WE'RE ALL SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE KRON has suddenly begun to revitalize and shed its dorky image. I beg to differ. On MANY fronts.
KRON is still the same old KRON. Wait a minute, the old KRON was out of sight and great local TV News watching. The current KRON is a sloppy Joe and Jane with globs of silly looks, 47,000 weather screens, doofus personnel and spotty anchoring.
KRON has a new GM, big deal. You can't hide away mediocrity. New GM and same old ND, a BULLY Pero who continues to RULE with intimidation and FEAR, a newsroom goon with all the serenity of a Union City strip mall. Mr "new GM?" You want to LEAD? Tell Pero to hit the road and take Darya with him.
To be sure, KRON has some good people. Unfortunately, they're wasted by a tw-dollar hardware store masqueraing as a Neiman Marcus. KRON's "KTEL-like" news operation is just so god-awful. The news jingles are out of date. The weather boards are obscene and comical. The addition of Ken Wayne has been a DISASTER. Wayne looks and sounds bored. Pam Moore appears tired and blase. Reporters come and go. There's NO mojo and very little direction and execution. Who the heck is minding the store? Never mind.
*RATINGS for radio don't mince words. Beauty contet numbers aside, the real message here is that the mediocre stations continue to just get by and maintain their boring FLATLINING status. If they weren't so dependent on their corporate breadwinners, they'd be put out to pasture.
*Dion Lim continues to get MEGA-DOUGH OFFERS from NETWORKS and outside Bay Area TV News stations which, given the state of TV News, is quite telling. Her rise at KGO would seem to indicate they (ABC/DISNEY) feel the same but as I've said numerous times here, you'd better pay her or risk losing her to LA or (less likely) NY. Lim could easily fetch a multi-million buck offer if she were to migrate to LA and network insiders have told me she's on their radar. I've become a Dionne believer even though her weird voice is occasionally uber-nasal. Her presence is undeniable, though.
*Yo, FM Sports station and Audacy SF folks, you want BUZZ and MEANING? You want to be taken seriously, then DO SOMETHING with ultra force, shake up the place and HIRE sports-programming wizard, Bob Sargent. Sargent, who currently runs the 49ERS broadcasting depot, was around KNBR in the early 2000's and knows a thing or two about how to program. He worked with Tony Salvadore and made KNBR into the powerhouse before some amateur lemmings invaded the place. There's NO ONE who could change the dynamics like a "Sarge"--he's not cheap but he knows his biz and he'd know how to take The Game (95.7 FM) and make it worthy. I would love an alternative to KNBR but all I get is spam when I'd love some meat and potatoes. Sargent is a sure bet to deliver. 100%.
*KQED continues to talk to would-be on and off-air people for its planned "NewsRoom" experiment in the fall. They are already planning a Star-Wars-like super studio that my spies say is eye-catching. Can't wait.
*Does Ronn Owens ask his "KGO Facebook listeners" if his voice can sound more gravel-like?"
*Alex Bennett, former SF comedy jock and media maven, ( a la The Quake and Live 105 in the 80's) is doing an Internet show out of NY and his spiel with Bay Area comic, Larry Bubbles Brown was a hoot--at least I saw it that way. Go to YouTube and observe.
- Attention, Dion Lim Diehards: Deluge Circle7 with letters demanding she get a raise (and if possible, remove the Ming) and that she stays.
ReplyDelete- Son of Bennett! Interesting pairing a U.S. Open cap with a John Lennon sweatshirt. Anyone for Tennis? Or Golf?
Dion's the only reporter doing REAL REPORTING. Digging into things and not taking a blanket "No" or a press release for an answer.
DeleteEveryone else, including the Empress Ming, is mostly interested in such "hard-hitting" topics as where to get the best burritos in the city, or pantry essentials for easy meals during the pandemic.
LOL, re: your description of KRON's newscasts as "KTEL-like". That sums it up perfectly. And you're correct: the new GM should clean house, beginning with the tiny terror.
ReplyDeleteThe Tiny Bald Greek Terror with a Napoleon complex who likes to ruin his marriage by banging morning anchors who resemble the Taco Bell chihuahua?
DeleteYup...
The program director at kgmz seems content with mediocre sub par rejects from knbr and that's been their m.o. for years..
ReplyDeleteto be fair, when kgmz brought in people from outside the area like Tierney, O'Connell, and Chad Doing, they sucked as well.
DeleteYea Tierney was a real tool ripped Buster Posey when he was here brilliant ya big turd...
DeleteGot a giggle out of this. Rich probably could do a post just on this link and what his take is! https://www.nexttv.com/features/bay-area-stations-are-local-news-innovators
ReplyDeleteDion should use her pay raise to get some fancy new dresses. She wears the same old dress all the time.
ReplyDeleteWHY would Bob Sargeant want to leave the 49ers and the NFL for a penny ante radio station and having to deal with the crap at 95.7?
ReplyDeleteMy thought exactly. Thought he was more sales than programming anyway?
Delete95.7 is the worst thing I've ever heard. Bunch if amateurs trying way too hard to make hot-takes yelling at each other. Totally unhearable.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty funny how they are so butthurt about the As dissing them by leaving. I will celebrate when that joke of a station gets shut down.
But they have Kate Scott thought that was going to fix their ratings problem......
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