Shouldn't all reporters be 'investigative?; NBC Bay Area digs in with Kovaleski and Susko; KGO Radio moving from 900 Front; Yeah, think Eric Rasmussen drinks too much coffee; Monday darts

Isn't the term, "Investigative reporter", a sort of oxymoron? Call me naive, but I thought all reporters were investigative. Silly me.

NBC Bay Area, (KNTV) has hired a pair of star reporters, Tony Kovaleski and Jenna Susko. Kovaleski, in particular, has a great rep and is quite respected in the biz.

"I wasn't going to leave Denver for anything but a great opportunity," The team at KNTV are "committed to building the biggest and best investigative unit in the Bay Area."


Good for Kovaleski.

Comcast, which has a controlling interest in NBC, has spent considerable money to invest in hiring reporters for what it hopes will bring strong "investigative journalistic content" to KNTV, (among others).

Bottom line: NBCBA needs all the help it can obtain. It has failed to muster any significant traction into the Bay Area TV news wars. Part of that can be attributed to NBC's weak prime-time line-up, which helps local o and o's and affiliates, (Remember "Friends" and "Seinfeld on Thursday night in the 90's?)

In any event, it'll be interesting to see both of these reporters compete against the likes of Dan Noyes, (KGO-TV) and all celebrated "I-teams." Analyze this? No, investigate that!

*First impression of Susko: easier on the eyes than Anna Werner. And sharper too.

*Those peripatetic Kaiser radio ads are becoming just as obnoxious and as irritating as Kars-for-kids and State Farm. Please, spare us the grief.

*"Why are you so 'negative about Eric Rsmussen?", asks several readers. Because he likes to showboat and his reports seem contrived and forced, which is so not KTVU. And it's not just me. Kill the Peets coffee, rickster.

*Lost in the shuffle: KGO Radio will be moving from its 900 Front Street studios to 55 Hawthorne, home of the Lew Dickey funhouse known as Knibber/Cumulus central. Timing is unknown, but figure around the new year.

*I love Rich Walcoff doing sports, but the frequent use of his own voice asking questions in actualities is a bit, well, mucho-ego. Sort of like placing two "n's" in "Ronn."

*Grumpy's in media gulch near Battery and Front: home of good, cheap beer, awesome tuna melts and broken hearts of pink-slipped souls from nearby buildings.

*Yeah, I complimented Larry Beil. It's not personal, contrary to popular opinion. It becomes personal when so many schmuckos in this town project an image that is so contrary and different than their off-camera, off-mike image, see, that's the difference.

*Sports people trying their damnest to be news people. Not. (Read: ESPN at the top).


*Yeah, that was Mark Ibanez doing post-game news on KTVU following the 49ers/NY game Sunday. Ibanez has done a few newscasts and is superb in both deprtaments.


*KOIT goes Christmas music 24/7 this Friday. I guess that's really news here.

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Mancow out in NY; The case for one anchor only a la KTVU; KGO-TV's Tyler at 6; Media Monday

--Welcome back to SF, Ronn Owens. The nail salons on Union street were worried.


--Former Bay Area radio misfit Mancow Muller, (haircut-on-the-BayBridge guy) is over and out in the Big Apple. His Sunday night talk show on WABC-AM in New York was among the casualties of cutbacks Friday at the station under new owner Cumulus. (Just shocking: Cumulus? Cuts? I'm stunned).

--I mentioned the KTVU weekend night solo anchoring of Ken Wayne. In my opinion, the very BEST newscast in the Bay Area. It struck me: the capable Wayne delivering the news without any partner. How novel. How nice and tranquil. Of course it helps that a pro like Wayne can do his thing without the need to have a partner. (KPIX' Ann Notarangelo also is a solo performer).

This won't ever happen, but it bears a mention: The idea of ONE ANCHOR doing a weekday, prime time, newscast. No co-anchor. A weather guesser and a sports anchor.

For one, it rids the show of unnecessary glue. It focuses the cast on one particular talent. Most importantly, it provides the viewer with a straight-forward show. Sure, it would be bold and provocative, given today's local TV newscast model, but it would work.

Give me Dana King for 30 minutes at 6: 30, solo. Or Ken Bastida at 11 PM, solo. You think Frank Somerville can guide the ship at 10? Sure he can. I'd like to see Julie Haener by herself at 5 and 6, (where KTVU is vulnerable anyway).

The point here is that the idea of a single anchor makes for a more fluid broadcast, under the right conditions. Two anchors clog the show and don't really make for a quality cast. It's not total nirvana, (I'm not a big Allen Martin fan at PIX, but he's apparently Dan Rosenheim's guy) but take a look at Channel 2's Wayne and you'll see the idea in its zenith and probably agree.

--I've been seeing a lot of Carolyn Tyler at 6 on KGO-TV, (paired with Dan Ashley) and I like what I see. That goes against the local industry wags who don't think Tyler "can carry the show" on a permanent basis. Why not? I hope this isn't a case of closet racism, (Tyler is black).

--From all accounts, Mike Mibach is a "really nice guy" over at KTVU; I wish we'd see a more polished Mibach on the air while doing "Weekend MO2." Mibach seems overly hyped and cafineated. And I and many other won't soon forget his infamous gush/golly-gee-whizz reporting from the streets of Oakland during the Oscar Grant protests.

--OK, so I'm repetitive dept--Eric Rasmussen. Why?

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