Thursday, May 21, 2015

Ask Rich Lieberman

 So much to ask I bet you have a plethora of questions about Bay Area TV/Radio.







*You may also ask a question at Twitter

50 comments:

  1. Are the makeup people for KTVU's news team in studio really bad, or is it just me? They seem to put a lot on the women and in the wrong places making many of them look like cartoon witches. Especially heavy on the cheeks. Just me?

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    1. Reporters do their own makeup today, and have for a long time.

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    2. In studio folks 11:16, not the field reporters...

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  2. When you call in to KSCO's "Saturday special" you always state you are "Rich from San Francisco". If you're so proud of living in Oakland why do you not call in as: "Rich from Oakland"? I live in Montclair and it bothers me you don't call in from The Town.

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    1. You are absolutely right and I deserve to be skewered on that one. My bad. Part of my insecurity complex.

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    2. but 'Rich from the 415' could refer to your blog as the inclusive Bay Area media site that it is. i like 'Rich from the 415'!

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    3. You're going at Rich for not saying he's from Oakland while you are from "Montclair." Okay.

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    4. Montclair was used by yours truly to gain street cred with Mr. Lieberman. Rich, I look forward to your next KSCO "Saturday Special" call from Oak Town baby!

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    5. When I think of street cred Montclair immediately comes to mind.

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  3. Just you.

    I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the KTVU make-up dept. but then again I don't concentrate on faces unless it involves something obvious.

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    1. Checkin' out the boobs? ;-)

      Honestly, it seems they were trying to make Rosemary Orozco look like a skull face for a while, and other in studio women looked overly made up (even for TV standards) many times. I guess it's just me.

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    2. Hey, if that's the worst thing in your life you should be so lucky. Have a lovely day and eat well.

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    3. Yeah, I wish it were the worst thing no question.

      Unfortunately dealing with society's degradation, a lack of courtesy, responsibility, and an overabundance of morally and intellectually bankrupt talking monkeys of all colors and shapes makes daily life pretty much intolerable. (especially having to read so many comments against white people, yet it is verbotten to calmly comment on the deficiencies of various demographic groups...)

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    4. Rich..and others....there is no KTVU make up department. It was smashed back in 2001 when they cut engineering by half.skeleton crew and a race to the bottom until the big FCC auction in off of bandwidth

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  4. Rich, do you remember John Carman, TV critic for the Chron years ago? Wonder what he's doing now and if I can still read him somewhere.

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  5. I grew up, like many others, watching Dennis Richmond, he was the best in my opinion. If the world was ever going to end, I'd want to hear it from Dennis. I often wondered if he had an opportunity to go national? I would have loved to have seen a black man hosting the evening news. Thoughts?

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    1. Well, not so long ago, a black man did "host" the news: the late Max Robinson for ABC and now, Lester Holt for NBC.

      I think Dennis Richmond could very well have gone to a network but I think he loved the Bay Area and was happy at KTVU and 40 years in Jack London Square. Dennis was also lucky that he worked with some of the very best News Directors and reporters and producers at the station before Fox. Not that Channel 2 is bad now just like everything else, times have changed, including KTVU News.

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    2. Who will get the 10-1 gig on KKSF910? Sure hope the lifetime fill in Hughes and not John Rothman gets the job. Hughes would sell his soul for this opening, just his voice alone is a turn off!

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    3. It's going to be someone outside the market who loves the Bay Area and works cheap.

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    4. Dennis Richmond announcing the world is going to end: "This is the Ten O'Clock News, I'm Dennis Richmond. The world is going to end." [pause] "Goodnight."

      [voice of Leslie] "Hey, it was my turn to read the lead tonight!"

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    5. 11:15, priceless!!!!

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    6. 11:54...Leslie was/is 1,000 times the human Dennis was. Actually helped people.

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    7. I'm sure that's the case, and as a field reporter I thought she did decent work. It was painful watching her as an anchor.

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  6. Jackie Bennet has been gone for weeks now. Do you think the rotating weather people on KRON is permanent or are they auditioning who they have? Or looking for a boffo outside weather person who wants to come to San Francisco?
    Or,is it the KRON budget that is skewed to over feeding the regulars,while keeping newbies starving as part timers?

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  7. Rich, I watched the most recent episode of KRON's reality TV-documentary style series "The Backstory" last Sunday. I was surprised by how compelling, informative, dramatic, fascinating and enjoyable the episode was. I did not anticipate such quality programming.

    Being someone who doesn't work in the industry, I now have a greater appreciation for the work being done by the people responsible for bringing the news to local TV audiences every day.

    Pam Moore came across like she does in the anchor chair -- dignified and serious. Gary Radnich was probably the least interesting, as he made inept attempts at being funny to the camera and the people he works with.

    I wish I had seen the previous episodes. Hopefully KRON with re-air them.

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    1. I tried to watch and after 10 minutes I turned it off. Too many clichés. Plus, knowing what I know about KRON and a few assorted peons over there, some of their glee just isn't genuine.

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    2. One always acts differently when one knows the camera is on them. "Reality" TV fans, take note.

      I wonder if Pero screens everything before it airs. Also wonder why we haven't seen him at all so far. Well, maybe we have, I admit I haven't seen the second episode yet.

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  8. How did you get out of jail?

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    1. Well, you know I had that date with Jan Wahl all set up and they told me to get outta here.

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  9. Were you even concerned about Stan's social life when you took your hiatus?

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  10. Any further news about the sudden, surprise departure of KTVU's 10-year G.A. Reporter David Stevenson. I saw his last report on Tuesday & as Frank & Gasia wished him well you could see tears welling from Stevenson's eyes. Since KTVU has some veteran reporters in their 60's like John Fowler, Tom Vacar & Rob Roth you would think Stevenson, who's in his late 40's would stay on for job security. I really enjoy reading all your blogs Rich--Keep up the great work!

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. He was, shall we say, "unhappy" at the end. It usually involves money and role. Stevenson will evaluate and move forward.

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  11. The last 2 weeks of the Letterman was Great!

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  12. Rich, today (Thursday 5/21) Chris Matthews is using the SF backdrop (the Bay Bridge) as his graphic on "Hardball." He did the same thing for 2 weeks, about a month ago.

    I know that he was the political correspondent for the "old" SF Examiner, but the Examiner is now a multi-city shop job.

    Is Matthews in negotiations to move Hardball to SF? Does he have kids in college, here?

    Why so many visits to SF?

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    1. Might be using CNBC's new One Market SF studio which explains the SF backdrop...why so many visits? Silicon Valley is CASH capital of the world.

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    2. Matthews is the commencement speaker at Saint Mary's College in Moraga this weekend.

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  13. What's up with the 'Nash' references being dropped in the middle of spots on KFOG the past few days? Are they flipping to country next week?

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    1. No, if you listened to them they are for "Nash Next," a talent search being done in coordination with Cumulus' Nash station in San Jose.

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  14. CNBC's Squawk Box show was live in SF a couple weeks ago. They used a corner office looking out at the Bay Bridge as well as a roof top location with the Embarcadero in the background.

    Rich - what was your youth in Oakland like? What did you do for fun? Give us some good stories. Hung out with Tom Hanks? Captain Satellite? Elmo Zumalt maybe? Anything mischievous with Chinatown fireworks? Drag racer? Stoner? Most of these media people have no clue how good it was back then before the East Coast people took over. It's all crap now.

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  15. Looks like it's spencer hughes job. It'll be that or syndication. Won't be an out of market guy unless they start bringing in more quality from sacramento like Armstrong and Getty. It's remarkable how bad SF radio has become.

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    1. Hughes is so bad, he is a bore and a fill in hack. Between him and Owens I just do not listen anymore. Gone are the great day's of the OLD KGO!

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    2. I don't listen to 910 but when he was on 560 I remember thinking 'only cumulus.' Guess I was wrong. He has nothing interesting to say and he is incredibly predictable. But hey at least it's local. I guess that counts for something.

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  16. I meant to post this yesterday but it slipped my mind. Ronn Owens was talking about the Steph Curry thing, bringing his kid on stage. I didn't find it offensive, bothersome, or anything like that, but I also didn't find it overly interesting like the rest of the Bay Area. It seems we always want to fall all over ourselves when it comes to our sports teams as if we're somehow ON THE TEAM.

    What bothered me about Ronn's "take" on it is he kept referencing an article from USA Today about Curry and his kid. The story was not two days old, which to me meant Owens wasn't able to conjure up this obvious story himself, but had to rely on an article from a national paper to justify him talking about it. He referred to the article more than once and said something like "well it's being talked about so..."

    He has to be the most uninteresting person talk show host alive, and that includes the weekend talent. Never hear that man express an original thought, and haven't in at least 10 years. Yet the promos for the station call him "The Voice of the Bay Area." Really? Does he even have his own voice? Who's he speaking for?

    Then he has this producer woman with him who has to be the MOST negative person I've ever heard talk on radio. Dull, droning, negative and pretty much dismissive of everything and everyone.

    It is awful radio from start to finish. I would LOVE to see those ratings.

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  17. Spencer Hughes would be fine if he didn't talk so much. Ironic, I know, that a talk-show host should speak less than more, but Spencer says too much and moves around topics too quickly.

    The best talk-show hosts, in my opinion, always kept a fairly calm demeanor on the radio. They made it feel as if time didn't exist and the world was inhabited only by you, the host and the caller.

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  18. Whenever I hear Ronn Owens doing an ad for Mercedes, talking about the great one he traded in for the great new one he just bought, I think of that Sarah Silverman song. You can hear it if you search her name and "I Love You More", but it will take from 1 minute to 1:52 to get to the song I'm talking about. "it's the opposite of FUBU" ha ha.

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  19. Rich,
    Do you remember, or have anything intresting to share about the old radio KAZA 1290 AM, a Spanish language station that was in Morgan Hill near Anderson Dam?
    Thanks, Larry in San Jose aka HCochet in another radio forum

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