Deb Monroe, News Director, is leaving KGO Radio. Her last day is June 19th. Good news for Monroe: she's leaving the 810 AM albatross, albeit Downtown SF. Bad news? She's headed for an ND job at the Salinas CBS-TV affiliate. She starts in July.We said Tuesday that Monroe effectively lost the newsroom and ultimately, probably, sealed her fate. Her management style was beginning to rub some the wrong way and it was just a matter of time before she and upper suits decided to cut the cord.
Monroe didn't help her cause playing favorites in the newsroom --particularly with younger, part-time staffers and reporters who had considerably less juice in and around the offices.
To be clear, her reign as ND is not the only reason KGO is failing miserably, but for a station trying desperately to become the "Bay Area's News Station", she didn't have the professional gusto to pull it off and her ways and means among the rank and file were beginning to wear thin. Clearly, Monroe was not the person to lead the troops.
MORE RUMORS:
*We're hearing that the afternoon news (3-7 PM) is going kaput any day now and that some sort of "hybrid" program consisting of news and talk --in essence, what KGO is trying to do at 7- 10 PM with the Dreck Show, an out and out failure to be precise.
*There is considerable frustration inside the newsroom (which is another reason Monroe is gone); sort of one side versus the other. Whoever takes this gig must immediately gain the confidence of the veterans otherwise a full size revolt could be in the offing. Yes, it's that bad on Battery Street.
*This is not a rumor: A longtime staffer texted me upon learning of Monroe's leaving: "Ding Dong, the witch is dead." Ouch.
*Follow me on Twitter
Are they blaming kevin metheny yet? After all, he hired Drex.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about Deb Monroe, but working under her was WAY WAY WAY better than working under Renee Bakos. At least the schedules added up and most of the promos were at least factually accurate. Nor did she tend to pass the buck of responsibility, which was the modus operandi of some who preceded... credit where it's due!
ReplyDeleteRenee and Deb did not have the same jobs. Some people didn't like Deb running the news room, but why in the world was she even in that job in the first place? Next person up?
DeleteRenee Bakos is not even a professional. Cumulus foisted her on KGO because they were already paying her to do nothing in Dallas. She was a horrible employee her first stint at KGO and she was 10x worse this second go round. Without question the most incompetent and clueless person I have ever worked with.
Say what you will about Deb, or anyone else, but we shouldn't even be mentioning Renee in the same sentence with the word "working." She doesn't even know what that means.
Does she have TV experience to be a news director for television? I applied for that ND job in Salinas. Never got a call, and I'm well-qualified. The "old boys network" still exists, even with the opposite sex.
ReplyDeleteYou could put Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi in charge of a newsroom anywhere and someone would hate that person, no matter what. Broadcast news is and always has been a very competitive environment employing a lot of necessarily big egos. Congrats to Debra, who has always been very professional and pleasant to me, for her new tv job. Yes, she does have television experience at Sacramento's number one news station, KCRA.
DeleteI'm glad Deb is gone; her presence alone was toxic & brought everyone down. For as Dr. B once said on a cold January morning, "Rrrrrggghhh!! Nnnnggghhh!! Come on, get out, let's go!!"
Delete10:12 AM. Mahatma Gandhi may not be the best name to choose if you want to exemplify a person of wisdom and purity. Why? Well, everyone knows Gandhi was a Communist devotee, and a frequent imbiber of his own urine.
DeleteNeed I say more?
As the Bloated One would say: "BUH BYE SALINAS!".
ReplyDeleteI've thought this before, and maybe even written it here but I don't think so...
ReplyDeleteWhat about a network morning show format 3 to 7? Short regular news segments, weather two or maybe three times an hour and the rest of the time heavily guest dependent talk. Get a roster of regular guests...garden expert, pet expert, doctor or nurse, movie/TV expert, travel agent, maybe a chef...plus there are still authors, actors, musicians, etc. passing through or coming to the Bay Area with things to promote. I wouldn't even be opposed to guest slots being "pay-to-play" or at least advertisers also getting to be guests, as long as they banned vitamin hawkers and financial gurus.
Wrong location to have an exodus.
ReplyDeleteAtlanta is the place where heads should roll.
Deb was fantastic. Anyone who didn't like her must have had an issue personally with her because I saw her be nothing but sweet to all and always had a smile after interacting with her. Plus she stepped up when we needed it. I wish her the best always!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to her. The Salinas TV market is #125 down 15 markets from 1995 (used to be #110).
ReplyDeleteThere is NO growth and the market is uber dominated by the NBC/ABC affil KSBW. Not to mention that Salinas is 75% Hispanic.
Budget and scheduling is her real new job.
And there will be no budget to speak of.
This may be just a way to break into TV from radio.
DeleteI'm another one who worked with Deb and thought she was way better than the company she was stuck in. Smart, respectful, working as well as she could with what she was handed. Easy to blame her for what went down - has BEEN going down - at KGO. Let's face it: Walter Cronkite could've failed there.
ReplyDeleteHaven't listened to this station since the Bloodbath. But it sounds like a repeat performance--got problems? Just fire everyone! Those airheads down in Atlanta should just fire themselves!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to all those who are/will be affected by more insanity! May you all land better employment!!!