And then there's karma. What's Luckoff doing these days?
ReplyDeleteMickey Luckoff was brilliant. But he was also ruthless and brutal. Sad.
DeleteExcellent point at 8:08am.
DeleteWhat goes around, comes around.
Mr Luckoff please meet Mr Cumulus.
Another great pairing was Lon and Al Michaels. During one game, Jack Clark stepped out of the box to adjust his helmet. Simmons said, "Jack off with the helmet." Michaels
ReplyDeletestarted to laugh. Then Simmons realized what he said and he began to laugh. Neither of them could talk without laughing for the rest of the inning. Priceless!!
But KRON is not looking for a new News Director?????
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of Giants fans will wax poetic about Simmons being a "Giants" broadcaster.
ReplyDeleteI moved to the Bay Area in 1980, so I'm no old-timer. But I will always think of Lon as an "A's " guy. He and Bill King were superb together.
I totally agree. That was the best pairing in baseball in the Bay Area.
DeleteKRON is always looking for EP's and producers. The postings have never really closed.
ReplyDeleteYou think KRON is bad?
Media General Stations are ALL bad. KRON's problems are not any different than any other MG station.
They all suck.
The upcoming FCC"Incentive Spectrum Auction" could very well bring $900mil to MG IF they put it(KRON) up for auction. Those are FCC dollars that would turn KRON into wireless freqs.
Will Disney give MG 900mil???
Watch the auction very closely.
Classic Lon AFTER Joe Cool-John Taylor: Joe Starkey congratulated Simmons for broadcasting his first World Championship. Simmons - in a nod to his inevitable fallout with Luckoff - "And to think my mom wanted me to be a bank robber!"
ReplyDeleteNote that Media general announced today that they have placed a new "Revenue Officer" overseeing all sales at all of MG's 71 stations.
ReplyDeleteJulio Marenghi started at KGO.
71 sales teams to oversee...I wish him luck.
A Simmons memory and a comment on his relationship with Luckoff. While watching a Giants-Dodgers game on KTVU in the early 70's, Lon was on the tv side and it was late in the game and in those days, the pbp guys had to read promos for KTVU programming. One such promo was to promote an upcoming airing of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?". Simmons read the promo then mused about the "missing" 'Baby Jane' : "...perhaps she's in the john..." I still laugh when I remember that.
ReplyDeleteOn the Luckoff relationship. As good as Mickey was for KGO, he was a tough negotiator and could be a little stingy. I'm sure Simmons felt that Luckoff and KGO didn't value his services. Of course, when you had previously worked for Gene Autry at Golden West, anyone else in comparison would be a cheapskate.
There may have been money issues between Lon Simmons and Mickey Luckoff, of which much of the public (including me) was unaware. However, the incident that led to Simmons' leaving the 49er broadcasts came about because Mr. Simmons took exception to Mr. Luckoff seriously chastising the broadcast team ... Mr. Simmons, Wayne Walker and Joe Starkey ... for unprofessional behavior during a pre-season game that was played in Tokyo.
ReplyDeleteA typhoon was approaching Japan, and the window of opportunity for flights to depart the Tokyo airport was closing. The broadcast team made no secret of their angst about making the flight, almost to the point of overshadowing concern about the game. When the game went into overtime, and the Rams were about to reach field goal range, Mr. Simmons even commented that - for the first time - he wished the Niners would lose.
All three got letters of reprimand, and Messrs. Walker and Starkey seemed to accept them. Mr. Simmons apparently thought that it was inappropriate for him, and carried the battle to the rest of the media.
Two strong people took two strong positions.
For those who might respond with a sarcastic "Thanks, Mickey," note that I was only a "peon" at the station, and left a couple of years after that.
Lon was a true gentleman; unpretentious, interested in other people, kind, straight-forward, and he LOVE being at the ballpark or the football stadium.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with Lon about three months ago on the phone and knew he had been sick for some time. I had seen him last summer at a Giants game in the press room, and he didn't look very good and also wasn't very optimistic about how much time he had left. But I remember he lifted my spirits with one of those great, spur of the moment Lon Simmons jokes.
I think I had made mention of how Candlestick was still standing and he said something like: "Yeah, Candlestick and I are very much alike; windy, old, ugly, and they can't seem to get rid of us!" :)
It's appropriate that Lon is being mourned on baseball's opening day and that the Stick is in the final stages of being torn down. Lon was a big part of our local sports history and we were all lucky enough to have heard him make some great calls over the years. I also feel very lucky to have known him well enough to call him a friend.
Thanks Lon for your friendship and the wonderful gift of play by play you shared with us all of those years!
Lon took time off from broadcasting the Giants in the mid-70s, when his first wife was ill, and eventually died, due to cancer(He did not relinquish his 49ers job for a few more years). When Bob Lurie took over as Giants owner in 1976, he talked Lon into coming back, and that resulted in the one year only team of Lon and Al Michaels(who left for ABC full-time after that season). Simmons left the Giants less because of a 'dispute', and more because Lurie put the team's broadcast rights on the open market after a surprisingly good 1978 season, and KNBR outbid KSFO. The dispute was more between KSFO ownership(Gene Autry/Golden West) and Lurie.
ReplyDeleteKNBR then decided to go in another direction, hiring Lindsey Nelson, with Hank Greenwald as the number 2 announcer. (Today's Chronicle said Simmons left due to a 'tiff' with KNBR management, but I don't believe that KNBR ever had a deal with Simmons in 1979, or ever intended to keep him on.)
Hard to fathom KNBR wouldn't bring Lon over for the '79 season. Nelson was somewhat dreadful to listen to, a Mets guy who should have stayed back east.
DeleteThe '80 broadcasts of the 49ers on KSFO were fun as Lon and we fans could actually have some enjoyment of the team for the first time since '76. I recall listening to the Saints comeback game. Lon was great as the Niners came back from 35-7 down!
So what happens in '81? KCBS got the 49er broadcast rights and Don Klein got to call that epic season's games. I was pissed for Lon!
KCBS, like KNBR on the Giants, felt that they wanted to hire their own announcers for a 'fresh start'. I don't think I ever listened to Klein broadcast the Niners, but when they moved over to KGO and brought back Lon, I tuned in as much as possible.
ReplyDelete