"THE ONLY FUNCTION HERE IS DYSFUNCTION." That from one of the growing dissatisfied staffers at KPIX --where incoherence and incompetence rules the day.To emphasize the current disarray, PIX just lost Julie Watts to their CBS counterpart in Sacramento. There are more moves from Pixies on the way, just in time for February Sweeps. How timely.
Watts wasn't one of KPIX's star players but she was big enough to warrant a lot of chatter last (Wednesday) night amongst some of the local CBS' most influential people, both on and off the air. One management figure tried to spin the Watts' move as simply a colleague "not leaving; instead just 'staying in the CBS family in Sacramento'". Yeah right, what a completely, utter sense of bullshit. And that's exactly how it was received by the rank and file.
As I've stated countless times, KPIX has NO IDENTITY. Very little leadership too. Constant conflict is not a help, particularly in the morning. Growing dissatisfaction and lack of morale is PIX's only consistent virtue. It's a good thing the station is owned by deep pockets CBS but that's hardly a booster inside the building at 855 Battery.
Watts herself was mostly disliked by a majority of the staff --this incident especially but she was high profile enough to garner industry respect and seven Emmys too. Leaving the Bay Area for Sacramento is not that uncommon these days with the locals eyeing its relative affordability especially real estate. That said, Watts decision to leave SF and go up north primarily because she hated PIX' direction and wanted more investigative reporting makes Channel 5 look bad. Looks can be deceiving only in this case it is absolutely true and for PIX, a bad omen. Trust me.
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| Mary Lee |
*Please, I could care less that some nobody on the night shift on KNBR was given a pink slip. I don't listen to that garbage unless there's some CBS Sports Radio content on the air but that too can be painful.
*Memo to Hank Schulman of the Chronicle: It was 415 Media that reported first, this news.
Schulman stealing from me, imagine that. Damn bloggers!
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| Alyana Gomez |
*Then there's Jana Katsuyama on the scene who appeared to think literally screaming and yelling would heighten the story when it was stated from the beginning that no one was hurt or injured or killed, thank god, only buildings were destroyed.
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| Jana Katsuyama |
*Between the "flipping houses" moron and "Petersen Dean" jerkoff, my has AM Radio become such a mess.
*If Roberta Gonzales truly wanted to come back to KPIX, she could. Her problem, sorta like Dana King, is that both left wanting to pursue their own independence, in King's case, a desire to become an artist; in Roberta's case to become her own broadcast boss. Problem is, both are not earning anywhere near what they got at PIX; not that the money was great but it was far more then they're making now. Yeah, money isn't everything but it's damn near close.
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| Dana King |
I had the TV on in the background and also heard the Geary "Street" name being used instead of "Boulevard". I actually wondered if the fire was in either another city or another part of town, due to the misnomer. Otherwise, I enjoy seeing and hearing Gomez on TV.
ReplyDeleteOn J. Watts. There are various things which might make for someone trying another employer. Some of things might be (no particular order in this case):
-salary/other
-cost of living
-house prices
-coworkers
-job description
-title
-personal relationships
-commute/traffic
-company car/other equipment
-other career opportunities/promotions existing at a new employer.
Other Comments.
Good or bad, the blog is sometimes focused on a viewer/listener's (me) perspective; other times, it comments on the perspective of a coworker, such as whether someone is nice or not, which probably doesn't matter to a viewer/listener. Some coworkers will love a subject personality; another coworker will dislike the same personality. That some personality may or may not dismiss RL by providing an interview/comment or not; just saying.
To hear you tell it, pretty much everyone at KPIX is disliked by pretty much everyone else there -- so Julie Watts is a pariah just like Michelle Griego? But you never tell us why, which might make "the story" somewhat interesting, instead of just idle gossip with no apparent basis in fact.
ReplyDeleteThe simple answer is that the only people who care are the ones who feed Rich the rumors and innuendo that pass for these blog posts. The management of the CBS Television Stations group knows what's going on.
DeleteBlowing up the station is a major, major effort that requires time and money. Technical problems happen everywhere. They'll get fixed.
The only time I listen to KNBR is on the weekends for the CBS national feed - because like most national shows, they avoid talking baseball! Unfortunately, between Marty's 12 hour pre and post, horseracing, Vegas gambling goombas and the annuity salesman, they aren't on a lot.
ReplyDeleteKPIX appears to be the unwanted stepchild of CBS. One only has to look at KCBS-2 in Los Angeles for a smooth operation. Why can't they do it here?
ReplyDeleteIf by smooth you mean hemorrhaging ratings and staffers then sure, CBS LA is a great place to look. They are in big trouble there, I wouldn't look to that as a good example of anything but mismanagement. KPIX may be a mess but the LA duop is in a freefall downslide in LA. One main anchor out the door for sexual misconduct.
DeleteRich, any idea how the salaries at KOVR compare to KPIX?? Will Watts be taking much of a pay cut to flee PIX??
ReplyDeleteShocked that Dana has stuck around the area. I've never seen an on air personality hate rain so much. Even during a major drought. But, very nice lady.
ReplyDeleteAlyana Gomez...She is the definition of cool, calm and collected which equates to a woman who is "extra special," and she certainly is one of those! More proof of what I always say...the women are the News.
ReplyDeleteI use to live on Geary and 31st. Ave. I called it the street/blvd designed by the Devil. It's high noon in the summer. Your in your car at Van Ness and Geary and decide to drive down Geary to the beach. By the time you get there the sun has already set!!
And who is running the control room at KPIX? Constant blunders. Chronic cutting off prematurely between national and local feeds in the AM. They even played the wrong show a couple of weeks ago. Instead of the news, they cut into Family Feud (I believe it was) and then cut back into the newscast that was actually "airing" a few minutes later. Almost every day, I see no less than one minor eff up from the control room.
ReplyDeleteLast Saturday night their 11 show didn't come on for at least ten minutes, until I tuned out. Don't know what happened after that. Just kept showing color bars and bouncing to commercials.
DeleteI think the Family Feud clip you saw was part of a commercial they regularly run. When I watch the live stream, the commercials will interrupt the news feed then go back to the story, and you have missed the middle of it. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to when they run the commercials.
DeleteIt's Geary street if you're past Van Ness when it is a one way road.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking about losing people to other markets, I really enjoy watching Carolyn Johnson, Marla Tellez, and Evelyn Taft, here in the Southern California market.
ReplyDeleteWill Mary Lee ever update her old photo??????
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't KPIX steal that new blonde lady from KTVU from the Weather Channel that's filling in? She's already here and has a bigger following than most SF talent. Just sayin, I'd rather watch her any day of the week. Can't remember her name, starts with a K.
DeleteUnbelievable that CBS HQ in NY hasn't thrown down the gauntlet against PIX's incoherence. Money may talk too much, but if the network doesn't want the local stations to use their phenomenal prime time success to prop themselves up, then why doesn't the network just pony up and tell every news department-struggling station that they start following the network's best news examples or the network will do it for them? Then again, even the best Bay TV stations have their own dysfunction to deal with (Why is Trixie still at KGO, if Disney wants her out?).
ReplyDeletespeaking of peterson deah, lets don't forget equal over exposed mornons joe cordell, craig bindi, shrieve, with the creepy sounding fellow, even alladin bail bonds have resurfcaed
ReplyDeleteReally don't get the morose view of PIX. "Identity" What Identity? None have any identity. They read news, some with more personality than others.. The PIX crew is no better or worse that the rest and I watch them all.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Mary Lee, her voice doesn't bother me at all.. Nor does her fine little body and cute ass..
Glad Watts is gone. She is so boring and always dressed ugly.
ReplyDeleteJust curious why the traffic gal from sacto very quietly left and no one appaerntly noticed nor cared?
ReplyDeletegomez can misprononce anything she
ReplyDeletewants to, she is an example of fine
woman hood, who is pleasing to the
eye, and she knows how to dress also