Monday, May 23, 2016

Deconstructing Gary (Radnich); How The Bentley Guy Keeps His KRON 'Buster Brown' Gig After Heenan Embarrassment; Staff 'Acknowledges' But No Respect For Raddy; 415 Media Analysis

 GARY RADNICH is still, probably, the top Bay Area media personality even if his latest unintentional Internet Tour-De-Force on KRON has brought out the law of unintended consequences.

Clearly, his encounter --a not very funny and awkward-as-hell act with a clearly flustered Catherine Heenan, has received a ton of negative coverage around the Internet--most of it unflattering and the local reaction has been brutal to Raddy--it also has embarrassed KRON (if that's possible) even though it has drawn an unbelievable amount of publicity. Normally that would be great but not so much at KRON where Radnich is more acknowledged by staff as opposed to respected --there's a big difference. He's often seen doing his show and then immediately heading out of the studios at the albatross TV station he's often referred to as his "Buster Brown" gig.

Radnich's outburst, as I pointed out Monday, was total shtick but his constant, over-the-top renditions, has grown weary and so much negatively that even newly-hired air talent have had enough. Some, like, Steve Aveson have gone to management and complained about the frequent, on-air barbs directed at their own expense. Aveson isn't the only recipient; there's many others, like certain weatherwomen, who have expressed their displeasure. But Radnich, for now, seems to still have, for the most part, significant power at KRON and the OK from a powerless News Director whose girlfriend does a daily segment with Radnich.  That's a mega-ton of conflict of interest and it figures to be tested very soon.

Radnich was his usual dismissive sort explaining the situation Monday on KNBR where he passed off the whole thing as overreaction. It's as if he wants it both ways insisting that his Heenan bit and {others like it} are all fun and play--which in most cases it is even if they are long and absurdly unfunny and forced. You would think that Radnich, who is smart enough to, as he would say, "read the room" would stop this endless barrage but his ego won't allow it; it's as if he can't do a straight sports segment anymore without the Don Rickles interludes. So hard, so unbelievably hard, but Raddy has to do it his way. Now suddenly, the wrong way.

For now, he's safe. He still brings limited eyes to KRON's barren viewer depot and as long as he's still valuable there, he'll probably end up dying there on the KRON set. He might just out of the blue go from Don Rickles to Sinbad. Catherine Heenan and a bunch of other people would be cool with that.

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24 comments:

  1. I understand Webster's just added the word "asswipe" to their dictionary, with a picture of Radnich as an example.

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  2. I wish KRON would kick the crap out of Radnich & throw him to the curb. Fuck You, Radnich, you Ass...ASS!!!

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  3. Guys like that tend to flame out. Someday it'll be in the direction of management, and that will be the real beginning of the end, if staff complaints haven't started to ball rolling in that direction already.

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    1. He's pretty close to retirement age. When's he going to "flame out"?

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    2. "He's pretty close to retirement age. When's he going to "flame out"?"

      At about the same time that management "retires" him.

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  4. The general manager does not care... the news director does not care... radnich will stay there forever... senior management could careless about him... oh well!

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  5. Another cheap media publicity stunt. Not entertaining, newsworthy, or relevant.

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  6. KRON is Radnich's fiefdom. He'd rather be the de facto "captain" of a sinking dinghy than a disliked nobody elsewhere. Granted, he may be a disliked nobody even at KRON, but at least he can call the shots there.

    The real irony in this incident is his indignation at supposedly having his territory encroached upon.

    Really? From the guy who does everything he can at every opportunity to avoid doing his job -- reporting sports?

    Most of his air time is spent spouting banal banter with his co-anchors, and proffering his unwanted opinions -- not doing his job as a sportscaster.

    Otherwise, he might as well be one of those nobodies KOFY is apparently selling air time to on late nights. He'd fit right in that lineup, but he'd have to cough up the cash, instead of demanding it from the poor idiots at KRON and Cumulus.

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    1. Somewhere along the way his sportscaster duties became a mere pre-text for his on-air personality. That's been obvious for at least a decade now, its gotten beyond the point of bringing it up as a critique.

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  7. Fatnich is a big tool. He's getting his. What a jerk. He acted the way he did because he knows he doesn't do much. Rip and read. Rely on producers. Mail it in. It's catching up Fatnich. Take a hike.

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  8. Maybe he is a drinker. Whatever explanation is there for such rude and unprofessional behavior. He is so unattractive inside and out but really really unattractive on the outside. He is bolted like an alcoholic. Quit being such wimps and dump him. I turn whenever he comes on. Can't stand looking or listening to him. How can anyone think he is a voice of any kind in the Bay Area.
    .

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  9. Oh for chrissakes. It was pure Radnich schtick, as our interlocutor pointed out. And Heenan is unflappable, she played along too. Radnich is incredibly boorish, but unpredictable he is not. This isn't even a tempest in a teapot, it's pure nothing. He's done this sort of self-absorbed-but-I'm-joshing thing for AGES. How did this become a story? From people outside the market who don't know the dynamic.

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    1. Agree with Paul. What's the big deal. It's shtick. Obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but that's what Radnich does.

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    2. He does his "shtick" on KNBR all the time. I've listened for years. That wasn't "Shtick". That was pure arrogance that he is to proud to own up to.

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  10. Are you watching the KGO 9 o'clock news on KOFY tonight, Rich??? Ama Daetz is flubbing every third syllable. She's got Wendy Tokudaitis big time. Dan seems to be doing okay, so it can't be prompter bugs.

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  11. You know what Radnich would love? To do what Dr Eugene Scott did. Remember him? Gary's perfect scene would be to sit there with a steady camera on him the whole time and just spout about til kingdom come. He got to do this to a fair degree via his KNBR show but now with Kreuger there he has to share (he also LOVED when CSN simulcast the show, better to watch himself at night). Maybe he'll start a church like Scott: Church of Gary. Holy hosanna Batman!

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  12. "And Heenan is unflappable..."

    Except when she's positioned next to certain weather folks. THERE she's uncomfortable. This bit with Gary was all an act and it's pathetic people can't see that.

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  13. If Radnich is "the top Bay Area media personality" then I'm the Pope. And I'm not even Catholic.

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  14. If it was an act, he's got a career in acting after he loses his sports gig. Kevin Spacey, watch out - the Rad is comin'!

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  15. I wonder if Gary went running to a certain massage parlor in the Tenderloin - where I ran into him years ago and when I said "HI Gary!" He was flustered and very non-verbal.

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  16. he's not just a ''talk show host'', he's a - ''media personality''!

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  17. He did the same thing to Pam Moore ages ago. He also thought it was funny that cheerleaders wanted to be paid at least a minimum wage. Read about it on Yelp.

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  18. I'm a few months late on this but this is classic Radnich ,it's just a tired bit but he's far from vindictive or contrite.

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