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.
**Follow me on Twitter
