Sal Castaneda --KTVU's mega-jovial, peripatetic traffic anchor and transportation reporter, is a popular man. In addition to his duties, the Bay Area native gets the most picture requests, personal appearance requests and get this? Castaneda is the sixth highest-paid personality at the station! Sure, $250K a year isn't chopped liver, especially in the Bay Area, but given Sal's hero-worship status at, uh, Fox2, he deserves more coin. Which apparently is foreign territory at 2 Jack London Square.Ask these guys.
Then there's this news: star reporter and occasional anchor, Allie Rasmus is about to be besieged by at least two local stations (think west of 2) and one prominent cabler seeking a young, smart, and vibrant TV News personality. Rasmus brings a ton of fresh air to a market that as of late smells to high heaven. Allie? You GO Girl!*Follow me on Twitter
You should merge Sal & Allie, & call it Sallie...Ass. ASS!!!
ReplyDeleteSal is oool. I just hope he keeps his wits about him when, predictably, management tries to exploit him even further. Same for Steve Paulson.
ReplyDeleteGood for Allie. We need less of this ethnic pandering bullshit.
ReplyDeleteCastaneda is popular because he smiles and has been around for a long time. People like familiarity. As far as his particular job, how difficult can it be?
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm a little confused about the quality of anchors in San Francisco. I've lived in Seattle, Boise and even Augusta, Georgia and the on air talent is miles ahead, professionally, of anything I see on any of the local stations here. What happened?
ReplyDeleteCome to San Francisco and become a moron?
Traffic dude making that much coin? Seriously? Yikes. This business is going to hell. Hope he invests it well. They'll kick his ass to the curb when they find some other minority who will work cheap. They can keep the diversity and maintain the spread sheet.
ReplyDeleteHope Allie gets a nice gig outside of the burned down hull known as KTVU. And to think that station used to be the hallmark of indies.
You're saying nice things about people. Are you feeling OK?
ReplyDeleteSal please save your money. The name of the game is "What have you done for me lately." I am sure that you have seen others come and go.
ReplyDeleteI like him but Sal makes more on-air mistakes than anyone I've ever watched. Microphone off (countless times), traffic feeds blaring in the background, etc. It's as if he just started working.
ReplyDeleteIt's a relief when Tara fills in for him
Sal. I've never seen so many mistakes made by one broadcaster - microphone off, traffic feeds ON and LOUD, no Sal in chair. It's like he's brand new to the job! Still, he's likeable.
ReplyDeleteBig fan, big fan
Sal is the man.
ReplyDeleteRasmus should be the substitute for Julie Haener while Ms. Haener is recovering, not those other two.
ReplyDeleteIf she goes to another station, I'll start watching that station.
Allie , go to ABC7. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteHow plastic has the Bay Area media become where someone like Sal is a favorite among viewers? Are we near the bottom of the barrel yet? Goc when will it end
ReplyDeleteHas Sal's $ gone up now that he's on from 4am to 10am? Or just a lot of extra time for the same dough?
ReplyDeleteThere is no way to compare most of the current crop of local TV anchors to the greats of the past: Dennis Richmond, Van Amberg, Suzanne-Saunders Shaw, Kate Kelly and Dave McElhatton, (who I believed died a few years ago,) are so much better than these kids who are hired today. In the 1970s and 80s, tens of thousands would watch the local news before cable TV and the internet.
ReplyDeleteNow with the deregulation and consolidation of our media, people's viewing and listening habits have been altered, and the numbers of people watching news has dropped exponentially.
Local news rooms are also know longer run by people who understand or want to service the public with important local news. It's all about "creating a buzz" to get ratings. If that means putting on some hot looking check with plenty of cleavage in front of the camera, all the better in their limited minds.
Journalistic skill and integrity are sadly an arcane concept in local TV news these days, and that's in every market in this country. Just watch the crap now on local news and you'll see what I mean. I rarely, if ever watch local news.
Having worked in TV news for a number of years in smaller and medium markets, I can say the quality and integrity of those with whom I worked was at a much higher level than fresh-faced kids who are employed today. Of course today you also don't have to "pay your dues," as we did and work in the smaller towns. But that's because the local TV stations pay a lot less than they used to, and so young guys and gals gladly take the opportunity offered.
Who gets screwed? Seasoned pros who deserve better but are thrown out on the street because they're "too old" or making too much money, and of course, the public, which gets crap, not news or information that they should be receiving.
Shame on the bean counters who run the local stations. I wouldn't give them five seconds of my time and I hope you wouldn't either!