A small earthquake hit the Bay Area this Tuesday morning (I didn't feel it) but it was big enough (4.0 on the Richter scale--preliminary) that KCBS was inundated with calls. Some of those callers provided early AM news anchor, Janice Wright with some live, vivid and descriptive accounts of the quake when it hit.It was KCBS' bread and butter--a real-time breaking news story complete with middle-of-the-night actualities from listeners. Callers phoned in from Fremont, San Francisco, the Peninsula, and San Jose.
Meanwhile, KGO Radio was running a taped radio show. Out of market no less.
This listener service used to be a KGO specialty--no matter how little the quake, listeners would call in and provide their own story. It was community radio at its best and it defined the old KGO template--real, genuine news-TALK radio. No more, at least at off hours of the day. KCBS has replaced KGO as the go-to place for all-news events like this.
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I felt some shaking early this morning, but I thought it was Jan Wahl getting up for a midnight snack.
ReplyDeleteliterally LOLing, thanks David! :)
DeleteIn the "good ol' days," KGO's policy was to take calls from those who felt the shake IMMEDIATELY after a quake was felt/reported. This morning, KCBS got right to it. That may be Jack Swanson's directive, as I'm sure he recognizes that it is a vital service to "shaken" listeners ... even if it's only a matter of helping to calm nerves.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Napa quake, last August, KCBS did get around to taking calls, but it was an hour, or so, after the fact. KGO stayed with their mindless drivel (from New York, or other place), for much longer than that.
People need to hear each other, and compare experiences, after a quake. They need to hear the WHERE, and HOW BIG ... which is available only minutes after the event, now, where it used to take 30 minutes, or so.
I agree that KCBS did a good job, today. I didn't even bother with KGO.
I haven't bothered with KGO for several years now......
DeleteIt was always a source of amusement when a distinguished KGO host would stop discussing nuclear disarmament or the latest middle east crisis to take calls from 84 year old "Dorothy in Pinole" describing to us whether the quake was "more of a roll, a rocking up and down motion or a JOLT". When I win mega millions I'll bring back all the surviving KGO hosts. Promise!
DeleteI used to listen to KGO occasionally, in my teens(late 80s-early 90s). Even if not every talk show host or topic held my interest, those immediate earthquake reactions were good quick entertainment. I used to say that if the world was coming to an end, I'd listen to it on KGO. But the world has ended only for them, and I quit listening when Jim Eason moved to KSFO, anyway.
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