In The Midst of BART Tragedy KGO Radio Presented Cooking Show; KCBS Top Dog on Scene in Walnut Creek

 Saturday afternoon was chock full of news dominated by the BART tragedy in Walnut Creek where two people were killed after being struck by a train.

In addition, the strike presented traffic nightmares all over the Bay Area as freeways became congested particularly near the MacArthur maze near the Bay Bridge. Not surprising.

But the big news was the accident in Walnut Creek.

KCBS, as usual, was the go-to platform on radio with reporter, Anna Duckworth on the scene with the breaking news from the scene of the accident.

Later updates included especially pointed reports from Phil Matier, who on short notice provided early analysis on how the accident might get the unions and BART management back to the bargaining table and accelerate a settlement.

What was KGO, your "news and information" station up to? How about consumer shows and cooking with Ryan Scott. KGO managed to provide updates but all it amounted to was innocuous tidbits from its affiliates. In other words, unless you liked hearing a grown guy chortling over tapas and burgers, you didn't want to be listening to the KGOne albatross. That is, if you wanted to know about the on-going developments in Walnut Creek.

Utter clueless. You'd figure someone in the news dept. would have called the boss and said  we might want to get an anchor down or reporter, but why bother with basic intelligence. Even by KGO's byzantine standards, Saturday's circus was beyond the scope.

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Your Top 10 BART/Strike Observations Day One From the Car Pool Lane On The Maze

 1. Ah, what do you know, people are inconvenienced. Stunning. (zzzz).

2. The buses are crowded at "busy" Walnut Creek, (destination of choice by demo-driven news managers--again, just shocking!--at least there were no shots of the fountain).

3. The Bay Bridge is backed up "well past the maze!"--Amazing.

4. The usual assortment of happier-than-hell reporters who sound and look as if they just finished off about 10 cans of Red Bull.

5. The proverbial MOS interview of Connie Pittsburg and Rory Ziggmeister at carpool lane: "How do you like this so far?" "Uh, well, you know, it sucks but, uh..." (What the hell are they supposed to say, dummies?)

6. Way, way, way happy anchors: KCBS' Stan Bunger did a 5: 12 AM phono in his car on the Bay Bridge en route to the city with enough zesto and pesto to fill Candlestick Park. Stan was one happy dude.

7. Yeah, you saw it right: On KGO-TV's otherwise decent 6 PM newscast on Thursday, Larry Beil continuously broadcast only pro-BART Mtg, tweets. Not one union tweet. I have no dog in this fight, (although I tend to lean pro-union), but not reading just one union tweet was conspicuous --Wait, ABC7 is owned by Disney--one of the biggest anti-union companies in USA. Coincidence? Perhaps. You be the judge.

8. Ferry boats: You mean we have a ferry? Yeah, they navigate on water and you can get from Oakland to the city in 20 minutes. I hear they have excellent coffee and pastries too.

9. Kim Wonderly was also just a tad too happy and Tim Ryan spent about 90 hours on how to casually carpool. (Que the editor's desk.)

10. Chris Filippi of KCBS finally left his home after 97 hours hanging out at the BART negotiations building at Caltrans in Oakland.

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BART Strike Nearing Friday; All Local Outlets Offering Expanded Coverage

Several local outlets will be on the air at 4 AM ...with the usual reports from traffic hotspots including the Bay Bridge, SF near the Mission/Howard-Transbay Terminal. Of course, yes too, the ferry buildings in SF and Oakland too.

Expect extra traffic reports with enhanced coverage.

KPIX, KTVU, KNTV, and KGO-TV and Radio plan extended coverage. Ditto KCBS and KGO; KQED Radio will run expanded news in its local news blocks.

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BART Coverage Brings Out Best And Worst; KCBS' Filippi Stands Out; KTVU 'Breaking News' Fetish

 In a mostly feast-or-famine environment, reporter Chris Filippi of KCBS has been steady and solid on the possible BART strike story.

Filippi's been on the scene since day one of the back-and-forth negotiations which have taken on a life of their own. But give him credit: unlike a lot of other breathless members of the local glee club, Filippi's methodical approach of providing information without sounding as if he was reporting the second coming was welcome and appreciated.

Granted, this is a difficult story to report because of the gag order both sides have stuck to; there's really been no official information or feel of how the negotiations were going until late Monday when the talks went past yet another BART union deadline--in fact, just plain common sense indicated that there was movement because both sides had much to lose in the event of a strike.

*As a reader pointed out, the "Breaking News"-fetish that permeates KTVU was evident with a "story" that was not a story at all Monday night...2, complete with sounder and graphic galore splashed a "Breaking... across its screen only for the viewer to see in fact that "Breaking" was no-breaking after all but a bank of microphones in front of an empty lectern. There was no breaking news.

*KCBS did a very good job as I pointed out. But their relentless plugging to listeners to send a text to the station to get back a text if the labor situation changed was over the top. I get it that it's important and a community service for commuters, especially, to have access to the latest info but KCBS went above and beyond in promoting its text deal after each and EVERY report.

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Breathless TV/Radio Voices during BART Strike; Dearth of Black Anchors in 415 Media Fortress; Cumulus SF Morning Dreck Shows; Why is Kate Scott So Special?; Tuesday Bullet Points

The BART strike made for unintentionally funny scenes on the local TV news fronts; reporters looked more flustered than commuters, most of whom seemed to take in this mighty inconvenience with relative calm.

On the contrary, a few newbies and some bay native TV people provided the usual breathless live shots as if they were about to go to the senior prom. Look, there is a lot of activity. There is, in fact, drama; right before our eyes we see the endless traffic logjams, people waiting blocks long for buses at the Transbay Terminal about to be packed in like a bunch of sardines. Yet, who are the calm bodies? Commuters, hands down.

**Steady TV and Radio traffic voices: KTVU's Sal Castaneda; always reporting with a consistent, calming style; you'd expect that from a professional doing his job; Kim Wonderly on KCBS; another calm and rational voice in a sea of hyper, gee-wiz characters. (She wasn't working Monday, but her style and command was needed.)

**I remarked the other day about Carolyn Tyler's lack of looking like Soledad O'Brien at KGO-TV, thereby her rather understated role at the station, but then KGO isn't the only guilty party here. Most all the other outlets have a dearth of Black anchors. How do I know this? Take a look. Dave Clark of KTVU is the exception to many Caucasian faces. And then I got an e-mail from a veteran reporter who agreed with me; (the individual asked me not to use their name for fear of retribution from the station); the vast majority of Black media faces here are comprised of mostly light-skinned people. In other words, don't be too Black if you want to make it onto Bay Area TV news screens.

**Morning nausea shows, courtesy the Cumulus terrestrial Sweetjack factory: KSFO: multiple seizures; KNBR and its cast of the Defecation dancers: too bad to be funny, too awful to even contemplate--you'd be better off using your vomit bag and sip lots of water; and the KGO Radio morning-news gigglers, about as compelling and useful as a cold, pineapple pizza.

**It's rather sad and revealing that a woman sports/traffic reporter on KNBR gets high marks from the mental midgets that make up the Chronicle these days. Yeah, she's so special and enlightening; loves to use the word, frickin, and has built up a residue of good will based mostly on her sexual orientation without the slightest bit of reporting acumen. Wonderful. And a certifiable sham too. Only good news: she's not Powlie, the guy with the fake New Jersey accent who uses his soundboard as an audio-masturbation instrument.

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BART Strike Brings out Best and Worst of Bay Area TV/Radio

Nothing like a transit shutdown to bring about the best and worst of local TV News and Radio. At least, for once, the endless traffic reports, (which is the tapestry of morning-news TV), were longed for and legitimate.

The BART strike of 2013 is a big story, no doubt, but it has brought forth all the icky elements of why many people have a distaste for the media.

For one, the noticeable rush of adrenaline seen on the Bay Area TV screens was not from the commuter but instead on way-too-giddy local reporters doing live shots with the glee of a kid inside a toy store about to go on a free shopping spree.

As usual, the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza was a popular destination for reporters. The overhead shots from the helicopters made for compelling TV and for once, actually showed the vehicular mayhem, the Bay Area's version of carmageddon. Too bad one reporter, instead of asking the usual ridiculous "is it rough driving?", could not think on their own and better ask, "did you not think about alternative ways to get into the city?" I know, grumpy me, dare thinking beyond the usual standard-fare morning TV news minutiae.

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