Rodgers 'fired? Oh really? old news;KRON attempts to lead with 'Epic beard man' wack job story; KNBR runs 'Best-of on Sunday; Monday media mix

SHOWING THE USUAL JUDICIOUS NEWS JUDGEMENT, they represent, KRON considered leading with the now infamous lunatic known as "Epic beard man" video with its evening news segment(s) last Friday. That's LEAD, as in, story #1.

The whack-job and his takedown of a young Black man on an AC Transit bus is the latest Internet sensation, with about 250,000 or so youtube hits. Its more tmz.com and gawkerish, but as news value, its a complete zero, other than the fact the old guy was the same yahoo that was tased last year at an A's game.

Apparently, KRON posted the video on its web site, (because at KRON, they have nothing else to post) and this was viewed by several thousand. So naturally, the boobs tried to lead with it, but it was axed at the last minute.

Keep 'em coming, KRON, baby.

**Old white guy nut case and young attitude-central black guy exchange words; fists fly, blood, mayhem, cell-phone camera voyeur nearby...and ensuing mayhem. Next thing you know, video from this stupid affair goes viral and this is what constitutes "news". And you wonder why the country is going to hell in a hand basket. And for good measure, the nut case will probably "guest" on one of those bizarro shows, down the road, get into a nother fight, maybe someone gets badly hurt or killed and then what? Think about that for a moment.

**KNBR replayed almost all its various shows Sunday, (Radnich, Razor/MrT, Fitz/Brooks, et al;) leading up to the pre-game Warriors--Hawks game at 5 PM. I don't know whether this was a cost-cutting move, (KNBR carries ESPN radio shows on weekends;) or simply an experiment. If I had to guess, I'd say it was a money decision; isn't everything?

**Great genius move by NBC to put the USA vs. Canada hockey game on MSNBC, while mothership network shows tape-delayed Olympics labeled "Live." Does Dick Ebersol have pictures? And is it only me, but why the hell NOT could Al Michaels have provided the play-by-play of USA-Canada?

**Brad Kava of Examiner.com, posted old news on his column Monday morning regarding Lee Rodger's firing from KSFO. Only I had that and actually broke the story, but Kava's minions were astounded that "radio examiner" got scooped by someone who knows a helluva lot more than him. You're doing a helluva job, 'Kavie!

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Why its easy to pick on KNBR; Comcast SportsBay Area; Wednesday 415 media pulse

As we close out the new year and navigate quickly to 2010, a few answers to questions I invariably get from the folks who read "my little blog."

**Rich, why do you have such an anti-KNBR fetish? Let it go. Did they not hire you? We'll, first off, I have never wanted nor applied for a gig at KNBR. Check the records. The truth is KNBR is a joke and if not for carrying the 49ers, Giants and Warriors, they'd be toast. Maybe Barbieri and Tolbert too, but that's about it. The nighttime guy has some talent too, but apparently he's been told to muzzle up. This is a radio station that uses interns to do updates. This is a radio station that buckled under the Larry Baer gun to use a house voice from the Giants to do their post-game shows at AT&T. This is a radio station that puts Vegas tip-sheet guys, (four of 'em) on their air as "guests", without telling the peeps that such guests are paid advertisers. This is a radio station whose noon-3 "talent" has more cackling and giggling than a Hillary Clinton birthday party..."America's #1 Sports radio station?", sez who? The tooth fairy? I hope the Cumulus Xmas party was swell; heard quite a few stories from some of your sales guys who aren't so happy. Wonder why.

**Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area: Nice people over there. A few too nice and even one who was cool enough to massage a whack job like me when the earth was caving in. Figuratively-speaking...The good stuff: coverage on A's/Giants/Warriors terrific, with nice HD touch. Lavish sets, the 1200 bank of monitors and the high-tech look is all splendid. I'd like to see more of a variety of non-sports teams' programming. "Chronicle Live" is fairly standard, coffee-table fare and no, its not just because some little dweeby producer won't put me on; howz about more OPINIONATED, more VISUAL, more OPINION-variety writers/guests who will actually SAY SOMETHING that elicits traction and generates a bit of buzz, and no, I'm not talking about Willie Brown and Rado on the 49ers post game show. Willie, as I've said 20x over is loathed in the suburbs and an instant turn-the-channel figure...on the other hand, Tony Bruno and Bill Romonowski are quite watchable even if the Raiders are struggling...as for the other talent: Greg Papa? check. Scott Reiss? say something Scott; we like the anchor look, but please, say something...Damon Andrews? Humn...Eric Davis? Tremendous; give him more time...Dave Benz? Funny and sorta-different and I can't explain why...OK, the 'youthful talent, (read what you want into that, I suppose if you really want to work in this town, we'll...)

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