IN BETWEEN the 5000 commercials, we had KCBS this (Wednesday) morning, hosting the Bay Area's newest show, "Yentas in the City", starring Holly Quan and Kim Wonderley. I guess El Kimmo, in her want/directive to make sure Quan gets notice, has to say, "Holly" in every traffic report no matter how lengthy her copy. My god, KCBS, what a DISASTER ZONE!
Speaking of disasters, there's clueless Eric Thomas, who was yet again, foisted on the Bay Area radio audience. Thomas, I'll be kind here, is a TOTAL WASTE. Other than that, he's just fine. He's slightly more awful than Holly Quan, I'll give him that, for bonus points. But here's the deal: KCBS went out of its way to get Thomas; thought they acquired a TV guy who'd get them recognition and instead received audio DRECK. Thomas is dreadful; worse yet, he's on virtually every hour, every time slot. KCBS has no bodies around to report, so they give us Thomas who can't broadcast without stumbling and bumbling every two seconds; great, thanks KCBS, you've done wonders.
Then's there's good old, Joe Hughes, some moronic sports guys that apparently was recruited off the mean streets of Lafayatte. Hughes spent an entire 7: 15 sportscast pontificating about something about the "Philly fanatic," which I know, every Bay Area sports fan cares about today. A Giants score? Nope. A Giants mention? No, the team with the best record in baseball gets NO MENTION, but Hughes has good Philly fanatic info, great hire, KCBS, keep it coming.
*KGO Radio, part of the dynamic duo (with KCBS) had a truly AWFUL Monday night. For a good at least 45 minutes, it's entire air was polluted with ADS RUNNING OVER THE "John Batchelor" Show. I mean, literally. Were you listening at the 10 PM hour, you heard audio hell. Maybe the automated gods wanted no part of Batchlor's spiel but it all sounded like shit. Eevn at that hor and it lasted for seemingly eternity. I'm guessing KGO boss, Lee Hammer, (who used to engineer) had a long day, Tuesday.
*Greg Papa asked noted drummer, John Lund, on his KNBR show, if the death of Stones icon, Charlie Watts, would affect the Stones' future. "Can you replace him", asked Pop. Lund, the imbecile, answered with some pure crap that I can't reconstruct because I'm still vomiting. Oh, later on, Papa said the Stones had to be playing the Fabulous Forum (in LA)--well, see Greggie, no, in fact, the Stones play pretty much OUTDOOR STADIUMS, where they consistently sell out, like 60-70 THOUSAND-SEAT FOOTBALL STADIUMS, like, say, the new Sofi Stadium in LA, Greg, time to get out of the house and 49ers bubble.
*Yeah, the first thing I think when I hear, great drummers, is John Lund.
*SPEAKING OF YENTAS: this morning, noted parent expert, KGO Radio's Nikki Medoro, was interviewing noted vaccine expert and cheerleader, Libby Schaaf, the mayor of Oakland. It was so compelling and august radio, a rogue KGO engineer tried to inject the John Batchlor/commercial tape over the mayor's and parent icon, Medoro. It did not work but at least it did drown out Bret Burkhart.
*News for Papa: the 49ers play at Levi's Stadium too and not the Chase Center.
*KNBR muttheads, "Murph and Mac", also chimed in on the death of Watts; Murph, in between softball practice and phone sex with some of his UCLA gal pals, asked noted drummer, Paulie Mac, about Watts' impact on social media and the Stones status and Paulie Mac followed with a wacky song tribute, which as you know, is instant Rolling Stones mojo because when I think of the Stones and pop culture, I think Paulie Mac.
*Damon Bruce, father of child, again, which means "The Game" goes from an 0.5 to slightly better than the janitor show on SF Unified School districk radio's power hour.
*If I were KNBR and DROPPED over a point (ratings) in the middle of baseball season and the Giants with the BEST RECORD in baseball? I'd have been locked in my bathroom for two weeks and forced to listen to Kate Scott.
*YO, KTVU ND, Amber Eikel: you've got more baggage than the United terminal at SFO.
*To be serious for a moment, the people at KTVU; the ND, the GM, the HR (NO HR) ladies should stop threatening the staff if they talk to me and instead concentrate on the overall quality of KTVU News and its ambassador of good will, Frank Somerville.
*KGO-TV, Curcle7, is attempting to build a Better Bay Area; loyal staffers to ND, Tracey Watkowski-Silva, ordered sveral tuna melts from Grumpy's as a surprise to Trix and she subsuquently threw them into the KRON toilet upstairs.
*Lund will be playing his Buddy Rich tour at the Cow Palace; Papa will be the opening act and emcee.
*Jon Miller's new fashion credo: showed up yesterday at Oracle with a Giants cap, John Tamargo jersey and Joe Altobelli's secret sex tapes.
*Reggie Aqui is still anchoring at ABC7 (KGO) which means he has pictures --along with Eric Thomas.
*Liz Kreutz and Lisa Argen: KGO's version of The Golden Girls.
*Ken Bastida and a cruel joke at PIX making the rounds, I hear: too bad Kenny was MIA too.
*Allen Martin: PIX's male Claudine Wong.
*Tough few weeks for Claudine, she was forced to smile at Eikel's new directive to staff: "be sure to make Julie Haener feel more appreciated."
*Clint Reilly supposedly could have bought the Chronicle but told folks he wasn't interested in buying a high-school newspaper.
*Speaking of the Chron, the new SFGate sloganL "we bring you the best pictures of apartments in SF!"
*When I think of hell as I often do, I conjure up images of the lawyer, Mr. Habbas and his son, talking about dad and grandpa, on KCBS every two minutes.
*News to Papa: the Warriors no longer play at the Oakland Civic Auditorium.
*THIS JUST IN: Aaron Pero, former embattled KRON ND, was just spotted at the Emeryville Dennys screaming at every waitress named Bunny.
*In witness protection plan: Da Lin's secret ghost.
*Vern Glenn UPDATE: "I'm not the Black Milt Kahn!"
Why is Brett Burkhart essential listening on KGO radio?
ReplyDeleteFingernails on a Chalkboard
Aaron Pero is no stranger to the North Bay, Rich. I saw Aaron this past weekend at the Denny’s in Santa Rosa, telling the coffee crowd how tasty Darya’s Honey Glazed Ham is.
ReplyDeleteThat Denny’s is garbage.
DeleteRichs favorite troll is talking to himself again.
DeleteThey should change KCBS call letters to ERIC. OMG is Eric Thomas the energizer bunny or something. Seems like he's on 24/7 and can't get nothing straight.
ReplyDeleteRich, you need to be more careful about what you say about Liz Kreutz, she might send out another nasty letter about you.
ReplyDeleteBatchelor's show left Westwood One earlier this year. His new CBS program is distributed by Skyview Networks. Their satellite signaling system went haywire and caused the same problem on every automated affiliate across the country.
ReplyDeleteI rarely watch the news but watched KTVU last night, maybe the 6:00 news. Sommerville can't even read a sentence, total struggle, I know that Julie Haener gets a lot of crap, but at least she is smooth and articulate.
ReplyDeleteYour claim that Somerville "can't even read a sentence, total struggle" is not true. If he was that bad, they would have pulled him off the air again. I think you're just piling on the criticism after what happened with him a couple months ago.
DeleteIn the few minutes I watched him along with facial expressions, he look's very uncomfortable, it's obvious that the pressure is getting to him.
DeleteAnd here I thought Vern was the white Kevin Hart.
ReplyDeleteVern Glenn reminds me of the famous Winston Churchill quote. (Literary license invoked) " Never has anyone gotten so much out of so little."
DeleteWhile Charlie Watts was certainly a legendary drummer if for no other reason, but his longevity. He was a class act, and a decent drummer. That being said, sometimes, a drummer can make or break a band. The Beatles found that out when they started out with Pete Best. When Ringo Starr would sit in, they realized how much better they were without Pete Best. Ringo made them great. Charlie Watts made the Rolling Stones with his consistent drumming. But just because a drummer is good for one band, that doesn't mean they would be great in another. I mean, could Ringo fit in with The Who the same way that Keith Moon did? I don't think so. And yet, by all accounts, Ringo is up there among the best drummers of all time, just like Charlie Watts, Mick Fleetwood, and Laudier Olivier [sp?] of Chicago. All good drummers, but would SO out of place if they were to switch into any of the other bands.
ReplyDeleteKeith Moon was a once in a lifetime talent, and I have seen The Who about 18 times but only one time with Moon, and that night at MSG in the June of 74 was most magical and special night ever and never came close to repeating.
DeleteI'm going to pretend that I didn't see Lewd Lund in the same sentence as the late great Charlie Watts. As a Stones lifer getting over a sinus infection, that did not help my symptoms.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the original Chicago drummer was Danny Seraphine, now fronting a band called CTA - California Transit Authority, a play on the band Chicago's original name Chicago Transit Authority, named after the real Chicago transit system, which authorities in 1969 ordered to cease and desist.
And one more tidbit for RL's readers - 5 great drummers - Buddy Rich, Ringo, Charlie, Moon, John Bonham. Opinion By: Phil Collins
You nailed it.
DeleteMax Roach: Better (but more subtle) than any of them. Not that Phil Collins could tell...
DeleteHal Blaine should be on the list, but he was mostly a session guy.
DeleteAm I the only one who likes Liz Kreutz? I'm fine with that.
ReplyDeleteMilt Kahn would never have called the east bay football team "Da Raaaaayduhzzz", like VG does. Love the drummers trivia, did you know that Phil Collins would have left Genesis high and dry for The Who after Keith Moon's passing; The Who was that important to him growing up in London. Townshend told him that they had already hired Kenney Jones when Phil inquired about auditioning.
ReplyDeleteAs we know Roger Daltrey thought Kenny was a very wrong fit and it is pretty well known that Phil Collins wanted to be The Who drummer. A very strange one is that Townshend was going to quit the Who and he asked Peter Frampton take his place, that was a very strange one but never came close to it after a couple of conversations and I could not see that working at all.
DeletePoor Kenney Jones. Got slagged off so much after taking over for Moon. He was decent. But a tough gig nonetheless, to come after a legend.
DeleteI listened to Nikki Medoro interviewing Schaaf also. It was a good interview , but was surprised to hear Schaff imply the vaccine is perfectly safe. IMO, these sorts of implausible statements about Covid are what is making Americans distrust both medical professionals and politicians. Come on. A better replay is to admit that the vaccine isn't 100% safe. Then say "however, the alternative of no-vaccine is even less safe". If Americans think they are not being told the complete truth about Covid, they won't believe anything they're told about Covid at all.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what she or anyone says, the disbelievers will disbelieve. It has nothing to do with evidence and nothing to do with reality. It's a psychological state with them, like trying to convince Ted Kaczynski that electricity and indoor plumbing are really a good idea.
DeleteRich by looking at your readers response writing about Charlie Watts maybe throw in a little music blog once in awhile. I know you do the videos on occasion but a music blog once a week/month would be awesome. Rock, Jazz, Blues, Classical etc... just a thought...
ReplyDeleteLibby Schaff is the worst Mayor in Oakland history -- no mean feat with the likes of Ron Dellums and Jean Quan ahead of her.
ReplyDeleteHer legacy will be that she let three professional sports franchises leave town on her watch. Admittedly, the jury is still out on the A's.
Screw the franchises, infrastructure is falling apart: roads and crumbling, pot holes haven't been filled in decades, taxes are through the roof, crime is the highest in the nation, Asians are being beaten and robbed, and her top priority—by her own admission—is making the thugs committing all this crime feel more welcomed and accepted.
DeleteAs someone who used to travel with her told me, if there aren't TV cameras there to capture her cutting a ribbon or shaking hands with a "person o' color," she's not interested. The day-to-day of being a mayor just bores her.
Libby Schaff is really annoying to look at on TV, because she is CONSTANTLY blinking her eyes every two seconds or so. And she has certainly ruined Oakland, as every major sports team has left Oakland under her watch, with the Oakland A's almost gone. That all being said, for some reason, I would totally love to bang her....
DeleteThe Warriors were moving to SF no matter what. The Raiders wanted Oakland to bend over backwards for them which they already did in 1995 on the coliseum renovation that is still being paid off. The A's are also looking for a handout. Hard to blame it on Libby when you're dealing with extortionists
DeleteWith that god awful voice, how did Papa EVER get a broadcasting gig?? And Beth Mowins doing NFL play by play is just brutal. Sounds like a TS breakthrough!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Mowins voice is hard to listen to.
DeleteHave Beth Mowin and Reba McIntyre ever been seen together at the same time. Just sayin.
DeleteA Milt Kahn reference? Rich, your calling to to create the Bay Area version of Trivial Pursuit! I'll buy one!
ReplyDeleteKenney Jones was definitely the wrong fit for The Who. Wonder what they would have sounded like with Phil Collins, guess we'll never find out. I do think Zak Starkey does a great job and I'll even go as far to say that I think he's a better drummer than his father. Long Live Rock and Long Live The Who! 🇬🇧
ReplyDelete