FRIDAY WORD ON THE STREET...What would it take to bring back two of the biggest news anchor stars at troubled KPIX? About a cool million bucks.
Ken Bastida and Dana King--remember them? Bastida is still firmly ensconced at PIX; King took off from broadcasting on her own five years ago to pursue pottery and politics. She didn't do so well in the latter losing in an Oakland council contest.
So goes the story--it's only a rumor: CBS higher-ups at Black Rock confer with local 855 Battery St. Suits and talk about re-uniting King. It would probably cost a shade north of a million, $500G for him, the same for her and that's assuming she'd be interested.
She seems resigned to enjoying life without the pressure of consultants and bosses above her telling her how to talk to the teleprompter. Seems.
THERE IS A VERY JUICY RUMOR CIRCULATING near the Battery corridor --keep in mind KPIX isn't really rattling off the cash register and although it is still mighty profitable thanks to its O and O status with CBS, could really use a jolt.
We'll monitor.
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It would be good to see Bastida & King back together again...at least it would be better than Veronica De-La-Get-Me-A-Burrito & Roberto Gonzalez. They all stank.
ReplyDeleteI vote YES.
ReplyDeleteThis would be great - the reunited Ken/King combo could help regain KPIX's status as a 3rd or 4th place station. Wait a second, they are the 3rd or 4th place station without these two - ain't happening.
ReplyDeleteGoodrich is the rock star...if she's even willing to stay. King was a dud, a huge dud.
ReplyDeleteKen Bastida (ordered to grow back the mustache) and Jessica Aguirre.
ReplyDeleteOk, it's far fetched, but we'll see if it's true that rumors start here!
Does PIX really want to be the poster child for the return of million dollar salary's? What would be next? The return of Van Amburg?
ReplyDeleteIt's way too much of an uphill climb for PIX.
I have faith in the idea...but no faith in PIX for the execution.
To call them "two of the biggest news anchor stars" is to acknowledge how low the bar is set. That's not to knock Ken or Dana personally; they both are nice people. They have also been incredibly lucky, something that at least Ken understands. They are the last survivors of the era when there truly were news anchor stars, when Ken was at the bottom rung of KPIX anchor talent on the Saturday news and Dana had been shipped west by CBS after her failed network magazine show. Reuniting them will do nothing for the station's ratings, aside from perhaps a quick dead-cat bounce from a nostalgia-based publicity campaign (assuming the station spends some money on advertising to reach former television viewers and not rely only on zero-cost in-house promos.) However, no one ever rushed home from work because they didn't want to miss Ken and Dana on the 6 o'clock news. The greater problems KPIX and all other local news stations face today cannot be fixed by one or two faces. The best that could be said about the King/Bastida team is that they were competent, which may be high praise when comparing them to some of the current anchors. They had no chemistry together, but at least they were not openly hostile to one another. The only magic that will come from pairing them again will be the renewed sense of wonder of how they ever got to where they were the first time around.
ReplyDeleteWhy Ken & Dana??? Kate Kelly is twice the talent of Dana. Don't think she'd do it: But why not bring Kate in, to warm the chair while Liz Cook is on Maternity leave??? Dana probably has the time.
ReplyDelete