KPIX's 'Night Beat' Is In Dire Straits; Nobody's Watching; Don't Expect Bernie Ward On KGO Radio Anytime Soon; Michael Krasny and Angie Coiro; Fire and Ice; KRON Tech Glitches at 900 Front; Tuesday Rundown

 "Night Beat" is in trouble --how bad is anyone's guess but bad enough that rumors have circulated the building that KPIX's attempt, (via its KBCW sister station), to attract an audience for it's 10 PM youth-oriented news show has been an abject failure and is soon to be doomed.

Best case scenario? 90 days. Worst-case? The show could be a goner by the end of the year. That's nine days, I know.

The reason: nobody's watching. Moreover, few, if any of KPIX's coveted demo that was its prime target is watching Night Beat. Furthermore, when those few people watch, they tend to take a look and click their remote.

When Night Beat debuted back in July, KPIX had a plan; albeit sketchy and terribly hard to attain, but a plan nonetheless. More of an experiment actually--but it was simple enough: develop a tech-oriented, soft-news, airy alternative to the traditional newscast and gear it toward a younger audience. Internally, KPIX knew it would have NO chance to compete with KTVU's dominant "10 o'clock News" that is currently the ratings king in that time period.

But KPIX went forward with a blueprint: attract a loyal, if small, audience to build on and acquire a core millennial-oriented demo; the 20-30-something tech types on their laptops and smartphones --precisely the demo that is ON THEIR phone!, checking texts, facebooking, twittering, Instagramming  --do you sense a problem here? The type of people that are doing anything BUT watching their TV at the moment--great research boys and girls!

Worse yet, PIX brought out talented, but clearly not seasoned, Veronica De La Cruz to work the new show, (in addition to co-anchoring the 6 PM News). De La Cruz, at first glance, looks more splash than dash; that said, her captaining of the Night Beat has been fraught with technical issues, out-of-place gimmicks, yelling "GAME ON" to open the sports segment is plain silly and sophomoric. The weather "quiz" is cheesy --and the frequent "TRENDING" and reliance on Facebook and Twitter has been a disaster. No.One.Is.Watching.

Night Beat has had six months to generate an audience but nothing has transpired. Ultimately, KPIX could have brought forth Masterpiece Theatre and if not enough people watched, that would have been blown up too. Unfortunately, Night Beat is no Masterpiece Theatre but it might as well be blown up because nobody's watching. And with that, the show is in dire straits.

*Don't invite KQED Forum host, Michael Krasny and KGO Weekend 10 AM -1PM talkie, Angie Coiro to dinner.

*Bernie Ward, just released from Lompoc will NEVER appear on KGO Radio, either as a host or as a guest. That's my guess.

*The amount of technical glitches that has plagued KRON since its move to 900 Front has ignited rumors about sabotage and the like--from where? Imagine.

*If KOIT gets a huge lift in the ratings from playing 24/7 Christmas music there's something wussy about that, sorry, sincerely, 415 Media Scrooge.

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