Underline major.
Like several thousands of dollars and that ain't no pizza dough. It's a good deep dish amount of change. And to add a little mozzarella to the pie, think about this tidy ingredient:
Ralph Barbieri, currently in contract negotiations with Cumulus, is the pizza chain's chief spokesman. His in-show commercials are quite ubiquitous and have become comical in nature. (Not to mention farcical too). But the $$'s are real.
Could Barbieri's apparent close connection with Peter Cooperstein, the owner of Amici's , play any part in the ongoing KNBR/Barbieri contract talks?Again, Amici's is a big KNBR sponsor. Barbieri is intimately related to the company-- his name and picture is on the box.
This much is certain: It doesn't hurt to have the pizza bucks behind you in contract talks; whether or not that means leverage to the Razor remains to be seen.
On the other hand, I would doubt Cumulus and Bill Bungeroth, (Market MGR and the real "power" behind the KNBR/KFOG/The Bone operation) will be swayed by extra anchovies even if they have a lot of dollar signs.
But it's an interesting subplot in what promises to be quite a show at 55 Hawthorne.
Pass the peppers.
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