WHAT CRUEL IRONY: The guy that excitedly proclaimed the day after the first KGO massacre that "we're going to be a really great radio station!" was shown the door himself.Ronn Owens was summarily dismissed officially Friday, but in reality the decision was made weeks ago before the end of the year. His new ten-minute "report" is only so Ronn can still be on the air and relevant even though Cumulus gave him the middle finger.
THAT is fact.
This is bullshit.
Owens signed a two-ear deal (about $475K) in 2015 with an option (theirs) ...He has declined; the show has been in decline and its ratings in free fall. I'm not piling on, those are just the facts.
Cumulus is hemorrhaging; they have penny stock and they recently filed Chapter 11. KGO has been underwhelming (I'm being kind) and essentially a skeleton of itself with awful ratings and Bay Area radio irrelevance. Its weekday line-up was launched in 2016 (from its initial iteration in 2011) --Owens was once a local icon but has sputtered in recent years --a health malady contributed to his decline but he could still do an occasional decent interview. His new ten-minute "report", I guess is Cumulus' version of throwing Owens a bone.Brian Copeland's exit was mostly financial. Of the weekday talkers, he made the second-most money (Chip Franklin has a contract still) and Copeland's ratings were in decline. The current crop are paid modestly. The new "Dr. Drew Pinsky" show is syndicated --essentially, free programming, KGO just runs its national spots and gets a few locals. "Armstrong and Getty" too have a contract; if Cumulus could dump them, they would but they'd have to buy them out. Eventually, they will too.
It's not just KGO that will be shredded; no doubt anyone at a Cumulus SF station --KNBR, KFOG, KSFO, 107. 7 'The Bone', who makes six figures will be facing significant salary cutbacks and/or shown the door. The Chapter 11 filing requires major cutting; Cumulus has a $2.4 billion debt and missed its first payment on that debt. It's not a pretty picture and it can only get worse.
Owens, Copeland, and others know that first hand.
What about Pat and John on the weekends?
ReplyDeleteStop dreaming! The station only wants people who can talk lifestyle crap. Cumulus will ride the ratings to the very ground before they admit they were wrong. It's too late. I love Pat and John and know both of them, this isn't going to change. As for weekends, they will occasionally allow Pat and Brian on, but the weekends are mostly infomercials and you will hear even more.
DeleteWhat is this ungodly infatuation with Pat and John? The majority of us just don't get it. Maybe KQED radio can pick 1 up.
DeleteKQED doesn't run partisan programs. It's public radio. They don't take sides. they'd have John Rothmann as a guest expert on presidential history, but Pat Thurston's ideologically driven far left program wouldn't fit.
Delete"ideologically driven far left program"
DeleteCouldn't have said it better myself.
WHAT the hell kind of idiot at Cumulus puts its no.1 KGO host agains't its no.1 hosts on KNBR? Its got the smell of the GOP tax plan. Now,they have an excuse to cut KNBR hosts salary and take away whatever measly union perks the lower guys get at both stations.
ReplyDeleteBut the guys at the top,take no cuts at all.
Who's #1, 2, 3 at KNBR?
DeleteWho's on First!
DeleteWhat's on Second?
DeleteThe funny thing is you're not that smart for a partisan hack.
Deletebut we DO listen to ''georgi'' Noory at nite.
ReplyDeleteKGO for 27 years was #1, then the ratings dipped some in the mid 2000's and they were #4. They decide to blow the whole thing up and go to all news(except Ronn's show and a few weekend shows). Ratings immediately dive to #15th, then sinking to like 20th. They try to reboot again in 2016 with more talk like A & G and Ethan Bearman but it was too late, listeners never returned and the ratings have gotten lower. How stupid can management be? Totally destroyed a staion I loved. There was always something interesting on at all hours, every day....and when there was late breaking news, they were right on top of it. Dr.Drew on in the middle of the afternoon with all this chaos going on with Trump and his ban of grifters? Insane!
ReplyDeleteI'm more worried about the idiots running Ca...now those people ARE grifters.
DeleteRich wrote in an earlier blog that Ronn was getting killed by Dennis Prager, could be. However, I will almost be willing to bet my last dollar that whomever is listening to Dennis Prager is NOT going to listen to Ethan Bearman. I liked Ronn, yes he was slipping, but he still kept up on things, and had good guests and topics for the most part that could hold your attention. I have listened to Dennis Prager and find him too one sided, too long winded and in general too boring. At times he poses some interesting questions, and engage the caller, but for the most part I only listen if there is nothing else or I turn to music or KCBS. So if KGO management thing they will lure listeners from Dennis's show to Ethan I think they are in for a rude awakening. At least Dennis is serious, Ethan jumps from subject to subject, love to tell us he was on CNN or Fox, whatever. All his diet advice is not a good talk show subject, we can get that from the internet or books, besides it gets very confusing, because he has different people on all the time, with different views on diets. I just don't think people who enjoy talk radio is into being lectured about the host's diet preference. So once against Cumulus stepped in it. When they went all news most of said, that is not going to work, we will just listen to KCBS. Then for awhile it seemed they had some common sense, Pat was on during the week at night, John Rothmann on week ends, then they stepped in it again, deciding to re run Ethan show at night. If we can't stand to listen to him in the middle of the day, what makes them think we want to listen to him at night. All their decisions defies logic, and I'm a seventy something grandmother, who still works a few hours in retail and use have a career as an insurance agent, I just happen to love talk radio, when I'm driving or doing houseworks, but there are less and less choices.
Deletes
"I have listened to Dennis Prager and find him too one sided, too long winded and in general too boring"
DeleteWait, are you talking about Pat on KGO?
Couldn't have said it better. Glad to have been a regular listener for the last 31 years and enjoyed many hours of great informative and interesting shows.
DeleteNo I was talking about Dennis Prager, as I clearly stated. I like Pat and I'm more aligned with her political views than Prager's. However, I do find her one sided and she is much more to the left than I am. One sided is easier to take when you agree with the hosts. In general I prefer a host that is more unpredictable, as Savage can be, he does some good shows, but when he starts in on immigrants and that being liberal is a mental disease I turn the dial. I like and listen almost every day to Michael Medved and Tom Sullivan, even though I don't, for the most part, agree with their politics.
DeleteJust as long as KSAN FM is ok.
ReplyDeleteCrazy thing to say but ksco in santa cruz might actually have a better line up than kgo currently. Be honest Rich. If you had to choose would you listen to chip franklin or crazy ass white supremacist georgia? Charliey Frieedman or Ethan Barelyman? It’s like choosing between shit and turd.
ReplyDeleteSo KGOs Lineup is:
ReplyDeleteArmstrong and Getty - right wing
Dr. Drew lifestyle
Ethan Bearman - who? Wanna be right wing
Chip Franklin - who? Wanna be comedian and used to be right wing
That’s how it ends in the Bay Area. Embarrassing.
Who’s the General Manager? Let me guess. A right wing sales guy?
@521am...KGO's glory days of the 80's and 90's they leaned more left. We already have 2 right wing station 560 and 860...we need something for us Libs especially in the day of Trump. MSNBC which leans left is having great ratings. Why hasn't Progressive radio made a comeback?
DeleteI also find it ironic that one of Ron's favorite movies is the Altman classic, "The Long Goodbye".
ReplyDeleteHow many of Ronn's 10 minutes will be mattress commercials?
ReplyDelete8 minutes
DeleteAs of yesterday, for the first time since the late 60's/early 70's, there is no "button" on my car radio for KGO.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely nothing on that station that has my remotest interest. (If I learn that Pat Thurston is still on weekends, I'll tune in, occasionally, at home. But, late afternoon - evenings, on weekends isn't the most convenient listening time for me.)
How the once mighty, has fallen to nothingness.
What's goes around comes around. I assume Ronn and others now realize how those shown the door six years ago felt.
ReplyDeleteVery true 9:13am.
DeleteRonn Owens made flippant remarks in his studio while his co-workers were being shown the door that day.
No sympathy for Ronn.
I'm actually not on Ronn as much as many are on this site. I see him no different than a past his prime singer. If people still buy tickets tos ee them, so be it. Ronn's sponsors never really left, especially the matress folks...lol.
ReplyDeleteIf I have a beef with him is he has to be well prepared for retirement. The idea that he still needs $ 475,000 a year for special lunch, pedis and manis, etc. is absurd...an elitist in that regard. That I hold aginst him, not his wanting to work as long as he can.
Ronn has Parkinsons, a progressive decease that eventually with require almost if not round the clock care. I use to be a staffing coordinator for a Home Care Agency and after that had a career as a Long Term Care Insurance agent, Parkinson's is up there with Alzheimer in terms of length of care and cost of care. The kind of care Ronn will most likely need in the future, right now in San Francisco easily runs $100.000 or more a year, and is going up every year, and it could be 5 or more years it is needed, that kind of expense can put a strain most people's budget, even those who made a lot of money. People are so quick to judge and make assumption based on a few facts, without looking deeper and getting the whole picture. Kind of sad, can't we all have a little compassion for our fellow human beings, even if they are not perfect. Are any of us perfect?
DeleteCurious in what Ronn is making now.
ReplyDeleteIf he made $475,000 for 2 hours work, which is actually an hour on air, and now he's down to 10 minutes, that would be 1/6th of that or $77k....I'd say $60k tops.
DeleteA good and professional talk show host, don't just work when they are on the air, the usually get to the studio early to prepare, and spend hours reading the newspaper, or these not internet new sights.
DeleteHopefully, Murphy and all his snide, snarkyness is first out the door at KNBR
ReplyDeleteI miss the old days.
ReplyDeleteI agree with people that said Ronn has been losing it for quite a while now. I stopped listening after the 2016 election and the first hour of EVERY show is about what stupid thing Trump did and why we should hate him. I get it, he hates Trump but every day the same crap. Too much for me. The other thing that started to drive me nuts was he kept having the same callers on everyday. I really don't give a crap what that nut job Ramma had to say but Ronn put him on every show. Ronn just got predictable and boring.
ReplyDeleteYou were not really listening to Ronn, he was not always critical of Trump, in fact in the last few months he kind of praised Trump in his foreign policy, not that all of sudden became a Trump supporter, still did not care for his personality, (who does)but he found some things he liked and said so. Every once in awhile I turn on Sean Hannity, and I hear the same crap, democrats bad, Hillary and her e-mail, Bill and his affairs he just goes on and on. As for the same callers I don't think that is unusual for talk show host, I remember several regular callers, to Ronn's program 10-15 years ago, or Bernie's show. These names comes to mind Gary (or Gerhard as I think he liked to be called) Billy from Capitola and Shelton from I think Alameda. I listen a lot to Tom Sullivan and he has several repeat callers. Just because you don't like the callers does not mind other listeners don't appreciate their point of view.
ReplyDeleteI remember listening to Ronn Owens when he was the youngest talk show host on KGO--a 26-year-old alongside Owen Spann and Jim Eason. He was fun with his shows on rock trivia with Rock Rich and restaurant reviews with Russ Riera. I took a break from KGO when I went to college. Sad to read what has happened to him and to KGO--once the mighty ratings winner in the Bay Area.
ReplyDeleteRonn Owens down to 10 minute show. Really pathetic to see the self inflicted demise of Cumulus and KGO Radio, once the biggest and best newstalk station in the country. Sad how they treated guys like Ronn regardless of ones politics
ReplyDeleteI turned off the radio after 2011. I listen to music and podcasts on my phone.
ReplyDelete🤔 when does KGO go up for sale?
ReplyDelete