THOSE OF YOU THAT READ ME know my aversion to traffic reports on radio. There's a time when it's quite legit to have traffic information but not every 10 minutes, even at commute time --I know this is anathema to radio programming but that's just me. |
| Peter Schofield |
*You're a white male; about 40-49; Irish; like to talk over others; you love sports; hey, go apply for a job at KNBR, they'll love you.
*It would be far too easy to rip into KQED for their boring programming, uninspired output, lackadaisical local offerings but hey, I'll pile on. KQED is a multi-million dollar hodgepodge of banal TV with little imagination and subsidized by a Bay Area membership made up of lemmings and Neanderthals --too bad those of you that donate to this broadcast albatross couldn't throw 415 Media a few bucks. My content is a hundred times better and I only have occasional pledge breaks.*Memo to KTVU and KPIX: guys and girls, if you were as half as committed to your newscasts as you are telling some of your personnel not to talk to me you'd have a great TV station. Instead, two things: your newscasts still sucko and I still have spies who send me tips no matter your threats so please, stop or least be more creative.
| Greg Papa |
*Greg Papa would have more sympathy if he weren't such an a-grade jerk. Papa is at the beginning of a nasty divorce that will only get nastier. His Danville house is for sale; there's now a question if he will go to Vegas and continue his Raiders' broadcast duties. Papa is supposedly hard to work with on the NBC Sports Bay Area, "Happy Hour" (a show I detest); if you doubt the latter, ask Kelli Johnson who can't stand Pop and vice-versa.
*Papa has at least one good thing going for him: he's not Dave Feldman.
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| Tim Kawakami |
*That much-pubbed, sports-Internet startup with a slew of big names minus local asshole with a stick-up-ass, Tim Kawakami, is already facing financial woes because not enough half-brains are paying money to read their peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.
*Speaking of woes, there's the FM, ALL-Sports radio albatross that still can't make it past a 1.0 in the new ratings just out.
*It's just a rumor but it has some teeth: a group of tech guys in San Jose with the money needed to conduct an operation, want to buy/lease the old AM Radio 610 AM --aka: KFRC --its now a "Family Radio" outlet and you still hear its dead owner on the air. The tech guys are all in their 50's and drive Tesla cars so they have lots of moolah now can they pull it off? Stay tuned.
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| Nick Smith cornered by Allie Rasmus and Anna Duckworth |
*Hey, Nick Smith, former KGO-TV reporter --has great taste.
*Kudos to KTVU anchor and reporter, Ken Wayne, for a terrific report from Vegas (one of only a few) talking to a woman who was shot in the back but barely survived serious injury or death, and walked out of a hospital after the massacre. It was a very compelling, chilling, and poignant account from a woman with more courage than anyone could imagine. Great stuff by Wayne.
*It's not that Kenny Choi (KPIX Morning anchor) is just BORING and dreadfully banal he's also very poor on SF street name pronunciation too. It's "Van Ness", moron, not "VANE-ness." Holy crap.
And you too, AGAIN, KGO-TV weather geek, Mike Nicco, get a grip on LOCAL street names: It's "Doyle DRIVE, not Doyle "AVENUE", you schmucko.
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| Rosemary Orozco |
*Rosemary Orozco has become KTVU's #1 prima donna with an ego the size of Lake Merritt, according to a source in Jack London Square. Maybe Orozco should go out and buy another dress at Ross.
*Hey Rosie, is it true about you and Sal and that unexpected lunch at Kincaids? I heard you guys weren't necessarily talking about the artichoke dip.
*Dan Ashley, the #1 anchor weeknights at KGO is the "most influential" of his ilk in the Bay Area according to a veteran industry observer in the market. Says the voice: "Ashley has White House 'connections; an open door to 'Jerry Brown's office and 'Ed Lee's ear." That's more connections than a PG&E high rise in Downtown San Francisco. We'll talk more in a future column.
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| Dan Ashley reports from the White House |
Ashley deserves all the kudos we can give him, but it would be a colossal miracle if he still has connections at you-know-where-the-Hairpiece-is. I thought everything covered by the Bay is "fake" in the eyes of the Orange Stain-in-Chief.
ReplyDeleteLook! Snowflakes in October! Who would have believed it!
DeleteIf its true,then another lesson in life for the young man. A six figure salary and some celebrity added,makes you good looking and funny to beautiful woman. Heck,even a decent job like with the phone company might work..
ReplyDeleteUnless your grasp of the language is that of, say, Andy Kaufman's "Latka Gravas," how do you get "Vane" our of "Van?" Agreed with KCBS' traffic reports and Peter Schofield in particular -- on weekends, and true for all the station , it seems like a reunion of not only old KGOers but some blasts from the radio past, such as Kim Vestal of the long-defunct KARA-FM in San Jose / Santa Clara. No argument about Dan Ashley.
ReplyDelete*The KFRC "reboot": In general not a good idea; you can't go home again. Having said that, they could probably take 95.7 for a six-pack of Old Milwaukee and try it there, or at least bring back MAX FM; that was a glorious station that played essentially the same thing that 106.9 HD2 does...
ReplyDelete*That KNBR job: I click all the boxes, but I'm 54. Do I qualify, and how much does it pay? Medical included?!?
*Kenny Choi: I work daily and start my drive before 6 so I've never had the pleasure of hearing this guy, but I know he's been around for a couple of years now. Anyone who still mispronounces street names after that long being on the air needs to go. NOW;
*Mike Nicco: See above, and I KNOW he's been in the Bay for well over a decade. No excuse;
*R. Orozco: Of COURSE she's the top diva; she's gorgeous, appears very relate-able, seems to know here way around a teleprompter, and looks like she can hold an intelligent conversation, unlike HH, whose appeal I don't understand at all. Legs ultimately only help you up stairs, while brains lead to the elevator;
*Greg Papa: Sounds great on-air but looks like a Yugo salesman...
/end rant
"KQED is a multi-million dollar hodgepodge of banal TV with little imagination and subsidized by a Bay Area membership made up of lemmings and Neanderthals"
ReplyDeleteI laughed at this. Translation, registered DEMOCRATS. Way to go Rich you got it right this time!
True.
DeleteKawakami has blocked closed to 9000 people on Twitter many of whom just disagreed with his him and his thin skin. Me and many of my friends might have subscribed to the Athletic but with him working for them, no chance. Karma's a bitch Tim!
ReplyDeleteI would wager Rosemary has longer legs than HH. Looking like one can hold an intelligent conversation does NOT mean one can hold an intelligent conversation. That was funny. But overall I usually agree with your stuff.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of dress, Gasia and Heather always wear the same old dress all the time, One of Heather dress is too expose on television when she wears it, a blue dress.
ReplyDeleteI need to see this dress!
DeleteI think this is the dress Heather wore.
Deletehttps://imgur.com/FqfNmjf
Thank you. I'm in love.
DeleteWomen in media all across the country dress like that. I see that in the LA market 10 times daily looking like that and they have them on the couch sometimes, which makes their skirts even shorter. How about Trish Regan on Fox (Trish the Dish, who used to be in the Bay Area), for example.
DeleteHi Rich,
ReplyDeleteAgree with you on Peter Schofield! An all around solid guy who really knows his stuff....glad he is back on air!
And another thought comes to mind about Peter Schofield...a real classy guy. Love working with him in the newsroom. He allows others to shine rather than taking all the credit himself...a remarkable trait in this environment!
ReplyDeleteRosemary can be as diva as she wants to be. Gorgeous woman.
ReplyDeleteWe miss her up here in Sacto.
Her old station here tried to replace her with a gal we nicknamed "cigarettes and Whiskey" because she looked like she was out all night, rolled out of bed, took a slug of the hair of the dog, lit up a ciggie, found her pumps then drove to the station.
She's now on the competing station sometimes on their morning "we're sooo funny and cool chucklefest".
Yes...we miss Rosemary the Diva
R_P
Suffer, you can never have her back!! I bet "cigarettes and whiskey" has a perfume called, "Push Me In The Bushes." Cheap stuff, $10 a gallon. She probably goes through a couple of gallons a year.
DeleteI'm sure she voted for Hillary. In the words of George Zimmer, "I guarantee it!"
DeleteI kind of miss Christina Loren on weather. She's now a farm girl reporter and I'm sad to report- a conservative. Maybe why KNTV and the bay area didn't suit her.
ReplyDeleteIf someone local wants to bring back KFRC and has the cash to do it, I say GO FOR IT. After all, a local company bought KFRC after RKO General imploded following their FCC troubles. Whoever does this will no doubt have to upgrade their transmitter facilities. Family Radio is notorious for doing the barest minimum when it comes to maintaining equipment. So their current facilities can't be state of the art. Not to mention a studio location in SF and hiring on air talent. Going to an FM would probably be a plus for Family Radio since they seem to be lost broadcasting the gospel according to Harold Camping and need to do something in the PR department following those "End of the World" broadcasts from which they never recovered. As well as a new direction for their ministry.
ReplyDeleteAs for 610AM. I say bring back the classic hits and personalities that were broadcast prior to the Family Radio takeover. PLEASE, NO TALK SHOWS, EVER!!!
Hey...anyone who buys a "frequency" is buying only a license. Who did the broadcast previously has absolutely no relationship to what the next guy might do. It's always fun to watch people assume that a dial position, in some way, dictates a format. Whoever suggested that "you can't go back" was right on track. What was so beautiful at the peak of KFRC's success simply wouldn't play well today. It's over...time to pay tribute to the past and to plan carefully for the future. Roger W. Morgan
ReplyDeleteIf a bunch of Silicon Valley guys have the money for a 5,000 watt mono jukebox, let 'em have at it. But who else will listen? And who will jock?
ReplyDeleteBobby Ocean's still alive and in Marin. Maybe he'd do it.
Don Sainte-Johnn is somewhere out there. Possibly.
Sue Hall's on TV. Probably not itching to get back on AM radio.
Beyond that? Dr. Don Rose, Rick Shaw, Big Tom Parker and Shana are all dead. John Mack Flanagan is (according to his own posts on Facebook) under hospice care.
Dave Sholin is in Oregon, Bill Lee is in New York City and you could probably come up with a list of alive-but-not-living-in-the-Bay-Area jocks...but if a new KFRC were voice-tracked, the few people interested would HATE it.
Doesn't matter how much money these guys have---if they do it, it's doomed. And within five years, we'll all be moaning over another failed attempt to resurrect KFRC. Let it rest in peace.
Dr. Don Sainte Johnn is on the air in Sacramento.
DeleteHow about the great Gene Nelson of KYA and KSFO fame to man the microphone at KFRC?
DeleteCeleste Perry's still on the air in BArea!!!!
Delete10:48 PM: Nope. Blown out four years ago. Living in Marin.
DeleteThey could get Ryan Covay and Drew Hopper from KNBR.
Delete6:54 AM: Gene Nelson is EIGHTY-ONE YEARS OLD!
Delete7:40 AM: Celeste Perry? Seriously? That worked really well ten years ago, didn't it? Wait. I can answer that. No, it didn't.
DeleteI saw Nicco twice during Good Morning America while on an elliptical at the gym this morning. Both times he said the hottest day this weekend would be Friday, but the temps on the screen behind him showed Saturday 2 degrees hotter.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to "The Game" in the car around 9 PM a couple nights ago. I think it was P-Con doing a listener call-in. Any college fraternity bro could have done as good a job. I kept thinking, "God, I wish they'd hire Woodson."
ReplyDeleteI guess it was Chris Townsend rather than P-Con. The latter works for KNBR. Shows you how much I listen to Bay Area sports radio these days.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztYU98EhJk4 Kim Vestal "Get Your Buns Out of Bed." [Recorded at Broadcast Legends, June 2017]
ReplyDeleteBetty U is cute
ReplyDeleteIf I was 30 years younger and didn't have this busted hip, I'd be chasing after Betty.
DeleteSome stand out, some are daring, both capture my attention. Rosemary qualifies...easily.
ReplyDeleteIf I were a symmetrical goddess who looks good from any angle, who is feminine poetry in motion as she moves around the weather station, I would have a large ego also!
Dude...she's just pointing and talking at a map. It's not complicated.
Delete9:45, she's pointing at a map that's NOT REALLY THERE...the magic of bluescreen...
DeleteMuch like the "weather girls" of the 70s who wrote temps backwards on a transparent map from behind the glass, that takes talent...
The last incarnation of KFRC was on 1550 AM (now an Indian language format) from 1/1/2009 to 9/1/2011. The programming was "The True Oldies Channel" with Scott Shannon (the music played was mostly 1960s and 1970s stuff, some good "forgotten tunes"), plus old 1970s reruns of Casey Kasem "American Top 40" and Cal Basketball broadcasts. The highest rating it got was 0.3
ReplyDeleteKMHX out of Santa Rosa recenly flipped to a 1970s & 1980s classic hit format plus KBAY in San Jose did likewise after last Christmas.
7:52 PM: Slapping the KFRC call letters on a satellite feed doesn't count. The real last attempt was the one in 2007-2008 on 106.9. And it didn't do really well in the ratings, either.
DeleteSpeaking of Greg Papa, sorry to hear about his apparent impending divorce. Like him or hate him, you can't help but feel bad for him going through something like this. Hopefully sports is an escape for him. Yeah, unfortunately a lot of people go through divorce, but I guess it just seems unlikely that a guy like Greg Papa would, even though yeah, sometimes he acts like he can be a player. LOL
ReplyDeleteRegarding him and Kelli Johnson, I mentioned this in the previous article on here regarding Greg Papa, but it's just weird how on Happy Hour now, Kelli Johnson is not on the show when Greg Papa is there, and Kelli Johnson is on the show when Greg Papa is not there. There's obviously something going on there.
I checked Kelli's Johnson's Twitter page to see if everyone brought this up and someone actually did, but she just said that Greg Papa is with the Raiders on the days that she's on the show, and the days that he is on the show, she's in jury duty. So there you go. LOL.
I still think something must've happened to where things became sour between the two. I still think it was during Mother's Day weekend where Kelli Johnson asked Greg Papa if he would give his wife a Mother's Day gift and he said no, because Mother's Day is for his Mom. I think Kelli Johnson might've been done with Greg Papa since. I think if it's still like this in a month or two, or maybe after football season, then it will be totally obvious they couldn't work together.
Speaking of 95.7, I'm surprised they as a whole are still having trouble with their ratings. I think 95.7 is much better now than it was when the station first started as a sports station. Not sure if it's still because of the signal, or because 95.7 is still a sports station people aren't used to. Everyone's used to KNBR still, even though KNBR is not as good as it was.
ReplyDeletethe worst traffic person is Heather Haman, aka the Penguin. just listening to her grating voice is bad and then she is part of the moron brigade with chip franklin.
ReplyDeleteOrozco's ego is bigger than Gasia's? Than Heather's? Wow! This I cannot imagine.
ReplyDeleteRegarding The Athletic, the new Bay Area sports website that Kawakami, Marcus Thompson II, BASG (Bay Area Sports Guy), et. al went to, it's hard to ask people to pay money for a site, when you used to could read their same content for free before they came to the site. The site is just starting out, but you have to wonder about their future, if they are already having problems getting people to pay for a subscription to the site.
ReplyDeleteKind of too bad they didn't have a pay option, or an option where you could donate to the site, and maybe they get money through ad's and things like that.
Has anyone on here subscribed to The Athletic? If so, how is the site?
Stan predicts: Kawakami returns to the bay area,and most likely the Merc. They are co -dependent after all these years.Plus,what other area accepts an Asian sports writer like the bay area? Not NY,not even in Tim's old college town of Northwestern for sure.
ReplyDeleteYou'll see.
Did Kawakami have to move? I'd think he could write his stuff from his Bay Area home.
DeleteWhen the Athletic goes bankrupt, little Tim Kawakami will come back to the Mercury News with his tail between his legs.
DeleteSay Timmy, keep blocking those twitter followers.
The content at the Athletic has been very good so far and the comments sections on the articles are troll free, which is a refreshing change. However, getting people to pay for content that they previously got for free will be a tough road to climb. That, and the fact that Kawakami's ego and thin skin has alienated several potential subscribers.
ReplyDeleteAs for Papa, he's a grade-A jerk-off. When he's not on the Happy Hour, the show is 1000X better. I really hope Papa moves to Vegas with the Raiders.
Regarding the ratings for The Game, at some point, someone will figure it's failing for 2 reasons. 1. the signal sucks. 2. Aside from Damon Bruce, their line-up is pretty pathetic and they talk about the same shit, over and over. Increase the signal and bring in some actual talent and maybe the ratings will climb back from the depths.
another thing with KGMZ, its so tedious when they have the same people on over and over,sometimes on two shows on the same day!! they could easily get rid of most of their lineup and have fox radio, which also sucks, on at night and the weekends. and they have had Matt Steinmentz (fired once), Dan Dibbley (fired once) Micheal Urban (fired twice i think) bunch of retreads who are all boring and self promoters like Urban.
ReplyDelete