*PAT THURSTON and her movie guest each Friday, film critic, TIM SIKA, is MUST-LISTEN on KGO (from 2-3 PM). You don't have to be a movie freak (like me) to enjoy a really good hour. Sika has a very entertaining style; it's a cogent, snappy, funny, insightful take on movies. Reviews are laid out in a brisk pace with just enough conviction whether it's good or bad. Sika's especially solid when airing his take on a bad movie. It's not only that he's funny and convincing, but accurate as all get go. And Thurston's agree-or-disagree disertations make it thought-provoking and worth the hour of your time on a Friday.
*KRON really needs a DEEP CLEANSING. You can't eradicate a beehive with a shovel. You need a massive blow-up. You need profound shake-ups and massive personnel tweaking and fundamental change. A new GM doesn't create new ideas and different outlooks. It's just an antiseptic PR release and it doesn't equate to anything other than mundane trades minutiea.
*NUMBERS that are REAL: In 2000, the "10 O'Clock News" ad revenue on KTVU alone, represented 1% of the OVERALL GROSS REVENUE for COX MEDIA (then KTVU's owner) --no matter how you slice it, that's a LOT OF MONEY. And why KTVU paid so much attention to its news product.
*KCBS' PATTY REISING and JEFF BELL: would be an even better interview with Oakland A's Pres., DAVE KAVAL, if you both knew what the hell you were talking about.
*ABC and DISNEY will visit KGO at 900 Front late next month. A group of Disney HR folks will take a tour of the building and probably seek more toilet paper for the assorted throng. I'm being facetious but in a way, I'm not. You see, CORPORATE suits don't really do a whole lot but in order to justify their wildly-OBSCENE budgets and expense accounts, they need to act as if they're really working--but they aren't. Side note, I wish the Disney heads take note of CIRCLE7's over-paid, over-BLOATED alleged GM/Veep, TOM CIBROWSKI, still stealing money from the Killer mouse company.
*If Thurston were to be messed with, she has PLENTY of would-be SUITORS: a local outlet that dabbles in news but is working on a FALL/'21 iteration that blends in TALK for an hour or so and they'll need someone to TALK the TALK.
*JOHN EVANS on late night/early AM radio: the only thing that makes KCBS worth the listen.
*YEAH KRON has a new GM. Now if only had a NEW ND.
Rich, have you ever watched KRON4 on the weekends. They have a weather person named Mabrisa Rodriquez who just YELLs when she reports the weather.
ReplyDeleteLet me know....
thanks.
- New GM, same ND, same dysfunctional smiles toward horny morning person.
ReplyDelete- Kaval had to speak in company line tone. Oakland's City Council needs to stop meandering as it has for decades. Kaval is good behind the scenes, not as a presenter. The Oakland community needs to decide whether they want to continue being a professional sports city, no matter how legitimate their criticisms are.
- As long as the GM & ND are still around, SF's Mouse Circle 7 will remain a miserable place, even if the ratings are good.
The new GM is a good guy. Hopefully his first order of business will be to get rid of the horrendous News Director no one wants to work for. His second order of business should be to steal talent with a local following from the other stations. That's how you could move the needle in this town. I wish the new GM well. Tough job ahead with layers of crud to get thru over there. But considering how lackluster the big stations are getting, there's room to make in roads on ratings.
ReplyDeleteThe Suits from Disney are coming to KGO 900 Front to see if those Wankers that work there really are..."Building a Better Bay Area". "Finding Solutions". What a bunch of HACKS. That morning news crew is so silly and ridiculous.
ReplyDelete"Thurston has developed a HUGE following at Noon-3PM"
ReplyDeleteBalderdash. Her social media followers are ridiculously low. Looking at her Twitter alone she comes in at a paltry 1,576 followers with Rothmann slightly ahead at 1,689. When they correspond with their social media followers it's crickets. And quite sad. For comparison, Rich has 4,400 followers. Even someone as ridiculous as Larry Krueger has 28,000+ followers. In terms of the vast majority of the market nowadays, they have no reach.
Well I'm glad one person is enjoying Sika. He's a poor mans Jan Wahl. Turn the channel radio.
ReplyDeleteTime to drop-kick Little Aaron Pero to the curb. The Tiny Terror needs to be booted. Then maybe he can get a job flipping burgers at In 'N' Out.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about it, john rothman is kgo and kgo is john rothman..is there anyone that rothman doesnt either know personally, is related to he knows someone's cousin or son,daughter he met so and so at the 1964 convention, its unreal
ReplyDeleteThe main job of a GM is protecting the station's license. The GM also represents the station to advertisers and the community. And the GM manages the station's managers.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at two of your examples:
KRON: Programming is expensive and good programming is even more expensive. Changing the news director yields a cost benefit analysis.
In other words, do any changes generate higher ratings and thence increased revenue? Maybe, but likely not. I had a GM tell me that his news was in second place. He said he would like to be number one, but hiring more and better talent, expanding news programming and upping the content might not work, and they would still be in second place with no return on the investment. Independent stations have been hard to turn a profit since TV was created. In today's 500 channel universe it is no easier. Remember, it is a business.
KGO: The Disney suites as you put it are new in their jobs and making the rounds of their stations is as common as corned beef on rye. The station has very decent ratings, a good chore team, and no one cares if a writer for junior producer is unhappy.
In other words, holding your breath won't change things in the market. You'll only turn blue.
The broadcast world has undergone a huge transformation since the late 70s and early 80s. Huge contracts to talent are over. The old stars are long retired or dead. Radio stations are sold not by their content but by packaging a group of radio properties msg that an advertiser buys Cumulus or Audacy, not KGO Radio or KCBS.
I wonder who is Disney going to promote or recognize this time?? Last time it was Dion Lim super report on the Asian community, would Stephanie Sierra going to get fit in with her report on the virus.
ReplyDeleteSome minority. They have to stay "woke".
Delete