415 MEDIA ALL DOWNHILLI've never seen a market full of duds as blatant as THIS ONE.
The TV News scene is chaos. Good people, good reporters and anchors, good talent are either being phased out or leaving en masse.
The people running the show are about as incompetent as ever. There is NO direction, no movement, no leadership.
The market is run by a bunch of wimpy nincompoops with all the serenity and knowledge of a Vallejo Jack in the Box. The ding-dongs are running the asylum --Bay Area media is crumbling into a gigantic, unfixable mess. Grab that!
You all deserve better. You deserve a hallmark station like KTVU to behave like the legendary outlet it once was and is now been taken over by the FoxHouse idiots--known in the industry, derisively, as The Firm, because it has transformed its staff into a bunch of neurotic and insecure miscreants who are afraid of their job status, afraid of the future, and won't even talk privately to their most trusted confidants. At KTVU, fear and loathing has become the daily mantra with a bozo, once-respected, newswoman, in charge of the circus. What a disgrace!
*KPIX: A bloated, garbage-filled fortress littered with enough human waste to fill the SF Zoo. Misguided, out-of-date, out-of-place anchors with no gusto; relentlessly boring and asleep at the wheel. PIX, as I have pointed out numerous times, has NO face-of-the-station. They're run like a Sacramento Sleep Train. Third-rate reporters, ludicrous, inept anchors guided by a News Director who still thinks he's hip because he used to be a reporter for the SF Chronicle. Like newspapers, KPIX is barren and CBS-SF is a rotting carcass. 
*KRON: A certifiable mess. An independent albatross with a bunch of lowlife sycophants in charge. But just what are they in charge of? The News Director is a yelling, screaming, human male weapon of mass destruction. If he were respected then at least his ranting could be semi-tolerated but KRON is a veritable wasteland with an unknown future. Its bugs are still aplenty; its cadavers supplemented by a nutty, goofy, ridiculous morning yenta with all the gravitas of a Lodi Arby's. The most compelling thing at KRON is the growing impatience of their doofus TV Sports anchor who continues to make as ASS of himself. At least he stopped parking his used Bentley in the handicapped zone. *KGO-TV: The least of the insane media outlets in spite of another inglorious female News Director with all the people skills of s diseased yak. How she is able to keep her gig is the subject of many stories at 900 Front. Circle7 has decent, competent, anchors and fairly solid reporters and producers. Too bad management, (read: TW-S) just fragmented one of its sole stars by 86ing his veteran, well-liked producer. Way to boost morale. Maybe time to hire another weather anchor.
*KNTV (NBC Bay Area) They still don't know whether to be a San Jose station or San Francisco metro. It shows. Like PIX, they too do not have a face-of-station. I thought it would be Raj Mathai but looks as if Raj is more interested in his golf game than reading the teleprompter. Jessica Aguirre? Seriously? And Janelle Wang? Quit making more babies and concentrate on gathering the News Director's e-mails, it couldn't hurt. Another thing, guys, who hired the morning traffic guy? He's about as interesting as a Cupertino Subway sandwich shop. Please, KNTV, find a pulse! Get a grip. You're losing all the energy and are about as relative as a Trump rally in Berkeley.
Most stations now have to trick new talent to come to the BA.
ReplyDeleteKRON is the worst. They lure unsuspecting wannabe reporters / hired as show producers. They rush them out to SF, but when these poor fool find out they can only afford a studio apartment in Richmond or East Palo Alto.
There is a rumor about a 4 bedroom run down home in Fairfield that houses a few KRONvicts that also freelance in Sacto/ Modesto....bouncing back and forth...just to make ends meet.
Poor suckers fell for the Pero ruse.
I'm sure every word of this is true. So many of the problems this region has can be seen in what Rich thinks is wrong with our local media.
DeleteWhat we need is a STRONG recession along the lines of 1980-1982 and that's coming. Google Creative Destruction and spend some quality time reading it.
I usually don't agree with rootvg but I hope his prediction comes true. Too many trendies in Oakland with funny handle bar mustaches need to leave!!!
DeleteAlong with a strong recession we need a new plague.
DeleteIf it's a strong enough recession, the plague won't be necessary. A lot of the people we bitch about will simply leave. They'll have to.
DeleteDear Mr. Lieberman,
ReplyDeleteCan you do anything other than call other people names? Nothing but insults gets tiring.
I would really appreciate a response.
Lisa M.
South Bay
Jessica and Raj need to be transferred to KPIX. The right people on the wrong station.
ReplyDeleteKRON..Steve Aveson is the PERFECT example of a new member joining the KRON Kult. Abandon all ye previous standards..."play with the team"..or be Diane Tuazoned. Ignored,frozen out.Be shown the door...
Steve wants to fit in. He ain't young to still bounce around the country.
KGO does a good job of hiding that backstage dirt and infighting. The inner calmness of Ashley and Daetz makes the world's problems seem solvable.
I pretty much skip all the early morning shows of the locals..but KGO 7 has this strange pair of Castro and the traffic blond..who both LOOK like evening grade A anchors doing..rookie work,intern work. Then,they cut to Reggie and the young girl anchoring. Whaaa???..done in the WAaaaaa? voice.
Something inverted there.
Its all ratings right? I got to believe that them ND people know some of their best are out in the field doing yo mans quality work,with little fanfare.
There they stay as the ratings rule.
Stan, it's not the people. It's this place. There isn't enough land. There isn't enough physical infrastructure. The Greenies don't want more roads? Fine - let's embark upon a drastic modernization and expansion of BART into the central valley.
DeleteHOWEVER, with regard to the people...there is a high schoolish shallowness about this place. If you gave me three days to get a demonstration for vegetable rights organized I'll bet I could turn out at least fifty people. Why is this possible? I think it's all about demographics. The aging hippies are still here and it is their kids who were overwhelmingly raised in upper class surroundings which they have no fucking idea they were created or even possible are the ones sort of twisting in the wind and contributing to the rudderlessness of this place. Demographics and culture. Go to the Rust Belt and you won't see it. It'll just disappear. Most of those people are surrounded by family, they know they're gonna work hard for their living and they're okay with it. Out here? People either think they are owed everything or they're just chronically angry for a variety of reasons. Me? I'm stuck here but don't plan to stop talking about so much of what I see being so wrong. I just read where there are big changes coming from the Fed. Even those yo-yos know we need to be going in a different direction. Recessions are all about change so I would advise everyone to hang on and hold tight. It's gonna be a rough couple of years.
Dude, you aren't even FROM here. Another Ohio/Midwest yokel trying to tell us natives what's really going on. Let me say something you and your fellow conservatives might be familiar with and in fact have probably said in the past:
DeleteLove it or leave it!
Every word I said here is true. I don't address people I don't know with the word "dude" and I don't feel when I should think. Those midwestern values have taken me a lot of places I never thought I would go.
DeleteI'll say it again. We need an enema here, either a strong recession or earthquake or both. What I want to know from you is why you think we don't. What is it about the state of dysfunction here that you think is normal?
Then maybe you should read Ben Fong Torres in the Chronicle. He's all positive and high-fives...I didn't force you to come here, Lisa, but thanks for the wisdom.
ReplyDeleteHey Lisa: You must love Harry Potter books, huh? The world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. TV news and really all of the broadcast media is sucking more and more each day. People are so sanitized by it that they don't care. Go watch reruns of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Get real.
DeleteBen Fong Torres? I use to read him and eventually found out that he's all fluff... Cotton candy. Then I found this place - now that's meat and potatoes.
DeleteRich Lieberman's ratings of Bay Area newscasts has all the excitement and substance of the taco truck in the parking lot of my local Shell gas station.
ReplyDeleteKTVU has a new anchor, was on last night and not so good. But she's very pretty and that's what counts.
ReplyDeleteI can only think that as part of the deal to get NBC, they must have commited to "Bay Area News". KPIX, KGO cover the SB better!
ReplyDeleteHave to admit though Veronica De La Cruz is VERY hot!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I had the chance to view the professionals way back when like Van Amburg, Dennis Richmond, Dave McElhatton, Marcia Brandwynne and boat loads of others from that era.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot two, Doug Moore and the GREAT Henry Tenenbaum!
Delete"The market is run by a bunch of wimpy nincompoops with all the serenity and knowledge of a Vallejo Jack in the Box."
ReplyDeleteWhich one? Vallejo has three... :)
Written with all the good stuff of a generic burger joint in a place that is not known for good stuff...
Delete"And Janelle Wang? Quit making more babies and concentrate on gathering the News Director's e-mails, it couldn't hurt."
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty low right there Rich. This blog just shows you are a piece of shit. Janelle has the right to start a family unlike your sorry ass life Rich. Don't criticize someone's personal life because that wrong in so many ways. All you do is bitch and moan about the media, knowing damn well it's moving into a new direction.
Hey 1205, truth hurts? You one of the losers working in the media? Fact is, it's real. Graphics with spelling errors. "Journalists" who don't know how to put together a story. Good, experienced talent being forced out by people who are best suited to work for a college television station. If anyone is a piece of shit, just look in the mirror.
Delete> If anyone is a piece of shit, just look in the mirror.
DeleteBut what does *making babies* have to do with all that, Rich?
@4:16 Who gives a fuck about talent these days. They're all a bunch of has-beens that can't get the attention of Millennials. It's all about putting hot broads with low pay on the screen. It looks like you're the one who has an ego problem. U mad bro?
DeleteLol did you really go with "u mad bro"? Who sponsored this trip back to 2013?
DeleteHey 708: When you were born, did the doctor slap your mother? Or were you dropped on your head?
DeleteKGO on the weekends is great morning and evening. KTVU is ok when Julie Haener is on in the evenings and the am before Gasia is on. I watch pix for Paul Deano and not much else, unless Hackney is on.
ReplyDeleteYou say we deserve better. But do we? I mean if they put out crap and we keep watching it then do we not deserve the crap we're getting?
ReplyDeleteBingo! This post struck a nerve and told the truth. TV news in this market sucks big schlong. People here are so brain dead they can't tell the difference. There's no there there. The only TV station who comes close is KGO -- but in the evening only. The morning is a gong show with people who have zero credibility -- talking about Reggie boy making a pass at a professional athlete.
ReplyDeleteMost people in the Bay Area are suffering from brain damage. It shows. They think the TV news is the tops. And listening to the puppets on KNBR is the end all of all credibility.
Wake up! Actually, just follow the crowd, get your asses to Starbucks to get your chemically infused hot beverage and walk around all day with your head in the air or up your ass. That's how most people are in the Bay Area. It's true. Why do people want to spend $3-5K/month on a place to live in this area? Wake up you stupid people.
Right on Rich, you couldn't be more accurate in your assessments. The local TV sucks and the local radio is just as bad. These mega companies that are headquartered in other cities, and the people who run them have no interest and no clue as to what is happening in the communities where their stations are located. These mega-companies have ruined and wasted what were once venerable stations such as KGO radio, KSFO radio, and KFRC radio among other places. Those places actually used to have LIVE news reporters and personalities who were compelling to listen to. And you're absolutely right about the local TV news. Half of the people on the air in the SF area now wouldn't have had a sniff at more than Salinas or Eureka, or perhaps Fresno not long ago. But today, they're cheap, they run through the young talent like they're on some sort of ghastly merry-go-round, and the people who run the stations are void of creativity and not interested in building something special. They pay crappy wages, so there is little loyalty, and the fresh faces come and go. You think it's bad here, go to some of the other major markets in this country…it's worse. No wonder there are so many brain-dead idiots who are supporting Donald Trump. America is getting a mega 'junk-food' news diet these days and its showing in the complete cluelessness of your average American voter.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side i didn't notice any earthquake reminders and/or stories on Oct 17.
ReplyDeleteMy respect for KGO's morning newscast has grown. Morning newscasts by nature, much like morning drivetime radio, is a little more energetic, which can be read as less serious by some. If you read Aqui's bio, it's actually pretty impressive. Grad of Northwestern's Medill school of journalism, worked at CNN, and Zouves and Castro both graduated from USC's communication schools. Both rank right up there with University of Missouri and Syracuse as top journalism schools. I blame news directors and producers more than anchors - they set the tenor of the show with their hires and directions.
ReplyDeleteGeez, Folks (including Rich)--
ReplyDeleteI hope you're not basing the quality of live here in the Bay Area....based on the state of its LOCAL TV NEWS?!?!?!?! (and Talk Radio).
This is still a kick-ass place to live. So much to do here/so much is offered.
The quality of my TV newscast, Talk Radio station, or newspaper does not in any way affect my life. Really. It doesn't.
Their business model is broken. That's the issue. WeatherNation has a new blonde weather chick whose college graduation date is listed as 2016. She just finished school and is probably working for damn near Indian money. The whole country is like this right now. There is no quality because we are either not willing or not able to pay for it.
Deleterootvg said, "The whole country is like this right now. There is no quality because we are either not willing or not able to pay for it."
DeleteI would say "Not willing to pay for it" given the massive concentration of media since the telecom act of 1996 brought to you by Bill Clinton,well you...and Bill are getting paid back know in spades.Not much competition when it's a one company town,or at least a small cartel loaded up on debt.Who else can get in the game?Not the little guy.Rust never sleeps,enjoy the decay,the ship won't right itself.Time heals all wounds
Whether it's Hillary or Trump, it matters not. Irreparable damage has been done to this county. The lying, the cheating, the corporate culture run-amuck. The age of the internet and social media has simply accelerated the level of noise. The sorry state of local and national media is just one symptom of a failing country. I fucking hate when people argue that personal computers and the Internet has been a boon for society. Well, duh! Of course it's been. The problem is with how people and corporations have chosen to use these modern marvels. Those with unlimited power and access will ALWAYS tilt toward evil rather than good. History shows this to be true, oh but wait, we don't learn from history - we're too busy posting to Facebook. If our poisoned corporate culture and political system doesn't kill us, the climate will. End of story.
ReplyDeleteGary Radnich stopped using the handicap zone?
ReplyDeleteI find that hard to believe.
1:19
ReplyDelete"Irreparable damage has been done to this county."
I think we'll survive.
Seriously....we've all survived Reagan, Older Bush, Clinton, Younger Bush, Obama...and now, whoever the next president will be.
And we'll survive this current state of--as many here are calling it--horrible/tragic local news & talk radio.
You people need to get a life: Get out more...maybe exercise...cut down on calories/drinking...spend time with your families/significant others/kids/pets.
Life goes on. It has been doing so since the beginning of time--and will continue to do so for many more generations to come.
Now, if you'll all excuse me. I'm about to make lunch plans with my buddies-since-college (six of us; half are Trumpsters, the other half are Dems--but we get along GREAT). I will not be listening to Talk Radio or KNBR/The Game (I have LOTS of great music on my iPod--or I'll listen to ESPN radio).
Later tonight--while the kids are doing their homework--my wife & I are planning on going on a little run/jog thru the neighborhood with our two dogs.
I'll catch up on all the day's news late at night...by going on the internet...and all of the local/national news websites.
I watched the evening news on ABC7 last night and it was crisp and professional. Moved at a nice clip. Still prefer Bill Martin, Paul Deano, and Hackney for evening weather. Love Lisa Argen on the weekend.
ReplyDeleteOur newscasters are not great but you all must not travel. Take a look at the news in Kansas City or Phoenix or Portland. And then look at smaller markets, ouch.
ReplyDelete