Friday, July 21, 2017

Ask Rich Lieberman

Related image ANSWERING YOUR BAY AREA TV/RADIO QUESTIONS; Please include name and city.

76 comments:

  1. What happened with JT the brick

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The spin was that both parted ways amicably...and I agree, but I think 95.7 was expecting more out of JT and he didn't deliver. Hard to do a compelling show from 10 AM to Noon but they tried. And failed. He's really just a Raiders guy and there's only so much you can talk about a team that's headed to Vegas --the world will survive this.

      Delete
    2. The entire time 95.7 has been on the air, the 10-noon slot has been a mystery to them since the they moved Lund/Papa from 10-2 to noon-3. Whether it's been Townsend and Steinmetz, Steinmetz and O'Connell, Urban and whoever, Haberman and Middlekauff, and whoever else has been thrown into that slot. They might at well move Papa back to 10-2 and give an extra hour to Damon.

      Delete
  2. Rich...is there a more asinine, juvenile POS in Bay Area media than P-Con, the KNBR all purpose fratboy?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, if there is, I'd like to know.

      George, you get what you pay for. If KNBR, a station that has Uber drivers moonlighting as hosts, can employ such nimbobs, then they can employ this yahoo, "P-Con", a guy they deem as their "talent", really nothing more than a bloated bigot with dimwit content and says "dude" every two minutes. It's bad, it's asinine as you point out and it's juvenile --more advertising for satellite radio.

      Delete
    2. Call letters should be KDUDE.

      Delete
  3. Do you think that 103.7 (the iheart 80s station) is going to flip again. I notice that it's ratings have fallen a bit and I think the fad has gone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Every FM station is subject to flipping these days --although I've heard worse. Actually, a "Tears for Fears" "Everybody Rules The World" is better than "The Game" any day.

      Delete
    2. Funny... Smooth jazz KKSF which iHeart nixed, out rated all of the formats that followed. SMH. I love me some KCSM but bring back my Boney James and Diana Krall

      Delete
    3. I suspect while 103.7 ratings fluctuate, client results and revenue continue. Combine that with the Breeze, I suspect it is profitable between both stations carving a very good audience niche and revenue foothold.

      Delete
    4. If you're a smooth jazz fan then you must be at least 70 as that was their demographic when they went away

      Delete
    5. Shows you how much you know, 4:59...most are now in their 40s-60s and the most affluent of all demographics. CC just didn't know how to market to them as well as most radio. Chicago and San Diego is bringing back the format because THEY get it...and the fans are still there!

      Delete
  4. Boxers or briefs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You really don't want to know but think "short"

      Delete
  5. These radio guys who invent radio formats based on a decade's music are about as creative as the guy who invented the shirt you dont have to tuck in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You said it about as good as anybody. Well done.

      Delete
    2. Reminds me of the time Michael Krasny left a 10-pounder on the bathroom floor at Peet's Coffee in Cotati, and said "I'm on KQED tonight!" to the Manager as he walked out.

      Delete
  6. What is with all the constant newscaster rotations at KPIX between VDLC and Liz Cook? I assume KGO is going to lower VDLC salary or just dump her altogether.

    Same seems to be occurring with Alayna Gomez and KTVU. I think the plan is to lower the cost of doing business across the board. I like Alayna but I wish she looked like she wanted to be there. She looks like she is always bored

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Matthew, it's not that they're bored it's that they're so amateur, so beneath it all but that's the TV News environment today. It's called dreck central --maybe a product of the Internet but whatever it is, it's here to stay and that sucks. Reality bites.

      Delete
  7. When will Armstrong and Getty disappear from KGO and what will replace it... news or?

    Jim, Sunnyvale

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim, I'm hearing that A&G are all but gone just KGO/Cumulus don't want to pay a buyout b/c they (the gruesome twosome from Branson, Mis) have a hefty buyout and Cumulus hates paying.

      Delete
  8. Rich, why does KCBS sound so bad...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because they've been changing a lot Saul and people don't like change, myself included. I wish they'd be more news and less chit-chat, but now they seem to think that idle talk is good, that the listeners like it. The listeners LIKE news, traffic, sports and fresh interviews --a format KCBS has apparently abandoned.

      Delete
  9. Hey Rich, do you buy the Giants spin that this is just an "off-year", or will they have big problems in the future competing with the superior talent on the Dodgers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They have so much cash ($400M a year in rev from the ballpark) that in spite of their terrible season they'll make do. Let's face it, the Giants are sort of like the Cubs --people go to the park --not real baseball fans--who want to be seen, talk on their cell and wear panda hats so the Giants are set even if they suck eternally and they won't.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Rich, totally agree...and I do not look forward to seeing those moronic panda hats again...

      Delete
    3. sad bitter a's fan

      Delete
  10. Do you think the Bay Area will get another Country/Western or Oldies station? I know there's KRTY in Los Gatos/SJ, but their coverage is pretty limited.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, because even though I don't like country music, many, many people love it especially in the Bay Area.

      Delete
    2. The Bone(KSAN) 107.7 does have Nash ICON Country on their digital HD2 channel, this happened after they lost the LMA on KSJO which was their Nash FM station.

      Delete
  11. Just a few thoughts about KCBS. How many times in an hour does Stan Bunger have to say "KCBS". Do we need weather on the eights. Traffic, sure. It is fluid. And do we need to hear replays of sports events from around the world? Put Bristow in week days. Bunger getting real old!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, he (Stan) just got a contract extention. Maybe he wants to thank the company. I've had enough of both Bristow and Bunger (column coming)

      Delete
  12. Do you feel that controversy=cash? Is that why you mainly write articles ripping this or that? Have you noticed that the more you rip, the more people visit to read and comment?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cash? Are you kidding. I don't get paid on "controversy" --my ads are Google-sponsored and they don't pay much...and I don't write controversy for controversy straight. I write edgy and say some things you probably won't read in the Chronicle. Yes, more people react and engage if subject matter is negative and raw but that's why people in their car stop and look at the accident on the freeway, right? 150 Million people watched the OJ trial --welcome to America.

      Delete
  13. Why are you afraid to rip me? Is it because I threatened legal action once? It's ok, you can point out that my views are ridiculous and I need to retire.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Orenthal James "OJ" The ObserverJuly 21, 2017 at 9:49 AM

    Will you help me find the real killers when I get out in October?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it's at the top of my to-do list ..next to me being named the new White House Press Secretary too.

      Delete
  15. Why am I so miserable?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, you're not miserable, Stan, it's the Hayward water. Seriously, I think you're funny.

      Delete
  16. Is it true? Biggest fucking hands in Bay Area media?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think you should change your name to Rich "Chutzpah" Lieberman because you out it all out there with your name attached! No fear?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What am to fear? I'm just saying what I think. It's honest and up front. I don't believe in trashing anybody anonymously --that's just really weak.

      Delete
  18. Were you upset when you lost your hair because you could no longer sport your "jew fro"? And is it true that the women flocked to you en masse. Such a thick head of hair. So virile! Such big hands too! =p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My "jew" fro is intentional. I'm a big Howie Mandel fan (another "jew" with a bald fro) so your anti-Semitism is misguided and plain wrong. I never associated long hair with youth and short hair or NO hair is better. Women flock no matter what, the smart ones.

      Delete
    2. No anti-Semitism. Rich, it's our sense of humor that sustained us as a people for 3000 years.

      Delete
    3. Whatley's always stealing lines. Offensive to we comedians. He calls us anti-Dentites now!

      Delete
  19. All kidding aside, Rich you're a good man. You take everything no matter how tongue in cheek it is and you pass through 50% of it (lol). You know that half of us are talking out of our asses (think The Observer) and the other half are trying to be funny to amuse ourselves (think Betty in Petaluma fart joke guy). Yet you still put up with our shit daily and never complain. For that I commend you and say we should all have the thick skin you do. Thanks for the entertainment Rich!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I complain I'm just good at compartmentalizing ...for the most part. Thanks for your kind words and support of 415 Media and it's nice to get a compliment for a change.

      Delete
  20. Hey Rich,
    What are your thoughts on Kawakami/M Thompson's The Athletic and the impact they may bring to Bay Area sports media?

    Chris, SF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NONE.

      Kawakami is an overrated prick with press-release content and a total hack; the other guy I've never heard of.

      Delete
    2. Tim Kawakami was an average writer at best.
      His columns were too long and excruciatingly boring.

      Delete
    3. I like Kawakami's work, I think he's good. But he is a prick with a Napoleon complex. I met him twice at the San Jose Arena / Shark tank. Shared a media elevator with him once, a stanoffish douche.

      Delete
    4. Speaking of Tim Kawakami, I was walking through JC Penny's the other day, and I saw Kamakami shopping in the junior's department.

      Delete
  21. Hi Rich,

    I'm noticing more and more KGO, KPIX, KTVU and other news stations have the wrong picture, story, blank screen, dead mics and the list goes on. Who is responsible for all these mistakes?

    Thanks for the great site you have...check it everyday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because these stations are trying to make it on the cheap and since the people responsible for graphics are ill-prepared and not suited for this work, you get mistakes--CONSTANT mistakes and WRONG graphics, blank screens, etc. It's more the rule now, not the exception.

      Delete
    2. There are NO persons responsible for graphics. They eliminated that position on ALL local newscasts. All lower thirds and full page graphics that require text are typed in by a news writer or producer in the newsroom and then simply advanced one by one by the director up in the control room. The graphics person (who would double check things for spelling errors and build full page graphics) has been eliminated at all the local stations.

      Delete
    3. Correction noted but you get my gist.

      Delete
  22. You have mentioned problems at Channel 9 several times. They seem to show lots and lots of repeats lately. What is going on there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They have a profound lack of leadership and continue to put people in charge who have ZERO experience in LEADING and seem intent on pissing off the people, the lower-level staff that really RUN the station(s)...they also, (again) seem to think that by hiring more MANAGERS at outrageous salaries is a better policy than fewer managers --more to say soon.

      Delete
  23. Ever heard anything bad about Malou Nubla? Always liked her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope,she just seems really nice. Wondered how she was to work with.

      Delete
  24. Hi Rich,
    Love your Q&A's. Rich, how would you fix bayarea radio? If you had a magic wand...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a good question and a question that deserves a bigger stage then this forum...I will write soon because it is so vitally important.

      Delete
  25. Hi Rich: Always like vastly underrated GA Reporter Christian Kaften from his days at KNTV(Channel 3) & for the past 5 years with KTVU(Channel 2). Yet the only time I see him is on KTVU's weekend mornings news from 7-10 am & occasionally during Mornings on 2 weekdays. When will KTVU finally utilize him full-time on either their late afternoon/early evening 4-7 pm newscasts or 10-11:30 pm newscasts. Instead I see the far less talented (especially when during live reports where he frequently messes up) Jesse Gary on Monday-Friday from 4-7 pm. Jesse Gary worked at KRON then KTVU during the early to mid 2000's then went to Fox LA & then Fox Philadelphia before being rehired by KTVU as their South Bay Reporter 1 year ago. Jesse Gary has a very mediocre & checkered past as a GA Reporter while Christian Kaften is a much better Ga Reporter especially reporting live on-air. Why isn't KTVU properly using Christian? Keep up the Great Work rich! Cary SF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like Kaften and wrote extensively about his great work on the GhostFire story early on; KTVU has him on extensively in their morning show, Cary, and enough times to make him watched. If he wants more evening work I'm sure they can work something out. He's very good, not great. My opinion.

      Delete
  26. Rich, I get the impression that you are not overly impressed with 95.7 The Game, but if they go away and we are back to a single "Homer" spewing radio station I think I might have to have my Ears surgically removed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish KNBR were to have a legitimate competitor but I can't stand 'The Game' (95.7 FM) Simply because they're there doesn't mean I have to like them --they're better then KNBR but that's like saying salmon is better than sardines...I have tried long and hard to listen to 957 but they have a horrible morning show and you can only take so much of Damon Bruce. Their midday lineup is putrid. So what am I supposed to do? Heap praise? Reality is we have TERRIBLE sports radio here in the Bay Area. Plain and simple.

      Delete
  27. I find that it's better to just get my news through social media and the internet. Everyone on TV and radio is garbage

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hey Rich: Glad you're about to do a column on KQED. In this age of "transparency", I'm wondering about the financials. Do they make a profit? How much goes into the product and how much to salaries, especially managers? Have they ever released the "books" for everyone to see?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree that something smells bad at KQED. They are always asking for $$$ and have repeats on their stations. Are they fleecing their donors?

      Delete
  29. KQED FINANCIALS HERE:
    http://ww2.kqed.org/about/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/02/kqed-auditedfinancialstmts-2016.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  30. When will kron dump fake boobed Darya Folsom? Saw her this morning and man does she look old and tired. Face it, she is not pretty and depends on her appeal being her big ta ta's. So when will kron give up on this hag?

    ReplyDelete