Oakland Gets Special Treatment When It's Rioting Time in Bay Area; SF Less Sexy; KTVU Worst Offender; Annie Anderson KRON Update; CSNBA's Wofford, Romanowski, and Neal are Blunt Raiders Readers; Monday Starter

 MONDAY STARTER

A reader here constantly asks me why is it that when violent protests take place in the city, those protests are given scant coverage, yet when same protests are in Oakland, the local stations always seem to highlight Oakland.

It's simple: Oakland is a convenient target --blue collar, (read Black); San Francisco is regal, high-tech, glamorous and beneath such activity, (read White).

Just this morning, KCBS' Susan Leigh Taylor asked Phil Matier,  "were you surprised the violent protests in Oakland crossed the bay over to SF?" As if the city weren't ever subject to the same mob scene like that in the Eastbay. How absurd.

KTVU is, hands down the worst in this department. KTVU typically leads with an anti-Oakland bias --not just Ferguson protests but murders too. Channel 2 consistently lead with the Oakland mayhem last week but was curiously low-key on the violence that took place in SF/Union Square Friday night. Maybe they don't want to piss off Macys or irritate the SF Chamber of Commerce. Those of you that watch Channel 2 know precisely the pattern. It's even more scathing when KTVU studios are in Jack London Square but you wouldn't know because KTVU never mentions that--they're too busy knocking the 510. But when it involves that Walnut Creek fountain, they're all over it.

*Sports took a back seat to real life and reality Sunday. Those players from the St. Louis Rams posed a "hands up--don't shoot" look before the game. CBS Television, to their credit, showed the entire episode and mentioned it again during the game.

Greg Papa, part of 95.7 FM, The Game's radio coverage, (they're the Raiders radio flagship here), never mentioned it, (I didn't hear it, maybe you did), even as protests took place mere miles from the stadium and extra police, the National Guard, and security lined the field.

*If Annie Andersen isn't a fake stage name I'm Ron Burgandy.

*KRON could embellish "People Behaving Badly" and have Stanley Roberts tail Annie Andersen incognito. (Hell, I'd watch).

*I predicted back in early November that a few good December storms would ease the drought a bit and everyone got all snippy --we'll, guess what--we have a storm door piled up in the Pacific and there was minor flooding in Marin on Sunday. So when you see those "Storm Watch" live shots, remember my words.

*Today is December --when holiday parties and the Christmas spirit permeate the local media...and when pink slips are given out. What classy operations.

*Nervous minds: KPIX, KGO-TV, KGO Radio especially.

*Post Raiders mayhem upside: The refreshing, candid, BLUNT conversation after the 52-0 debacle in St. Louis on CSNBA's Raiders Report. I've been overly critical of Henry Wofford but he, Bill Romanowski and Lorenzo Neal all were superb in their take-no-prisoners account of that dreadful exhibition. Romanowski didn't hide his disgust and called the Raiders "beyond embarrassing." Neal was just as emphatic and called out the players and said it was "time for major change." Wofford set the tone early by asking some uncomfortable questions that needed to be asked. It was nice to see this as opposed to some innocuous post-game nonsense that never seems to inject an ounce of reality.

*Annie Anderson of KRON wants to have dinner in bed with Peyton Manning; funny me, I was thinking she was a George Rask kind of guy.

*Liam Mayclem: My dream was to become a foodie chap.

*Narsai David: Screw you Mayclem, I got your foodie chap right here!

*Chef Ryan Scott: May a caramelized onion invade both your boxers!

*Foodie Wars.

*Rough week for Scott: he was preempted by Cal Football: word is he stuck an avocado in Oski's backside.

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If I Were An Insider

 I would talk to people in the business and try to get inside information as I do almost every day. That's how you build a relationship. Common sense.


I would try to make people confide in me that the information was good and accurate and that they would not be identified. That's how most confidential information gets out, that's how I broke the Drew Remenda story.


People that engage with me, for the most part, are trustworthy. They know I will not publish their name if they ask for anonymity. On the other hand, I always ask, always, if a source would go on the record. Of course, most do not because their could be consequences, like retribution or punishment or outright termination.


Insiders gather notes and information and get this, actually report. They are not beholden to the team, its PR staff, its sponsors, its affiliates --sure, some information is liable to rattle a few feathers but if it involves something profound or note/newsworthy then it should be published. Key word, should. Not necessarily could be published.


Insiders are supposed to be unique and creative. They gather up information and report. There's a lot of hard work and drudgery involved--it's not very sexy and it requires vigorous labor beyond the idea of appearing on Jeopardy as a contestant and wearing sun glasses in the Press Box.


*415 Media and Rich Lieberman are not responsible for comments or opinions posted by others on this web site.


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Has Andy Baggarly Ever Reported Anything of Substance About The Giants on Comcast? You Could Square Lunch and a Twenty

 I'll buy lunch and throw in a 20 dollar bill.


Yeah, I know he did well on Jeopardy and wears sunglasses in the Press Box, but other than those sundries, what does he do?

Some would say he's nothing more than a Larry Baer mouthpiece. That's kind of drastic. True also.


Cynics would argue that Andy Baggarly is doing precisely what Comcast and the Giants want him to do: write fluffy pieces-- essentially booster club material and be nice. Of course it would be refreshing if Baggs were to provide his consumers some real, honest-to-goodness news, you know, Insider news that only Insiders have access to, but apparently dear old, loyal-to-the-core Andy didn't get the memo.




We don't begrudge the Bagster one bit but are nevertheless amused by those who still think he's out to provide cogent, insightful news about arguably the most popular sports franchise in the Bay Area after the SF 49ers.


We maintain that the Insider acumen at Comcast is merely a PR-enhancement for the local teams. Nothing, not a thing even remotely deemed controversial, will make it past the Comcast business model, not here nor in any other market where the company is in bed with its clients, the sports teams
that make up 99.999 percent of Comcast's programming, which is fine if not altogether transparent.


Nobody expects Woodward and Bernstein to infiltrate the studios and offices down there on Third Street. It is, after all, the toy department. But we would also crave something more pithy than updates on Angel Pagan's back and mindlessly innocuous live stand-up shots from the ballpark. We don't expect Deep Throat but we'd appreciate a heck of a lot more than some guy with a relentless smile and a dishonest toothy grin.


C'mon, Baggs, you can do it. We have the utmost confidence in you and besides, you have a major advantage too--you're not Henry Schulman.



CONTEST RULES:

Winner needs to provide proof of far-ranging Exclusive reported by Baggarly. Winner gets 20 bucks and lunch at Tommy's Joynt.






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Exclusive: Drew Remenda OUT as San Jose Sharks TV Color Analyst

 REMENDA OUT



Drew Remenda, the popular San Jose Sharks color TV analyst will not be back with the team next year.


Remenda, I'm told, was simply not offered a contract and that the decision was not a budgetary matter, necessarily. Read into that what you will, (I will at a later time).


"This is a stunning development, " said a reliable source who asked for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.


All announcers for the Sharks are paid for by the team, which broadcasts its games on Comcast.


Remenda has been with the Sharks for 12 years. In 2006, he left the team to go back to his native Canada and work for the CBC before being lured back after a year and rejoined the Sharks broadcast team for the 2007-'08 season.


Attempts to reach both the Sharks and Remenda were unsuccessful.


*Rich Lieberman 415 Media Exclusive
UPDATE: 6: 28 PT: Remenda has now confirmed my report to the Mercury News.


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Once again CSNBA and all the other Bay Area Sports "Insiders" Get Scooped by ESPN; Bristol Brats First on 49ers' Boldin Re-Up

 Another AWOL moment for the "Insiders" and local sporting press and further proof that they continue to be asleep at the wheel.


Well, perhaps KNBR was preoccupied.


The 49ers star wide receiver, Anquan Boldin has re-signed.


ESPN had it first, courtesy Schefter.


The  local reaction guys will tell you that "we're all over it."


Sure they are, just like I'm all over her.


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Comcast SportsNet Bay Area Part of Cable Conglomerate That Runs Bay Area TV Sports: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Let us today go about the business of elaborating on the function of one Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.


This is the one of the gazillions of Comcast affiliates around the country that has amassed a fortune in the brand of building around local sports teams and their ancillary, highly-lucrative revenue streams.


In short, a mini ESPN empire with a vast Pacific Ocean-size pool of empty pockets replete with cash and ready to spend.


There's nothing onerous here to report other than the fact that unlike ESPN-- which although has a built-in financial connection with many of its clients like the NFL and NBA, at least tries to perform basic journalistic pursuits even if it involves the integrity or denigrates the brand. We need only look at the excesses of various Athlete getting in trouble, obscure or non-obscure coach behaving badly, team owners outside of the NBA seemingly bent on hiring mostly white-male, non-African-American coaches. ESPN isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but they're good at faking it. And truth be told they're so big and Disney-infected you could argue that they have a legitimate reason why truth-telling and hard-nosed investigative sports journalism is not their biggest virtue.


Comcast and its sports tentacles, on the other hand, don't pretend to want to rock the boat. Don't mess with the franchises that butter your bread and bring food home to cook and place big cars and trucks in your garage. That part of their sports template has always been in the rear-view mirror. This isn't exactly groundbreaking material but it's worth noting because that element of the operation is never so readily apparent here in the Bay Area.


CSNBA blankets the professional sports apparatus; its clients include the SF Giants, Oakland A's and San Jose Sharks. It has highlight show and packages with both the SF 49ers and Oakland Raiders. Because its corporate owner, Comcast, owns NBC, it is allowed to have multiple tie-ins and show highlight packages involving the NFL.  Conglomerate it is. And controversy is not a wanted element to their content.


With CSNBA, it's the programming, stupid! And that's just fine and dandy but you can't have it both ways. You can't profess to be utmost objective in the local sporting life, particularly when you own a sliver of the Giants as CSNBA does. You can't be serious in making the case for your highly-publicized "Insiders", who essentially act as public relations liaisons for their respective team and beat. Question: When's the last time any of CSNBA's insiders broke any story of relevance outside of some in-house, between the lines/chalkboard, trade minutiae? The answer is never. Again, nothing sinister there other than CSNBA would have you believe they look to lead the light and break new ground in their sports coverage. Bullshit.


When CSNBA debuted in April, 2009, they took the Bay Area sports scene by storm. They leased big studios in tony South-of-Market office buildings. Built a gigantic newsroom and threw a lot of dough for droves of HD's, computer banks, fiber-optic gear and of course, pricey talent. Greg Papa was their first big local hire and soon after they brought in other highly-paid anchors, reporters, writers, editors, even news directors and producers. Papa's salary alone was slightly north of the $250K range.


Beyond providing their bread and butter content--Giants/A's/Sharks/College Football/Basketball games, CSNBA didn't stop there. They built state-of-the-art studios to televise their version of SportsCenter, "Comcast SportsNet Central", a highlight-induced program with accent on the video and short on personality. That was their intent. They went further.


They developed and created a daily sports show: "Chronicle Live", now Yahoo Sports Talk Live: (Full Disclosure): I have guested on the show and make my own booking requests on behalf of my blog, 415 Media.


The problem with the show then and to this day is that its participants say little or offer nothing even remotely controversial. That's not an opinion, it's a fact. And there's ample evidence to indicate that anything slightly negative conveyed by a reporter, a radio guy, whoever, involving CSNBA's local sporting interests would be met with swift disapproval from, say, the Larry Baer company. Nothing overt, mind you, but just enough to make sure that it was in the best interest of CSNBA not to disrupt the positive PR flow, again, not to rock the boat--bad for business. I asked earlier, has any of the Insiders actually broke any significant stories--I now ask you when's the last time any Yahoo panelist said something, anything!, of substance that moved the needle? This is not meant to belittle, to humiliate, to begrudge, to be mean and petty, it is merely provided to suggest that CSNBA wants it both ways; it seeks to create something bold and invigorating yet it really is nothing more than beige visual wallpaper with a few loud talking-heads who say essentially nothing.


Proof positive was during the Damon Bruce moronic anti-women sports rant, frequent guest, Ann Killion, the sports writer from the Chronicle, curiously said nothing about the Bruce affair. (Other than a few innocuous tweets) Coincidentally, Killion, was also a frequent guest on Bruce's KNBR talk show. To its credit, CSNBA did shows on the Bruce brainfart but again, nothing of substance, nothing that gets picked up by other media affiliates appeared. Not surprising.


What CSNBA does, mainly, to be fair, it does well. Some of its analysts are fairly good and informed and offer interesting, if not enlightening, material. And to be fair, since most of these talking heads are ex-jocks, they have to be careful. For every Vida Blue there's Rich Aurilia, (yawn) and Shawn Estes, (double yawn); On football, Dennis Brown, an ex-49er is a delightful surprise. Bill Romanowski says quite a lot but some of it gets obliterated by his overly-verbal tenacity. (Figure it out).


CSNBA has no doubt, for the most part, become a welcome addition to the Bay Area Sports electronic/cable/Internet domain. It has top-tier production values; its telecasts are mostly first-rate with a great residue of professionalism and expertise procured by GM, Ted Griggs, a widely-respected broadcast head. We just wish they'd be a tad more apt in the real-world sports arena and provide at least a spoon-size spread of humility.




That's not asking too much, is it?


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Your Annual 'What The Hell is Amy G Doing On SF Giants TV' Post From The Neurotic Blogger

  Really, I thought, Amy Gutierrez, ("Amy G") is too easy to bitch and moan about because she's, well, Amy G and what more can be said about the utter cluelessness that IS Amg G and more specifically, Amy G doing Amy G on Giants Comcast telecasts but since the season is over for the Giants, I felt compelled to bitch and moan about the Amester because that's what I do here.

Keep in mind I know the Giants have to have an Amy G --seems all big sports teams need a house organ only Amy has been getting more painful to watch and therefore the need to get out my Amy G is a pain-in-the-ass post is way past due.

Don't call me a woman basher. I've been in Amy G's camp not too long ago--I get that her gig is basically a shout-out to the booster club and that she's Larry Baer's good-luck charm, really I get that.

It's just the voice. The damn nasal, sweetly voice. Kruk and Kuip's exciting, (sure,) Let's go down to Amy G in section 110 and then Amy G does Amy G. Priceless sometimes because I get the feeling Amy doesn't know how many of us cringe when her reports begin and end,...well, when they end, a momentary glee sets in until the next Amy G moment is beckoning.  OK, fine, I know the voice she has no control over and I'm hip that she's not Dana Bash in front of the White House portico giving us updates on ObamaCare  and government shutdowns, again, get it.

Yet this is supposedly a big market. #6 to be exact. There was a time that even the idea of an Amy G even smelling a microphone would have caused some of the local pine to have hemorrhoids. It might be a generational thing. I doubt the Amy G phenomena would have evolved if the Giants were still at Candlestick. I don't think the fan base back then could tolerate an Amy G. Amy G represents Giants 2.0 The old crew were more Christianne Amanpour. They were grunge-central. Amy G is more Old Navy.

Amy G, I'm told, is a swell woman. Nice lady. Cool. She's probably a delight over a tuna and rye at Perry's and she's damn well important. Hell, they gave her a ring! I just hope she knows the people in Section 110 don't necessarily represent the mosh pit inside Pete's Tavern. OK, and now I. AM. outta. here.

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