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| Pat Thurston leads the way at KGO Radio |
AS KGO continues to intensify its news-talk traction into the LOCAL Coronavirus angle, this much is clear: Pat Thurston (Noon-3 PM) has become its co-lead (with John Rothmann) on the pandemic status and implications.
First off, a new development, (my take) on Thurston and a big one at that too: Her lessening overt criticism on President Trump's handling of the crisis.
Thurston hasn't backed off her chiding of Trump's continued poor performance on managing the pandemic, quite frankly, he needs to be admonished every day. But Thurston has pivoted to a more reasoned approach. It's a tactic that not only works, but is a far more effective tool to show how misguided The Donald continues to act, more react. Thurston has figured, and effectively so, that daily barrages of the POTUS, no matter how justified, doesn't necessarily translate into good radio. In fact, not entertaining either. It's a pivot I like and I'm the biggest critic of Mr. Trump's daily carnival show.
Thurston is more occasional critic --her interviews and thorough analysis of the entire crisis has become a must-listen. It is detailed, and thought-proven. Just on Sunday, Thurston conducted a mass-moderate undertaking of true, fair and balanced. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary if you listen as closely as I do, but it was more evidence on how Thurston's repertoire is calm and reasoned as opposed to hysterical and lampoon. A stark contrast to the blind enablers on right-wing radio like Rush Limbaugh, who obey and adore no matter how awful their supreme being performs, or doesn't.
Thurston continues to modify her approach all the while maintaining fierce consternation and ridicule. It's not just blasting Trump anymore, it's a wide open affair. And that's good. Thurston hits hard on everybody (when it merits) and that's not only fair and cool, it's downright reasonable and lauded. Listeners and callers alike seem to gravitate to Thurston's pivot. It's a tweak that works.
"Those people who live in Glass Houses, shouldn't throw stones..Thurston, try managing a crisis this big. We'll see how you do.
ReplyDeletePat Thurston will also give us the complete story on how Joe Biden became a racist.
ReplyDeleteLook at her hair! So unprofessional!
DeleteThat's the best you've got for a publicity pic Pat?
She was fired from KSRO
DeleteWhat does Pat's hair have to do with anything? This is an old photo of Pat, who is in her 60s now. She has short, curly hair, so fucking what. She's a radio talk show host. And, what the fuck is "unprofessional" hair? What exactly does that mean? Does a man who decides to shave his head (Chimp Franklin) unprofessional? I think Chimp is unprofessional and his bald head has nothing to do with it, other than his head is rather empty!!
DeleteI was tracking with you until you resorted a to a put down: “Chimp” vs Chip
DeleteHow soon we forget while Trump was trying to close the border, Fancy Nancy was walking around Chinatown telling everyone to come by. Let's not let facts get in your way!
ReplyDeleteFunny how they forget about Nancy's antics to put her party first as opposed to country!!
Delete"pivot"?!? Not you too Rich...enough with these fucking lame buzzwords/phrases of the week. Also, Thruston still too annoying to take for more than 5 minutes so it doesn't matter.
ReplyDelete:)
On a different topic: Rich, Can you tell us more about the tv station frequency changes lately. I live in the south bay and have been a cable cutter since 2010. I recently lost some channel coverage via antenna. For example, KRON is absolutely gone. This can't be good for them; losing even more viewership. Even with rescanning, KRON is gone.
ReplyDeleteSame here in Sunnyvale. Multiple rescans over several weeks and KRON is missing in action.
DeleteGood post Rich. I think Pat, Chip and John (John always my favorite) are doing a great job. Biden is not the strongest candidate, but a racist I doubt, does he say some less politically correct things, yes. However, those who support Trump supposedly do not like politically correct, and no one can accuse Trump of being so. Seems like a double standard, and of course Trump use this Memorial Day week end to attack women, but hey that is Trump so it is okay.
ReplyDeleteChip is what we in the industry collectively refer to as an "assclown".
DeleteI'm not too keen on how KGO is going all reruns on Memorial Day. Only reason to listen to the repeats instead of pulling up some podcast is to make sure one hears the news at the 1/2 hour. Not that there's much new there either. At least we hope.
ReplyDeleteI think we can stand one day of re-runs. Most of the host have been working 5-6 days a week. Give them a break. I listen to some of the re-runs because I had not heard that show before. I also listened to about 1 hour of syndicated very popular Tom Sullivan show, also one I had not heard before, he did re-runs as well, so it just not KGO. If I had heard the show before I just put on some nice relaxing jazz.
DeleteAs if Pelosi, Schumer and Biden would be such an improvement over Trump’s handling of the current situation.....
ReplyDeleteWhat would they do different, more effectively? Details please....
They would not have disbanded The Global Health Security and Biodefense unit, which could have assisted with PPE / Ventilator forecast and later allocation. That would certainly have been more effective
DeleteThey also would not have fueled distrust and anger and would have not encouraged unsafe behavior. They would not have continually promoted a drug which has shown no positive impact and in fact has been shown to actually increase fatalities for those afflicted with the virus. They would have actually shown empathy and compassion for the 100k+ lives lost, and their family and friends. They would have set a better example for citizens by actually wearing masks as recommended by virtually every medical authority, and would not have instructed people around them to not wear masks. There's a few off the top of my head, I'm sure I've forgotten others.
DeleteThey fuel distrust and anger daily....where have you been?
DeleteHey 8:30pm, get your facts straight.........
DeleteTim Morrison, former senior director for counterproliferation and biodefense on the NSC, wrote in another Washington Post Op-Ed, “It is true that the Trump administration has seen fit to shrink the NSC staff. But the bloat that occurred under the previous administration clearly needed a correction. … One such move at the NSC was to create the counterproliferation and biodefense directorate, which was the result of consolidating three directorates into one, given the obvious overlap between arms control and nonproliferation, weapons of mass destruction terrorism, and global health and biodefense. It is this reorganization that critics have misconstrued or intentionally misrepresented. If anything, the combined directorate was stronger because related expertise could be commingled”
“Blind enablers on right wing radio......”, now that’s rich. Like there are no blind enablers on left wing radio? The sheeple type people who know so much and cruse you to hell if you do not believe as they do. What a bunch of hypocrites.
ReplyDeleteAnybody that follow any talk show host or president blindly is sheeple, does not matter where on the political spectrum you fall.
ReplyDeletePat Thurston and John Rothman good additions to bring back KGO to the public forum that it once was.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with them about 55% of the time, but enjoy hearing them, especially when they're not completely on auto-pilot as each topic comes up.
For about a year I was finding Pat difficult to listen to due to her misguided endorsement and personal ads for Online Trading Academy.
Wondered how she was blinded to what that company was doing.
Thankfully the FTC shut down their advertising, sued them in court, and froze their assets so that some of the many, including seniors, may be able to recover their money.
I realize that Cumulus dictates what goes on the air in terms of advertising, but its quite another matter when a host personally does the spots giving the product or service a endorsement.
KGO's worst sponsor of late is those wildly deceptive advertisements for Balance of Nature Fruits and Veggies, a provably bogus product.
I've only heard Pat personally do 3 spots for them over the past few months and nothing in the past few weeks
It would be a major mistake if she started personally doing spots for them and suggesting that their product has any credibility or value.
Many consumer organizations, MediaMatters.org, TruthinAdvertising.org, and the FDA have all slammed their false claims about their capsules fighting off the virus.
They claim, via testimonials, to help or prevent every malady known to mankind, even cancer. Not to mention grow your hair, improve your memory, and of course "get more energy"... Dr. Edell would laugh at them and tell listeners it was completely bogus.
They appear to be KGO's biggest advertiser, yet they are easily proved to be lying
(best example...their daily dose of 6 capsules have a combined weight of 4.8 grams... that is a total of one sixth of a ounce.
At their claimed--veggies and fruits at 85% water, which they remove, it means they only started with 1.14 ounces, or 32 grams, of fresh fruits and veggies.
Yet that 1.14 ounces they say is the same as 10 plates of salad..
or sometimes they say "more than 10 servings" of fruits and veggies.
A complete lie. Over a 10 fold exaggeration. A provable lie by anyone who can do 5th grade math.
So I am hoping that while Cumulus/KGO will continue to run the ads, that Pat will not damage her reputation by personally doing those Balance of Nature ads at any time in the future.
Aside from that, I enjoy her show often and hope that she, together with John, and keep the KGO talk format alive for years to come.
BTW, I have no problem with Rothmann's personal ads for C.Crane or Cal-Mart Supermarket, both fine companies with excellent products.
Right on target. However, I'll bet the hosts get tremendous pressure to work with sponsors and do those personal endorsements. Legitimate advertisers like C. Crane Radio and Cal-Mart can only afford to underwrite so many hosts. And even some of C. Crane's products have been plagued by long-term reliability problems (always check Amazon and other reviews before buying, though their products are generally excellent when they work).
DeleteHow is it that someone so spot on with this analysis only agrees with Pat and John about 45% of the time? Well John is a bit of a centrist, a Republican no-less back in the day when Republicans were the loyal opposition. I myself agree with Bernie enough that I would like to have seen him become President, though about 50% of the time he goes too far (starting with calling himself a Democratic Socialist and then having to waste the majority of his time explaining what he means by this). So maybe we are closer than I first thought.
"So maybe we are closer than I first thought."
DeleteDepends on what side my 55% and 45% fall on... Left of them or right of them.
At least our views agree about the worthless nature, and horrible rip-off that is Balance of Nature in its offers to gullible KGO listeners.
I wonder how many ads they run in a given day on KGO...
To include those on John Batchelor's show.
You can see which ones are his, and which ones are KGO's because they tell you which promo code to use for your "discount".
I would guess they run well over 100 spots each week day and then about three hour long infomercials, plus dozens of spots on the weekends.
Plus the same over on KSFO.
I wish someone, RICH LIEBERMAN... would give us some idea about how much they pay for a single spot or per hundred spots. They can't pay much since I called once on the weekend, a Saturday, and the guy said he was the only one there answering the phone.
BTW, he had no explanation of how 4.8 grams of powder in the daily dose could possibly equal 10 plates of salad.
Said he wasn't trained in that and had never thought about it. I've called in several times with questions and the reps answering the phone are all completely ignorant of any details.
Who is so stupid to believe their claims and the endless miracle results in the testimonials.
Why, it makes Noxitril look like a legitimate product by comparison.
First off I am surprised to hear that Talk Radio is still around. I thought that went out with Dr.Don. People should thank their lucky stars that we are not all dead. With “leadership” like Fancy Miss Nancy, Moonbeam #2 and Loose London all pushing their own agendas and lining their own pockets we are on our own. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteGuess why California generally and San Francisco, specifically have such low covid numbers? Think California and San Francisco leadership.....the opposite of Donnie's bumbling and politically motivated mismanagement...Death toll of Americans just hit 100,000 people...just a hoax,you know
DeleteChippy's hand-wringing negative fest is not good radio.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that trump does hold his GOP convention and orders that everyone attending not wear masks. Three or so weeks later we'll see an uptick in positive cases, followed a week later by a higher than normal numbers of deaths around the country. Now that's one way to get rid of all those neanderthals who think the pandemic is all a plot and FAKE NEWS..Let's give them all a nice batch of fake news. Oh! Don't forget to wash your hands!
ReplyDeleteNice. Wish death on those you don't agree with.
DeleteI agree, not nice to wish death on anybody (exception made in extreme cases i.e. Hitler, Osama Bin Laden), I'll go along with the Neanderthals, and a wake up call would be appropriate, but I will stop there. It would be nice if the President could concentrate on running the country and not tweeting conspiracy theories about Joe Scarborough and the unfortunate death of one of his aide many years ago.
DeletePat Thurston used to be on 95.7 The Express (KPIX FM)
ReplyDeleteI like Pat Thurston.
ReplyDeleteShe is especially good at giving a white liberal point of view that is prevalent in San Francisco's middle class neighborhoods.
Pat needs to spend sometime with fellow Maronite, Melanie Morgan. Freshen up her look and a move a little right, she’d be quite a host
ReplyDeleteWhy does Pat need to move to the right? Just to satisfy you? She is at times a little too liberal for me, but there are enough, right wing and middle of the road hosts, that no need to listen to Pat, if you think she is too liberal. By the way it is not necessary for me to agree with a host to listen to his/her show. Pat is voicing her opinion which is what a talk show host is suppose to do.
ReplyDelete