*KGO needs a JOLT! The newstalk SF power (a long time ago) could use a conservative voice and it has one in its own backyard: Michael Savage. Of course labeling Savage as a mere "conservative" is like saying you'd like a slice of pizza and they give you cheese-only. Savage is a regular Chinese food buffet. Yes, hold on, THIS WON'T HAPPEN. It's too good an idea. It would make too much sense and it would require MAJOR creative thought and ingenuity. Savage, I think (I could be wrong) would do it in a minute --do what? Take over 10-Noon where KGO is dying. Savage would catapult KGO from the depth of the abyss but again, it's a fantasy. I just wanted to jolt you as you sip the rest of your coffee.
*SPEAKING OF FANTASY: KRON won't do this but it should: pair Frank Somerville and Pam Moore. It's too good a story and it too would require a person with extreme creative thought and enterprise, a foreign concept in the Bay Area market.
*A Baaaad KCBS morning this (Tuesday) AM; while opening the 7 AM news hour, fill-in anchor, Margie Shafer SCREAMED into mic, "IT'S OVER"--she was talking about the official date (today) of not having to wear a mask. I like Shafer as a whole but the shreek was way over the top. Not helping matter, co-anchor, Jim Taylor then told traffic anchor Kim Wonderley, "you must be excited not having to wear a mask." Wondereley then told Taylor, "well, I'm sitting alone in my house so I wouldn't be weating a mask anyway. OUCH!
*Taylor loves to hear his voice--maybe he can join forces with Mark Thompson, they can do eternal karaoke at the Fisherman's Wharf Motel 6.
*SEE, here;s the deal about KTVU: it has NO LEADERSHIP. Its own personnel knows that and is a MAJOR REASON why KTVU survives not so much on its bosses but mainly becuase of its programming (from FOX) and its NFL coverage. KTVU, when it's on the air, has to acknowledge it needs a deep cleansing from it's startling INCOMPETENT, CLUELESS, top managers who couldn't lead a solo John to a strip show. Instead of targeting me, Amber, and by extension, the staffers who read me on the job, take a look into the mirror. BINGO!
*Every other week, Dennis O'Donnell is MIA at PIX and then the rumors heat up.
*STRONG CALLERS can make the program. Which is why KNBR oesn't take callers because their hosts don't know how to have a simple conversation with a guy from Pacifica making a salient point. It would confuse the hell out of them, the hosts. KNBR is lucky to have the Giants and 49ers which is their biggest and ONLY strength.
*I WOULD have paid to read HERB CAEN these past 15 months. Only Caen would have been able to get us all through this crazy world and make sense out of something so damn senseless. Caen wold have made us cry but with optimistic tone. He'd have navigated us all through the madness and calmed our neveres when we starved for some adult propriety and introspective. Damn Herb, where are you when we need you at the most critical time.
*Hey Nikki Medoro on KGO: your current, fill-in sidekick is 100X better than your fake-laugh Burkhart, just a modest tip.
*Sally Everett is a take-no-prisoners SALES freak in the IHeart den downtown and is back slapping down a few Buds at the Old Ship on Battery. If I had a life, I'd shake dice with Mustang Sally.
*Too bad Phil Matier couldn't write about Hearst asking all the Chronicle sports writers to take its offer of early retirement packages I would bet Ann Killion and Scott Ostler have a few good stories to tell.
*As long as we're opening up, would someone open up the Venetian Room at the fairmont? I'll take 2 Joel Greys with a double dose of Tony Bennett and John Legend.
*miss the great, late Gerry Nachman.
*Robin Winston, she of ex-KRON fate, RULES LA TV, (KNBC) I'm glad someone from KRON (this era) made it big in El-Lay.
While I wish KNBR would take calls on more of their shows, to blame this on the quality of their hosts is absurd. This has been an industry-wide trend for many years. Most "talk" shows, whether news talk or sports talk, have abandoned callers because they feel there are too few good callers vs. unprepared or incoherent callers. KNBR is by far in the majority on this belief. It's a philosophical decision, not a statement about the talents of their hosts.
ReplyDeleteCallers are taken when hosts can't do a strong show. I can't listen when the astrology lunatic calls...
DeleteDon't worry about Amber Eikel coming after you. That one couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag. She'll make Tom Cibrowski look like a heavyweight champion when you could knock his rotund, incompetent figure over with a feather.
ReplyDeleteI was watching a hamster timidly munch on sunflower seeds the other day and I thought of Amber Eikel.
DeleteAnd I thought, "Damn, Amber would be scared of you, lil' guy."
Been a rough June for KTVU. Drunk anchors, incompetentcy to the point of getting knocked off the air for hours on end. Rich how long will Fox let it go before they replace Eikel and the GM and bring in a Fox-I-fied management team to the #1 station in SF?
DeleteAm I missing something about the "greatness" of Herb Caen? To me he was just someone who Kvetched a lot about anything to fill his column inches.
ReplyDeleteI think you are wrong. I didn't read him everyday, didn't like all of this columns. He wrote a column on the death of JFK that just touched the right tone. I didn't live here when JFK was killed, I was still in my native Denmark, but I have a book with a collections of columns from different papers on the death of the president.
DeleteYou had to have connections to get Caen, and boy did he have sources.
DeleteWow! You sure are a tough critic. Caen was one of the finest columnists in newspaper history.
DeleteWho do you consider a great columnist that you read on a daily basis?
'splain that to Macy's who paid top dollar to have the rest of the page next to his column every day.
DeleteHey Rich. Does it seem like Steve Paulson is on less in the morning? I usually do a KTVU "drive by"for a quick shot of weather before heading out in the morning. Seems like I don't see him around the same time juxtaposed to Sal with traffic? Maybe just my timing?
ReplyDeleteI know that in your view all news directors are clueless and all general managers are in over their heads. KGO Radio is dead. As is Herb Caen. they have been for a long time and neither is ever coming back.
ReplyDeleteSavage on KGO! Heads would be exploding all over the Bay Area. I never cared for Savage mainly because of his extreme xenophobia and desire to throw everyone he disliked in jail. I think you are right he would move the needle, but isn't he not well?
ReplyDeleteNo one would be listening, so no heads would be exploding.
DeleteMark Thompson show, 10:05 to 12:00 noon.
ReplyDelete1 hour 55 minutes.
Minus...advertisements.
Minus...News
Minus...Ronn Owens segment.
Minus...K-Pop segment with Albert.
Minus...Promo's of coming segments.
Minus...Florida Fabulous Florida
Minus... O'Brett-u-aries
Minus....Minus....Minus...Minus
Total actual news and issues discussion... approximately 34 minutes
Total incoming calls on average day...2.7 minutes.
Getting old faster than unrefrigerated milk.
I'm a huge Pam Moore fan. However, I just happened on KRON last night (Monday) and she looked very tired and bored in the opening with Jonathan McCall. Maybe she's still not feeling well from the fall?
ReplyDeleteShe's more likely not feeling well with the News Director, the management, the suits, and everything else at KRON. You just noticed she looks bored? She's been phoning it in for at least 10 years. I'm amazed she hasn't retired. She comes in as late as she can, barely pre-reads her copy, and is out the parking garage before the end credits are done. Not that I blame her.
DeleteKGMZ still feel long term, unless they can steal the 49ers away from knbr, will always struggle due to almost all of their hosts just not really anything interesting or compelling to listen to, its still pretty much all ex knbr retreads
ReplyDeleteIt didn't work either when they had new blood like Tierney and Davis. IMO, KGMZ hasn't gotten much of a stronghold on the ratings because the majority of the hosts are pretty milquetoast. But the bigger issue is the proliferation of podcasts and listener interaction. If sports radio was a bit more segmented so that listeners could rely on hearing about the Giants at 3pm every day or the Warriors at 4pm every day, that would make a difference. But the best sports radio has always been caller driven and KGMZ did away with taking callers long ago. Do they even still have the text line they used to incessantly promote?
DeleteMichael Weiner savage is utterly predictably bat shit cray. The current hosts on KGO are either untalented and boring, or utteryly predictable.. Why listen when either the host is untalented or talented enough but totally predictable? Their ratings are plunging yet again..There's a clue there.
ReplyDeletePam Moore and Frank Somerville would be a good pairing. The problem I see with KRON are the MMJs. Some are good like Teresa Estacio and others are mediocre. The same applies to their anchors. Liviakis and Heenan are very competent!
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Nexstar is willing to upgrade since KRON has no luster. Perhaps ABC would be willing purchase KRON and have a duopoly like CBS in LA with KCBS and KCAL. That could breathe life into KRON.
If Young Briadcasting was willing to sell to NBC in 2001, KRON would have have not become a dumpster fire that it is today.
KRON has a new GM, so maybe it might happen. Word is he came took the job and moved to the bay area because of its LGBT community (not that this would have anything to do with bringing in Frank). I remember when you said Ken Wayne on KRON would be a good thing and a ratings bonanza. How did that work out? Do you think the presence of Frank on the air brings people in? Have the numbers dropped since he's been off the air at KTVU? Unlikely. It would be a huge 'get' for KRON and draw attention to the station. But really, would you, Rich, regularly tune in to KRON to watch Frank? Be honest.
ReplyDeleteSavage is such an ego maniac he would never return to KGO unless the voice of reason was completely gone (too humiliating).
ReplyDelete- As long as Liviakis is still at KRON, Moore isn't going anywhere. They lean on each other, and rightfully so.
ReplyDelete- Can't believe that there were no buyers for KRON pre-pandemic. Or is Nexstar that incompetent a so-called conglomerate?
- O'Donnell usually takes a few weeks off in late spring before NFL Training Camp. Then again, PIX may be dumping salary soon.
- The Firm and The Bay Area, especially the East Bay shoreline from Fremont to Richmond, do not get along. Yet FOX still has enough followers that they need KTVU, and KTVU, even with its long-time Oakland location, still needs FOX's resources, even if the news content never sits well on either side of San Francisco Bay.
KCBS is good for only one thing now, the CBS hourly news. The rest of the radio station is a dumpster fire and while Stan Bunger was annoying, I'm sure he's glad he held that gravy train as long as he possible
ReplyDeleteFOX talking to Ted Rowlands and Sara Sidner. The NEW 10 o'clock News!!!
ReplyDeleteKGO already tried conservative... A&G. If conservative voices can't improve KGO and if conservative voices can't make KSFO get higher ratings than KGO, which it apparently can't, why would you bring Savage to KGO. Too good an idea? I think not.
ReplyDelete