My Five Favorite KCBS Traffic Anchors
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| Sheri Brown |
AS MUCH as I'm fairly dismissive of most traffic reports --commute time AM and PM I get the importance--by habit, I listen to a lot of traffic reports on radio and am always curious about the voice behind the microphone.
Because I'm a news junkie, I'm usually tuned to KCBS (740 AM/106.9 FM) therefore I hear the various traffic voices, morning, noon and night, late-night too because I have no life as most of you know.
On KCBS at night, I like Sherry Brown, the veteran Bay Area newswoman who is part of the new evening traffic line-up. Brown has a comfort voice and delivers mostly first-rate reports in a hurried environment.
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| Peter Schofield |
I'm also a big Peter Schofield fan; too bad he's only on during early morning Saturday (and fill-in elsewhere) Schofield is informational and has a relaxed presentation; presents a civil, concise and thorough traffic report.
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| Kim Wonderley |
*I've always marveled at Kim Wonderley's ability to work the morning drive --a hectic pace times 10--while do so in a most effortlessly manner; truly remarkable and the Bay Area traffic reporter veteran deserves full props for her exceptional work on the morning drive.
*John Atkinson has been anchoring traffic for years; (sports too) I've always loved his underrated delivery and took for granted his straightforward pitch; the more I listen to him the more I appreciate his work.
Atkinson deserves a lot of credit for his smooth and crisp reports.
*OK, here's someone who has grown on me and I never thought I would warm up to this guy: Victor Zaragoza.
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| John Atkinson |
The ex-DJ needs to can the overuse of the phrase, "I'll keep an eye out..." that said, his quirky voice and subtle sense of humor stands out during the overnight and I like that.
I'll definitely keep an ear out.
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| Victor Zaragoza |
Agreed on all, especially Peter Schofield. I'd also name occasional weekender Kim Vestal, another pleasant-voiced radio pro from the long ago of KARA-FM ("This is KARA!... in Santa Clara!")
ReplyDeleteAnd KLIV in San Jose, until they dropped 24 hour news for "country gold" music in 2016. She was good there too.
DeleteThat's right!
DeleteStill miss Ron Cervi....
ReplyDeleteRon is still doing traffic on the Total Traffic Network on IHeart's south bay stations in the mornings.
DeleteI'm sorry but Victor is terrible at traffic. He's obviously a friend of someone in management.
ReplyDeleteVictor should be doing something that uses his talents more. Reporting on traffic? What a waste.
DeleteI didn't realize there were that many of them.
ReplyDeleteHow many people does it take to say, "Things suck all the time everywhere in the Bay Area"???
All are good. Although when they introduce Sheri Brown a lot of times it sounds like Jerry Brown. Maybe when Brown is done with governing he can do traffic...
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe when Sheri is done she can be governor. LOL
DeleteWhat about the worst...that must go to anyone employed by scum-u-less. They all must be spouting wrong names and mispronunciations from Dallas.
ReplyDeleteBeen hearing George Rask in midday on the weekdays lately. Welcomed addition. Beats listening to the reject candidates from "America's Got Talent" on the weekends (except for Kim "Get Your Buns Out of Bed" Vestal). Why she's doing traffic on the weekends is beyond me. Good talent going to waste.
ReplyDeleteWhen is someone going to tell the female afternoon traffic reporter on KNBR how to pronounce Cesar Chavez. It is NOT
ReplyDeleteCEZZar.
SEE-ZER!!!!
DeleteActually, both aren't quite right, it's not quite a long "eee" sound but definitely NOT "cezz". Not the same as Hail Ceasar (different name entirely) but a shorter "e" sound. And the last name is Chavez with a hard "CH" like "Charter" not soft like "Chardonnay" The anchor in the AM gets it right. Army Street anyone?
DeleteAgree, 11:37. It should be “ceh ZAR”
ReplyDeleteDoesn’t anyone in mngmnt. at the station listen to her, so they can correct her?
Zaragoza is missed on music radio. He was late of KBLX where they keep thinking we want to hear second tier (Marc Cooper)/ third tier (the current Tony(s) screaming at us every morning. KBLX would have done VERY well to simply have Kimmie Taylor and Victor Zaragosa host the morning show BY THEMSELVES WITHOUT comedic relief. They are funny enough by naturally by them selves. I also enjoyed him with the Three Amigos on The Game offering a fresh "brown" voice in sports radio. The fact that he's doing traffic overnight? A waste- but we all gotta eat.
ReplyDeleteI liked his energy on the Three Amigos.
DeleteThe accent isn't on the 2nd syllable 'sar', but the first 'seh'. It was hard getting used to the change in name from "Army St", the iconic "Army". But interesting in the ensuing years how it's blended into normal lexicon.
ReplyDeleteErica Kato is still my favorite traffic anchor. Followed closely by Elizabeth Wenger. My god, how god trafic was a few years back!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. What in the hell is kpix thinking with 2 flops in a row
DeleteErica is a gem
The accent is NOT on the first syllable. A lot if people pronounce like we pronounce Julius Caesar. It is not, in this case. Definitely should be pronounced with accent on second syllable “zar”. At any rate, KNBR reporter is botching it.
ReplyDeleteWrong again 9:21. Show me anytime in history his name was (is) pronounced seh' ZAR. Look it up anywhere, Youtube, wikipedia, an encyclopedia, the historical record bears me out. Or maybe you don't understand simple phonetics. Accent is on first syllable, in theory and practice.
DeleteYou evidently haven’t here very long, 12:33
ReplyDelete