I got a tip from an industry person that KGO's Ronn Owens is all but set to be bought out by Cumulus in August or September.
Owen's, (9-Noon) personal-services contract runs through January 1, 2013. It's highly unlikely he'll stay on the air through the end of the year given Cumulus' desire to buy him out early.
And the early word on his replacement? Try Pat Thurston or Brian Copeland.
*Way to go, Mr. Bungeroth and Cumulus: butcher KGO to the point of complete irrelevance and apply same process to KFOG. A popular morning show gets run to the ground and Facebook fogheads explode and go berserk. Yeah, yeah, I know they don't care. Just part of that damn consolidation routine from the Dickheads in Atlanta. Their version of the SF treat. I'll tell you guys this: You do, and you are, experts at completely fucking up an entire listener base. Wonder what you got in store for the summer?
*God forbid somebody in the upper food chain speak out about the Cumulus hit job on SF radio, but yep, gotta feed the family, right Ronn? ("We're going to have a 'great new format--it's gonna be exciting!, right Jared?")
*Jared Hart: currently on the horn looking for latest misfit(s) to fill in on weekend monstrosity known as KGO Radio. That comediane chick from NY must have animal photos.
*If the fogheads rally in front of Cumulus/SF with a pack of union people and pols, I'm damn certain more that 50 people show up.
*KRON had about 20 minutes of dead air the other night and didn't acknowledge it. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise.
*Cumulus is building new studios for KGOers, who are due to move out of the Embarcadero soon and head for 55 Hawthorne. I can hardly wait for the first union encounter. (KGO is, at least now, a union shop--KNBR and the other outlets aren't.)
*I believe Rita Williams and wish her a happy post-retirement next February, but still can't fathom why this announcement comes 9 months early. Nine months? Next on the clock: John Fowler. A source at KTVU says that Fowler absolutely does not want to retire. Fowler is in his mid 60's.
*More KTVU fodder: A well-known morning anchor caught the wrath of newsroom personnel: the anchor had a picture of him and OJ Simpson adorned on his desk. Good way to ingratiate yourself with working buddies.
*Tom Vacar: they won't touch him. He's a loyah.
*The Game, (95.7 FM), and its fans and affiliated mutts can inundate me with e-mails about a certain morning guy getting a 1-year "contract" "renewal". Doesn't make the news about impending layoffs go away. The station has better numbers, fine, but not enough to have a few pops at Grumpy's. And just because they gave the morning mutt another year doesn't speak for the overall health of the outlet. They haven't moved the needle. And yeah, they're better than KNBR. That's about it. Wonderful.
*Ben Fong-Torres update: thousand words on Lamont and Tannelli.
*In radio and TV, 50 is the new 80. And 60 is the new 90.
*No, I didn't listen to KQED on election night. Nor did I watch local TV news. I was busy with my "check out 'Venus" party and had to supersize my Costco purchase. Blogging for dollars.
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