WHAT IN THE FUCK?...Is KRON doing? Do they have a master plan or are they just a shitty day-to-day operation waiting any day now for corporate (whoever that is, there's a lot of rumors) to come in and hang them? Seriously, the station looks like shit; a news operation that can't be taken seriously; isn't taken seriously; lacks any direction from both management and most of its lame personnel. KRON could be legitimate in a small, but significant manner; a Bay Area version of "NY 1" --but it lacks talent, direction, credibility and leadership. Other than that, they're just fine and dandy.
*KGO Radio has sunk to lows below the abyss; I thought they couldn't get any lower, but they continue to pass into that darkest of chamber beyond the extreme black hole. It's not just the ratings anymore; hell, this albatross has become worse than merely irrelevant; a SF version of KABC but at least KABC has some molecules of legitimacy --KGO is a Walmart in South Dakota; a strip mall in Iowa; a deserted wasteland in the middle of the desert with no life and existing on radio cactus. If Cumulus was smart (and they aren't) they would sell KGO for its 50,000-watt signal --I don't know what they could fetch but the alternative is a massively wasted station with no viable future in sight other than the terrestrial radio mortuary.
*What in the fuck has the Chronicle become? Look, for years this shitty kitty-litter lining paper has been pathetic; how many times have you all said, "I only read the Pink Section, sports section and Herb Caen." Well, Herb's been dead now for almost twenty years and the sports section has lost most of its elite writers --most of us don't even read the paper now relying solely on SFGate.com --only that is nothing more than a real-estate guide with click-bait stories that stop Hearst from eternal bleeding.
*Does KPIX have a pulse, a clue? Hey, Bruno Cohen, you were brought forward to change the culture; begin administering leadership; make some bold moves; hell, make any moves, period! Instead, Bruno, you're done NOTHING, nada! And guess what? PIX is going nowhere fast. It's damn fortunate you're making a lot of money but that's because you're owned by CBS. Think, Bruno, what you'd be without Black Rock. Just another local TV station with crappy newscasts, lost-in-translation anchors, not a ONE news reader that has any personality nor face of the station status. Hell, even Wendy Tokuda couldn't save your Titanic-ass nosedive.
*KTVU: I had hope despite your now official Foxification wouldn't mess up the furniture but the stench at 2 Jack London Square is now too much to take. God, you ruined such a classic TV station. And you've become a news equivalent of Scientology; seriously, all your personnel are zombies unable to talk freely and bound by a station-wide gag order. That's pretty sad really --you're now reduced to an all-selfie propaganda machine orchestrated by amateurs like obnoxious Mike Mibach, Gas-bag Gasia Mikaelian, and sanctimonious Frank Somerville.
Pass the barf bag.
I've noticed a huge change at KTVU you haven't commented on: Vacar used to be a *consumer reporter.* He'd report on scams and ways the average consumer is being screwed. Since Fox took over, he reports on generic things like changes in consumer laws or trends in industries, but he's been muzzled, no longer calling out corruption like he used to. This is all part of Fox's strategy of making the commercial world all seem okey-dokey, and I'm sure he hates it, and that's probably why he's been curmudgeony lately. Sad sad sad. A terrific reporter felled by the suits. What's sadder is almost no one has noticed in this I-believe-everything-I-read-on-Yelp culture.
ReplyDeleteIf true, can't he can leave at anytime?
DeleteConspiracy theories.
Rich, ch 5 has made some changes to finally include some COLOR!.....
ReplyDelete...In their on-screen graphics.
Rich like you I want the news not BS...
ReplyDeleteLately Channel 11 and 5 are doing the best. I gave up on PIX after the Super Bowlshit but in looking at story coverage lately these are the two best. My home theater has three screens I watch different news at the same time. I think KRON gets it's news from watching any of the two above then copying their leads in a less professional manner. I feel for Vicki and Brittany two gold nuggets in a pile of gravel...
I'm back and forth on ABC7 - late night they are almost OK in the AM with Donnie and Marie - I'll pass. The same applies to PIX at times too.
I've given up on 2 period. Too many repeat stories and now some are outsourced to some foxified person not even in the region and I object to their spun pro thug stories verses the real. KTVU as the only Oakland station is trying to fit in with a badly messed up community rather than cover the news in a balanced manner.
I'm wondering when Hurst will pull the plug on the Chron. I've heard their print edition is going the way of the news sellers and soon. My take on the Chron is a handful of old timers trying to make it to retirement. I find it comical they want people to buy inside access to go with this bunch of louts to events - hell I can't stand to even read their stories. I'm troubled by the two good guys there Matier and Ross who are great hanging with Willie and now on PIX. I'm also troubled to see local TV stations hire Chron people for political analysis. It seems all of this analysis goes back to Willie's ways rather than objective journalism. My complements to KNTV for stepping up to the plate with investigative journalism when the others won't.
3 screens? Simultaneously watching different news channels? Fyi, FOX is just fine.
DeleteWat de fuk yuo asshoel
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ, Tim, where the fuck's my tapes?
ReplyDeleteIs it just coincidence that Cathy Heenan no longer does weekend anchoring since the Radnich world wide embarrassment?
ReplyDeleteJustine Waldman's voice will never win awards. J.R. Stone? wow..in the "anybody can anchor if he can" category.
Steve Aveson? When I see him in his reading glasses...I can tell he's got the "I can change the culture around here". Good for him. But Pam Moore and Radnich as we all know are the perfect "Its always been this way and this is how we like it" old fogy's.
They have some quality reporters- Tran and Cagle. The guy who broke the Oakland hooker,underage sex worker..she's a lot of felony's in one- Phillipe Degal- somehow got the drop on that one.
Estacio,Clifford,Bush..all quality.
But,they get ground up by the time KRON hits the air. "Personalities" take over. Bad ones.
Dear Unobservant Observer
Delete"Cathy" (Katherine, which is not the same name as "Cathy," moron) hasn't been doing the weekend for many years now. Where have you been?
Rich, I’d like to suggest a self-immolation term for KTVU being as they are screwing themselves into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteSelf-Foxifornication.
Concur. Say what you want about KGO and KPIX but they do have a professional news product. KTVU increasingly does not. There's an amateurishness about them that seems to be getting worse.
DeleteKTVU TV and KGO radio were my go to stations for years. Now they both suck donkey dicks.
ReplyDeletePeople say KPIX is boring but in the evening it's KPIX at 5 Lester Holt at 5:30 and back to KPIX at 6. It's boring maybe but I like the Matier and Ross dispatches and the east bay reporting of Mr. Da Lin. Yeah sometimes you can SEE/FEEL/HEAR the tension between the anchors but it's a good quality newscast. At 9 if I'm watching news, its 7 on KOFY. Another straight forward newscast WITH the added bonus of the beautiful Ama Daetz. IF I'm up at 10, then it's The 10 O'Clock news for 20 maybe 30 minutes, "The Number One Prime Time Newscast In The Country" (OK not anymore-- they used to say that tho)
ReplyDeletePam Moore may be old fogey but I'd love for to slide over to Channel 5 in the evening
To be fair, I'm many of the media players are struggling with the same age old problem. Getting viewers to watch and stay. KRON had the same problem with Bay TV. Bay TV was a great concept but lacked promotion with both the viewers and the business community in its short shelf life. I always appreciated how the Bay TV staff really put their heart into it.
ReplyDeleteAnd now because of many factors, now KRON is compared to NY1 (which Bay TV was a replica), which has been going for some time. That longevity must speak to something NY1's Award winning success with maybe better resources and management.
I think the key to Bay Area media success lies not with individual programming including personalities. It's old school thinking but time tested and still successfully used today. Make the station the personality (rather than the individual programs) with the business community and viewers. James Gabbert did it with radio and with TV20 (KTZO/KOFY).
If I were KRON and thier owners, I would seriously look at rebooting and re-imaging KRON with more a personal touch that would encourage local viewer loyalty.
Figures. Radnich was nowhere when the Warriors won last year. Now? He's yucking it up in studio and laughing and just making people feel like Cathy Heenan did in May.
ReplyDeleteHe never gets it does he?
Britteny Ship has made her true self shown? maybe. She has decided that Hayward is 65f when SF is 71F and Fremont 83f. Of course when I pointed out the ignorance of weather..she left Hayward off the 5:45 map altogether!
ReplyDeleteKRON is Ron Burgundy in Podunk is right. Giving January like weather predictions in June.
My last complaint? corrected. To give her benefit of the doubt..it could be malicious interns doing more Tori Campbell. Could be.
ReplyDeleteCould someone shanghai Carolyn Johnson back from LA?
ReplyDeleteI'm not making this up, that Steve Avebury guy on KRON-TV actually said, "We have a reporter 'on the ground in Oakland,'" the other night. I reversed the live TV and confirmed it.
ReplyDeleteRight now on2 this headline "Forest and Fish fires continue to rage"
ReplyDeleteI never heard of a fish fire.