Thurston Proves Her Mettle on KGO Radio; Few Mighty Reporters; KCBS's Ryan Hits Homer in San Jose; Papa Can't Preach; Wonderley Nervous on Bunger June 11 Exit; Friday Zingers

PAT THURSTON is now clearly KGO's #1 radio talker. The post-mortem tragedy in San Jose proved as much.

Thurston took a ton of reasonable calls and held a virtual town-hall meeting on KGO's airwaves. It was both informative and cathartic. There was no screaming and yelling and wild observations. There was, however, lots of intelligent back and forths between caller and host. There was also time given to those who felt numb by the events of the day, a way for everyone to vent and comiserate. No berating and ugly details. Thurston also did a strong interview with a law enforcement official about the motves of a deranged person who would shoot everyone in sight. It was talk-radio at its best and Thurston once again proving her mettle. I noticed.

*The BEST reporter is one who can report on their toes and ad-lib. Which is a rarity in the Bay Area. There are few able folks who can carry out such missives --any wonder why the coverage on the street was so poor? Yeah, it's hard to report when a story is fluid but that's when talent shows up. Paging Bob Melrose.

*KCBS deserves props for its San Jose shooting coverage. Especially Tim Ryan from the scene who did a heck of a job with interviews and info from the rail yard just when things got incredibly busy.

*An angry Gov. Gavin Newsom at his press conference was more than angry. "What the hell is going on here?" Gavin was ticked off. Was it political grandstanding or genuine angst? I'll be looking forward to Phil Matier and Larry Gerston.

*Frank Somerville might be an OK news anchor but the KTVU vet can't ask a decent question if his life depended on it. It's a cold, hard, fact. Sorry Frank.

*KPIX's Andria Borba from the scene looking harried and as busy as ever but boverall, pretty decent reporting. Too bad her co-workers didn't fare as well.

*Allen Martin with about as stiff an image on screen as ever. Martin makes me nervous even when he does smile.

*Greg Papa has a girly voice for no apparent reason because when he wants to talk normal he's fine. Too bad his bizarre penchant to resort to the gargle voice is now a part of his DNA.

*John Lund is hopeless no matter what voice.

*That lawyer on KCBS whose ad is now on every five minutes is really a schmuck and I don't care if his "pops" took his shirt off his back.

*KCBS traffic anchor, Kim Wonderley, is scary nervous over the fact her co-worker, Stan Bunger's last day is June 11. Reason is, according to my contact, Wonderley is so used to taking tosses from Bungey, she can't fathom working with someone else.

*The reason why Jessica Aguirre has eternal shelf life at NBC Bay Area: Janelle Wang.

*Robert Handa, also props for his reports from San Jose. Calmness in a sea of chaos.

*NBC's investigate team finally scored a coup about the shooter's mental state history--too bad KGO-TV also had it and it has only one guy, Dan Noyes.

*Vicki Liviakis at KRON: the only reason I watch KRON.