Susan Leigh Taylor: retired 2018: no replacement.
Steve Bitker, retired May, 2021: no replacement.
Larry Chiaroni, retired May, 2019: no replacement.
Dean Danos, non-tendered, Sept, 2014: no replacenment.
How can it be happening?
No accountability. No responsibility. No management. No leadership. A rudderless ship with Seelig the captain and she gets repeated passes. And the people at KCBS--especially the veteran staffers dare NOT try to challenge, let alone bring up the wholesale mismanagement, all under Seelig's watch. They FEAR for their job and livelihood and they fear Seelig's retaliation and response to their criticism.
And, mind you, we haven't even mentioned KCBS's daily screw-ups from technical to human error which has been detailed here numeous time.
The fact no replacements have been hired (after multiple years) is an EMBARRASSMENT both to Audacy and KCBS itself. It tells its listeners (and advertisers) it has NO RESPECT for them and that's an ongoing travesty.
KCBS is a virtual monopoly and has no competition. Which explains part of the problem.
TRAVESTY, really.
They should rename the parent company "Audacity"
ReplyDeleteIt is the age of temp employees.
ReplyDeleteIt is done at my workplace. Few permament ones because they cost too much money.
Wasn't there a couple good commentary people (can't remember names) that left. No Replacement
ReplyDeleteThe issue is there are ZERO qualified applicants who are interested in shit wages...and can pay for overpriced housing?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the attraction of KCBS?
None!
You can hub all entire station out of KNX (L.A.) and there are plenty of out of work (media types) that that will fill those anchor slots as freelancers and day hires.
I hate to tell ya this...
The sense of "entitlement" in BA media is over the top. You can't consider hiring many "locals" because they have some past disagreements or aggressions with others at that station.
"I don't like him/her".....or "she was mean to me when we worked at K****.
A previous poster described it previously...
"It's (KCBS) like a montessori school"
Nobody from outside the area can affford to move here...and KCBS won't pay ANY moving expenses or assist in location affordable housing.
Keep 2 reporters local, and keep a sales person in SF...run the rest out of L.A. to save on cost. The savings will be tremendous, and the coverage will be the same or even better. The pool of available and willing employees will be much better.
There is no other viable option for KCBS.
In all fairness, with everyone shoveling their advertising dollars at websites that employ fake bots to invent amazing sales numbers while delivering zero in reality, traditional media outlets are starving. Everyone thinks the internet is going to make them rich and all the ad dollars go there. Never mind that in 20+ years this has not happened. It's always just around the corner.
DeleteSo conventional media has been more than a little screwed.
"It tells its listeners . . ."
ReplyDeleteAnd who, pray tell, would they be?
This morning, Jennifer Hodges told us that Oprah Winfrey's current favorite book may "peekay" our interest. I heard it twice! How is this possible?
ReplyDelete"Compared to what might have been, the United States is a supremely uneducated country." H.G. Wells, The Outline of History, Volume II
DeleteJennifer Hodges, a lively blonde from Santa Cruz, has never been the brightest crayon in the box. She's not someone who does much serious reading, thus the "pique" gaff.
DeleteOn the radio, being "a lively blonde from Santa Cruz" is far less important than being able to read and pronounce common words. At least her goof shows that whoever wrote her copy spelled "pique" correctly, rather than printing "peek" or "peak" as I see way too often -- but that doesn't count on the radio either (and she would have been able to pronounce that without showing the audience how sadly ignorant she is).
DeleteBecause Rich, this country is in its death throes. It is in the grasp of greedy, lazy self indulgent fucks who only care about themselves and refuse to do the heavy lifting.
ReplyDeleteThere. I sad the quiet part out loud.
Yup. I don't see this country continuing in its present form for more than about five or six more years.
DeleteKCBS should just run CBS Radio Network programming 24/7. Local programming is worthless. First, KGO is now KGOne and now KCBS. But let's not forget at least two of the other legacy stations that are mere shells of what they were: KFRC and KSFO. Sad, sad, sad.
ReplyDeleteThere is always KOIT 96.5 to save the day.
ReplyDeleteNo format change in 30+ years.
As a former Cupertino resident who now lives in the Boston media market, Rich is right. There is very little tolerance for gaffes and goof ups on both radio and television in Boston. One long time Boston DJ was suspended after going on a tirade about non-binary individuals and their choice of identity pronouns. On the TV side, a Boston morning news anchor was quickly fired for breaching her contract after a Netflix film aired where she had a small role as a news anchor.
ReplyDeleteThe local news station here, WBZ, was owned by Audacy and was sold to I Heart so Audacy could purchase a couple other stations in the Boston market. WBZ is a much better station than KCBS. Outside of a Bloomberg business segment every half hour and some news stories from CBS, ABC, and local CBS O&O WBZ-TV, WBZ Radio doesn't run any network programming. They have permanent news anchors and decent ratings.
And I agree that KNX in Los Angeles is much better than KCBS.
Bloomberg 960 or KNX LA. They can easily be listened to on your phone. No need to listen to KCBS, unless you need traffic and weather
ReplyDeleteThere is no requirement that demands "replacement" of anyone in broadcast media.. By now you should know this.
ReplyDeleteI give it a year. KCBS will be sold and the new format will be a mix of country music & Christian readings laced with RW political talk targeted at an ESL demographic. And they will broadcast on a 50,000 watt transmitter.
ReplyDeleteGood points about KGO and KCBS. Cumulus, one of the most inept radio ‘companies,’ if you want to call them that, immediately downsized KNBR when they bought it, and then a few years later, emboldened with corporate zeal, eviserated KGO. They wiped out one of the best news staffs in the country, frog marching every reporter and producer to their front door with a security guard besrby while the former employees had to quickly box up their personal items into cardboard boxes and carry them out of the building. Their shameless, weasly lapdog hatchet man Lee Hammer is runs this now sham operation because he’s particularly good at one thing; following marching orders no matter how distasteful the orders might be. The guy was probably also put in charge to run the ‘Cumulus Cluster’ because he has zero people skills and no imagination, both requisite qualities if you want to work for this soulless company.,. But ‘Audacy,’ ’ which used to be called ‘Entercom’ before they ‘rebranded’ themselves, ( what a joke!) is almost as bad. They used the pandemic as an excuse to cut out about 20 percent of their workforce nationwide, and then locally hired a bunch of young reporters who sound as if they belong in Fresno, and are probably being paid virtually nothing. These newbies replaced. the vets who were either pushed aside or retired. I know John Evans and he told me he can’t wait to get out of that place.. Two other acquaintances I know who worked there said the atmosphere at KCBS is one is the most cold, stifling, unfriendly and stale environments you could imagine. Not vibrant or at all stimulating. “ Kind if like working in an impersonal factory” is how they described it. That falls on management which like Cumulus, is totally clueless and should get out of the broadcasting business because they obviously don’t know what they’re doing. These mega-media companies who are run by salesmen and consultants have people making critical decisions about local media which have ruined a once respectable business and most of the Bay Area’s once highly regarded radio stations.
ReplyDeleteYou’re right about Lee Hammer. How did a longtime KCBS overnight producer get a key management job with supervision of the entire Cumulus cluster? Because he was former KNBR GM Tony Salvador’s, (one of the sleaziest and contemptible people in the history of Bay Area broadcasting,) lap dog. Hammer has a valid personality and incessantly speaks in a flat, emotionless monotone like some soulless automaton. The guy also has ZERO imagination and has consistently hired idiots and rank amateurs; “Ron and Don,” ( remember those clueless nitwits on KNBR 1050?) this dweeb Mark Willard who is now on ‘The Game’ along w ‘Dibs,’ another classic Hammer hire who sounds like Daffy Duck. Hammer also brought in his buddy Papa and John Lund, who’s favorite topic seems to be penis jokes. Hammer also hired the totally boring Rod Brooks and kept him around for 25 years, probably because he was the only black person on KNBR and Cumulus looked like it needed to show it was willing to hire a person who is from
ReplyDeletea minority. Hammer then, is a supreme idiot, has no idea wtf he’s doing and is considered a joke on the industry. Hammer owes his career to the slimy Salvadore, who bullied former PD Bob Agnew for 16 years before firing him to cover his own ass over the FelipeAlou/Larry Krueger Fiasco. It was actually Salvatore who instigated the whole fiasco when he ordered Krueger to go after Alou on his show when the Giants were struggling. Hammer took after Salvadore when he took no responsibility when he accidentally shut off Dave Fleming’s mic just as Fleming was making the call of one of Barry Bond’s record HRs. Instead of owning up to his mistake, he claimed the mic went unexpectedly went dead for no reason. Hammer then quickly got on the phone to call Salvadore and plead not guilty, hoping to not incur his boss’s wrath.