RONN OWENS...aka: KGO Radio Mattress Man is FURIOUS with a capital F ...why? Because KGO Radio is giving Ethan Bearman extra time at Night (7-10 PM) (What a goof!) and thus, has ROYALLY PISSED OF RONNNNNNNNNN.Why? Is it ego? Yes, that but here's the BIGGIE: Owens contract has a stipulation where if he's on air during his non-slot hours (10 AM --Noon) he's automatically given a $25,000 bonus no matter if he's taped or live! 25 Grand. Not a huge sum of money but enough to cover the manicure budget for a few years.
Owens' ego has also been bruised because station suits have relegated Mr. Softie to a lesser role; no longer the voice of the station and slowing being marginalized --Ronn's ratings have flatlined and are no longer at the top hence his status at the albatross AM 810 is more and more second and third fiddle.
Ronn works 2 friggin hours a day. He's got the cushiest job in the world. Whiny prick.
ReplyDeleteSure Ronn's talents are declining, but I still rather listen to a fading Ronn repeat than anything with that annoying Ethan Bearman.
ReplyDeleteTend to agree with you. Ronn's best days are behind him but still decent talk radio...Ethan is just bad radio.
DeleteTotally agree with 11:11 and 6:56, he might be not be as good as he use to be, but to put Ethan on twice a day, is just bad programming at it's worst, especially in drive time, when people are sitting in traffic and want to be entertained. I don't care for reruns or best of, certainly not as a steady diet. I would listen to 2 hours of repeat of Ronn, IF I had not heard his show previously.
DeleteYeah can't argue with the above posts.
DeleteEthan Bearman is just plain strident and loud.
- Ethan Bearman is nauseating. Why he's on at all is a mystery.
DeleteEthan Bearman isn't even IN the Bay Area. He does his show from the Westwood One studio 500 miles away in Culver City. Does everyone know that?
DeleteBull. He's my neighbor in The City.
DeletePeople still listen to KGO?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why you devote so much attention to the 15th ranked station in the market. Nobody cares what KGO puts on the air. They could go wall to wall with Chinese opera and nobody would notice because nobody is listening. Aren't there stories about the more listened-to stations in the market? Besides, it's just a matter of time before Cumulus flips KGO to either Spanish or all-satellite programming.
ReplyDeleteRonn is now to KGO what the Pontiac was to General Motors a few years ago -- once with a certain style and energy, but now maybe tired and past its time and no longer popular or relevant. (No offense -- most everything and everybody has a shelf life.) Anonymous at 2:13 PM, I think Rich devotes time and space to KGO because of its heritage and history. Some station formats come and go without much impact -- KGO goes back generations with a long list of people who were among the best of their business. Because of this it is all the more notable now how the station has been devalued.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why we care is that KGO holds for us a strong bond formed in early years, if you're like me who grew up listening, and that radio excellence provided by great hosts and news people kept up for most our lives up to late 2011. Of course we (hundreds of thousands of former listeners) don't listen to anything on there except maybe Rothmann and Thurston, we despise the company that destroyed it, and yes the strength of that bond fades but it never really leaves us.
ReplyDeleteYes, people care, many of us remember the old KGO, and the past few months we had a little bit of what use to be. John Rothman on week-ends Pat 7 to 10 p.m. and yes Ronn in the morning, and a couple of commenters here have noticed, Ronn although not as good as he use to be, still does a decent show, especially sandwiched in between A&G and Ethan Bearman.
ReplyDeleteKGO might be no 15, but if you are not into right wing radio all the time and you NPR too dry, KGO is the only station that gives us a little bit of more centrist to leftist view.
Ronn is middle of the road, Ethan not sure, he does not like Trump, has taken some leftist position, but he jumps from subject to subject and has so many different guests on it is difficult and annoying to follow. I usually switch to Tom Sullivan although he is conservative, he at least sticks to a subject for more than a few minutes, and has callers on. Chip sounds liberal, but I don't care for his style. So many of us turns into KGO hoping to hear an intelligent, well informed and entertaining host, such as John Rothmann. Now we get 2 hours of Ronn, 2 hours of Brian, who can be really good depending on his subject, Pat on the week ends, and once in awhile John Rothmann Other than that they other stations in the Bay Area and surroundings is all right wing. Rush, Hannity, Levin, Savage, not much of a choice. I drove from Concord to Los Angeles this week-end, and when you get out of the Bay Area it is all right wing. Also KGO reached almost all the way to Santa Barbara and can even be heard at night in Pasadena, only it was Ethan Bearman so I didn't care to listen.
"it's just a matter of time before Cumulus flips KGO to either Spanish or all-satellite programming."
ReplyDeleteSome Spanish language operator would probably relish sanctuary State-wide coverage.
DeleteHe's not upset about that. he's upset that Ethan Bearman has the worst ratings on the station and was given more air time over Pat Thurston. Everyone at the station loves Pat. Owens, Copeland and Thurston are the best hosts at that station (with the highest ratings) and employees are angry that Bearman was given more air time, despite the fact that he has no ratings and broadcasts his show out of southern california. If they were going to do re-runs of a show, it should have been Owens or Copeland. They at least know how to hold an intelligent discussion and have a good variety of guests, even though i don't always agree with the stance they take.
ReplyDeleteWhite
DeleteYounger
Male
Gets along with management.
It's not the ratings
Ehtan segments on food and nutrition is some of the worse radio around. A close second is anything with Pat Thurston.
ReplyDeleteYou do not know what the ratings are. If Thurston and the unfunny Copeland had better ratings than Bearman, they would be on instead of Bearman. Ratings are all that matter. Nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Bearman is repeated again tells you his ratings are no worse than the others... Who the hell wants to listen to Byron Allen all day plugging his never ending "Come and see my 'I'm not a real black guy' show!"
He's been milking that racial crap for 20 years.
Yes Copeland has been getting a lot of mileage out his "not a genuine black man" routine for years.
DeleteSay Copeland! you're not funny anymore or cool for that matter.
The unfunny Copeland does not have the intellectual capacity to directly comment on issues such as ObamaCare without interjecting race into it. Leave race out of it jackass. Here is one example from his Facebook:
Delete"It has generally been my experience that whenever I see a bunch of white men smiling and slapping each other on the back in Washington, it means something REALLY bad has been done to most of America." -- Brian Copeland (Not A Genuine Black Guy)
Bearman's rating is not very good as far as I can figure out. Anyway the whole point is, to have a repeat in drive time is just plain crazy. Ever since Cumulus took over the ratings have been dropping, because their programming sucks.
ReplyDeletePat has a lot of followers, she is articulate, intelligent and has an interesting show. I don't always agree with her, but that is not the point. I can listen to shows I don't agree with as long as the host is interesting, polite and welcomes another point of view. (Obviously not Savage, who can't stomach someone disagreeing with him. Who the hell is Byron Allen? As for Brian Copeland he is probably more succesful than you will ever be. His "I'm not a genuine black man" has been very critically acclaimed, Rob Reiner was interested in it, does not sound like a failure to me. I can't help wondering if you are the same person always complaining about Brian talking about race issues. IF so you need to give it up. Brian on a weekly basis talks about: Real Estate in the Bay Area, Books and Theater, he has lots of guests on that has nothing to do with race. He tackles local subjects, such as: The fires in Oakland, the housing crisis, others. If he talks about race, it is usually because there is something in the news that is relevant. Michael Medved and Dennis Prager talks about being Jewish, as does Ronn and John Rothmann to a certain degree, why shouldn't Brian talk about being black when it is appropriate? Every time Brian's name comes up someone accuses him of ALWAYS talking about race. I can't help wonder if it is not the same person? Fact is Brian only talks about race when appropriate (something in the new) I certainly welcome his point of view, since I'm an older white women, who grew up in Europe and came to US 50 years ago as au pair in Connecticut. There are much about race I don't understand, and I'm glad we have someone on the radio, whom in an intelligent way can educate me.
Never listened to Beerman before but from his KGO profile pic he looks like a guy you'd wanna smack after talking to for about 5 mins.
ReplyDeleteJosh Groban wanna be. ;-)
RP
I've listened to Ronn for many many years. But sometime during the Bush administration he seemed to have lost his edge, and he would let caller ramble on and on too much without challenging their nonsense, even though they were clearly wrong. Also, during the last few years it seemed like he was unwilling to take a firm position on certain on controversial issues, most likely out of fear of upsetting leftist elements within his audience, and his show simply became pointless. This plus twenty minutes of commercials an hour is why I simply stopped listening.
ReplyDeleteRonn, once a staple of Bay Area talk radio, no longer has the star power he once had in his prime and especially since he "sold out" when Cumulus ruined KGO. He's become more conservative over the years. He misses too many shows. Though, he continues to be the best that KGO has to offer. A rather sad commentary. Maybe it's time for Ronn to retire.
ReplyDeleteI still like Ronn, but John Rothmann is still my favorite, but then he was my favorite even back when Ronn was in his prime. Back then it was Gene Burns and John Rothmann, I would say it was a tie, depending on subject. Ronn and Pete Wilson was a tie, but if I remember correctly I think when it came to politics I preferred Pete. Now we have Ethan, Maureen and Chip, what a shame. I listened to Maureen last night for most of her show, almost unheard of. She can do serious subject, she is not dumb, but her laughter and certain phrases just annoys me, also too many sexual innuendos. I'm not a prude, but they seem misplaced.
ReplyDeleteI would bang Maureen Langdon. I would NOT bang Ethan Bearman.
ReplyDeleteKGO is terrible! Ronn....2n's just called Spicer Spencer! Time to hang it up. Bearman with his giggling sidekick female is a hack! Constant talk about food and nutrition and non relevant matters. Stopped listening long ago! Copeland is another non relevant hack who's living off his somewhat fame from 25 years ago. Enough already! Fire all immediately or you will go down in flames. Satellite radio is a much better alternative!!
ReplyDeleteUgg
ReplyDeleteTried to listen to KGO recently.
Could not stomach the kooky
Dr. Drew. He talks in a loop and has nothing compelling to say.
How did he become a "celeb" ?
Then there's Ronn. He just lets callers blab nonsense. Never
challenges or questions them. Boring.
No more LOCAL radio. Sad.
Time to turn this great powerful radio signal over to Spanish station.
I listen to KSFO and KGO for years now. Couple years back when Ethan B. was on KSFO, he was OK. When he got his job at KGO, I switch off the radio because I can't stand his whinny attitude. I sure miss listening to Ronn Owens.
ReplyDelete