Supposedly, Comcast SportsNetBay Area's Dave Benz is a little annoyed that he's been 86ed from anchoring the 49ers pre and post-game shows.
Behind the rancor, according to an insider: Dave Feldman, the Bay Area native that was recently hired as a replacement for the departed Damon Andrews, happens to be a good buddy of Jim Harbaugh, (they've been friends since high school), and that Harbaugh nudged Comcast brass to get Feldman the gig.
Not so, according to Comcast President Ted Griggs They arefriends from Palo Alto HS, but absolutely never heard from Harbaugh about Feldman or anything else. I think Harbaugh focuses on coaching 110% of the time and would never waste a moment thinking about the media. We hired Dave because he was #1 Sportscaster in DC, he's really good, and really wanted to come home.
I believe Griggs. Moreover, while Benz is capable and more than adequate as an anchor, his style is not exactly move-the-needle material, (as Griggs likes to see), as to nix the more accomplished Feldman, who's resume has a Bay Area address. And yes, it doesn't hurt that the Niners' coach likes him and the Niners' broadcast hierarchy is happy with the hire. End of story.
*NBC Bay Area is cranking out all stops as host market for its network's Olympics coverage. KNTV hopes that the Olympics will be a springboard for its own news blocks. Raj Mathai will provide updates from London.
*KNBR's Damon Bruce, the best sports-talk talent in this town, is going syndicated. He'll start out with a few small stations in the state and hope to build an empire, a la, say, Jim Rome, in the near future. He'll go into specifics during Friday's show, (Noon- 3 PM 1050 AM)
*Quirky, smart, creative and interesting SF web blog: SFist, check it out and say hi to Brock Keeling, its most creative blogger.
*A star reporter at an unlikely station is being wooed by some outside forces, (read: cable), and that unlikely station that takes this person's work for granted better pony up or else it faces losing one of its more prized contributors.
*I've been fairly critical of 95.7 FM' because of its foot-stomping bravado in spite of poor ratings, but give credit when credit is due. The content has been lively of late, (please, however, do get rid of the contest clown on Sunday); it helps too that the A's are a story and Chris Townsend has tons of energy.
*Those of you who have noted that a few of the Knibbers have taken vacations, relax and rejoice. The world ain't gonna end and, for a change, we're all cleansed. Their vacation is yours.
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