It was 36 years ago, a singular moment in KRON history: after the Super Bowl in 1986, the debut of Sylvia Chase. A historic day indeed, but in retrospect, Chase's tenure at KRON didn't work out so well.
She was wooed from ABC and the old KRON execs thought she'd be a hit in the Bay Area. They gave her BIG money to come out, complete with a mega-million-dollar salary plus her own producer. It was money well spent, say the old KRON guard. They figured Chase's "20-20"/ABC News pedigree would add prestige to its own newscasts and image. Mind you, KRON was already a powerful NBC affiliate. But its hierarchy thought Chase was bona-fide magic and her presence would rock the Bay Area.
Chase was solid and made for a worthy anchorship but her impact was marginal, certainly not the buzz that KRON figured she'd provide. The ratings were decent and Sylvia gave a boost to KRON but it was nowhere near the cultural impact KRON anticipated. They ended up looking foolish over the cost of Chase's mini-entourage and internal fallout. It wasn't the worst move by a Bay Area TV News station but it might have made the top ten list.
Chase died in 2019, the victim of cancer. She was 80.
*I don't do Super Bowl parties or go to bars to watch. I've never been into loud scenes and taking part in fandom screaming and yelling. It's not my deal and has never been. I'm also one of the two people in the country that isn't crazy about chicken wings. Call me peculiar. I do like a good tuna sandwich and some chips and dip --aren't you thrilled now.
*The KGO Radio internal goo that erupted on Friday: on Pat Thurston's show, the wildly overrated, Stanley Roberts (ex-KRON "people behaving badly" guy) was on a phoner talking about his fledging TV career and want to come back to the Bay Area. He said he and MT writer, Susan Dyer Reynolds were trying to put together a project. Later that day, she pops up for an hour on John Rothmann's show. It was downhill from there. Between Dyer-Reynolds gloating and Rothmann's insane gushing, a radio disaster. Since no one listens to KGO now, a proper nothing burger.
*Rothmann: there's no place he'd rather be than stroking Jan Wahl's ego. She's about as enticing as a Redwood City strip mall.
*KCBS is hopeless and desperate: running old John Madden bits is a bit of a tacky deal --and indicative of a CRATERING news staton that is uber-ABYSMAL.
*The sunny weather? Enjoy it. We live near the ocean. If it gets real bad, then they build some take-the-salt water-out plants. No more worrying and 86 the fake, concerned, look on their faces by the weather anchors.
I remember watching Chase's highly-hyped, premier appearance on KRON. My reaction was, "Uh-oh." She may have been a good feature reporter and all-around peach of a person, but Chase was out of her element when it came to anchoring. That's why she didn't last long at KRON.
ReplyDeleteAgree, except she wasn't a "feature" reporter, but an investigative one. That's a big difference. One does fluff, the other does journalism, at times complex and dangerous.
DeleteI love tuna sandwiches. My recipe.
ReplyDeleteTuna, mayo, diced red onion, sweet pickle relish and a some tabasco sauce. Mix and put on your choice of bread. Add items to your taste.
Cool story, Bro. But I am writing down the recipe.
DeleteLUV me some tuna salad sandwich! (I hate when people call it "Tunafish." That would be like saying Salmonfish...or Halibutfish. But I digress...) My recipe: Albacore tuna, mayo, diced celery & onion, teaspoon of Thai green curry paste, chopped mint, sliced almonds, and a squeeze of lime.
DeleteKCBS has been running "John Madden" re-runs EVERY 10 minutes Saturday.
ReplyDeleteLike a infomercial loop.
Using a deceased employee to fill air time non-stop is a disgrace.
KCBS for sale ?
All week M-F was KNX reports.
Whats with the KNX shit reports?
They even said the KNX -FM dial number made me do a double take.
Is 105.3 "dave-fm" part of the CBS shit operation.
Gave it a try this weekend.
Satellite cut-outs dead air. And nothing but commercials & about 10 1980s hits played over & over.
This won't last. A marketing gimmic.
LOL! 105.3 did try the Hits thing back when they first went on the air. I remember when KITS airplay was all about hit songs from a number of Bay Area cities and would play over and over the top 10 songs. I believe their slogan was Hot Hits K-I-T-S. I just remember the cheesy special effect tv commercial they had for it.
DeleteI remember early KITS as well when I worked at Fisherman's Wharf one summer. They counted down the same 10 songs over and over: Hungry Like the Wolf, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, Billie Jean . . . One of the employees on the Wharf had to apologize for the repetition.
DeleteInteresting that in all your parsing of Bay Area media you haven't mentioned an obvious oddity: how KTVU is completely and utterly ignoring the Olympics, both as sports and as straight news. It's as if the games aren't even happening to them. Orders from Fox corporate probably, but why?
ReplyDeleteSylvia Chase is typical example how SF Bay Area viewer tastes are vastly different from national stage.
ReplyDeleteRecent examples:
Veronica De La Cruz (CNN)
Spencer Christian (ABC)
Paid big bucks but no 'real impact' either.
Your thoughts?
Spencer Christian recent? He's been around for donkey's years.
DeleteBut yes, big names and celebrity talent don't work in the Bay Area. When you have a community with people changing the world through tech, some haircut holding a stick mike doesn't make a big impression.
Rita Channon was better than Sylvia Chase.
ReplyDeleteRita Channon was attractive, bright, funny and very personable. Think Vicki Liviakis lite. After the 11pm newscast, she would head to Union Street for a backroom poker game that included other local newspeople. Quite a woman.
DeleteRich said this... "I'm also one of the two people in the country that isn't crazy about chicken wings." Make that 3 people.
ReplyDeleteI like them sometimes--I have a very good recipe myself--but I think they're overrated.
DeleteI remember back in the day (pre-1990) when butchers would give away free wings if you ordered a decent amount of meat. My dad would buy 4 steaks, and a couple of pounds of ground beef--and our meat guy would throw in a free pound of wings.
DeleteFunny, Rich. When KRON debuted its new set you hated it. Things do have a tendency to grow on people. Time and familiarity breeds appreciation...and contempt.
ReplyDeleteOh man Sylvia Chase was one of my favorite psychics bro.
ReplyDeletePoor Raj looked like such a dork at the Super Bowl. A superficial grasp of sports, culture and what's cool. Truly cringy.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! He added zero to the newscasts.
DeleteWhy so cynical about a schmooze fest, it is better than people being mean to each other, don't we have enough of that. Why does it bother you when hosts are nice to each other? So it might be a little over the top, or perhaps that is just your impression.
ReplyDeleteAnother negative post about John, just what is the point, it certainly does not add anything to your blog, we already know how you feel. It is a turn off.
Raj seems like a nice guy, but he is a local news reader. Nothing wrong with that. But please don't waste money sending him and others to Olympics and Super Bowl to stand in front of venues and spout lines that anyone could read. These folks have little access or insight on what they cover.
ReplyDeleteI figured there would be some posts on here about the Madden memorial at the Coliseum on Monday. I'm guessing KCBS was using the spots to encourage people to go. I didn't realize Madden did his morning bits with Gene Nelson and Frank Dill before moving over to KCBS.
ReplyDeleteGene Nelson met Madden in '82, at the 1260 KYA studios on Broadway(this was shortly after Nelson had quit 'the old KSFO', and a year before KYA's then-owner bought KSFO and took KYA to FM).
ReplyDeleteMadden was taping a commercial in the building, and Gene and John got to talking football. It became a daily gig that lasted until the summer of 1994, when Madden switched to Frank Dill's show on KNBR(as Nelson retired and KSFO changed formats again). It was on KNBR in '95 that Madden broke the news the Raiders were returning to Oakland).
Madden left KNBR shortly after Dill retired in '97. He'd planned to continue, but, like most people, he disliked Dill's replacement, Steve McPartlin, and moved over to KCBS in time for football season. While Nelson and Dill were genuine sports fans who happened to do what used to be called 'full service' radio, KCBS personnel, other than Steve Bitker, always gave me the vibe of 'fake enthusiasm' for sports, and Al Hart 'talkin' football' with Madden didn't make me switch to 740.