Exclusive: Ex-KPIX Anchor Notarangelo Skips TV For CC County PR Gig; Anti-Union KNBR Enablers In The Morning; KRON's Pero: Sympathy For The Devil; Wednesday Notes

 WEDNESDAY NOTES...

I will tell you first that Ann Notarangelo, who had her last broadcast on KPIX Sunday will not be reading a teleprompter --she will become "Media Relations Manager" for the Contra Costa County 'Employment and Human Services in Concord. She starts May 11.

*Yeah, Imagine this: A blogger has the audacity to write negatively, relentlessly, about a News Director who continuously badgers a good majority of his workforce --then asks said director for comment. Someone call the cops.

*Sooner rather than later, a KRON notable will GO ON THE RECORD and we all can finally sort all of this out.

*Notarangelo leaving the business isn't so unusual: Priya David Clemens split KTVU to become the GG Bridge PR person. $114,000 a-year and not having to worry about ratings and egos.

*Sunday Morning anchors in the city and news people love, I do mean LOVE their gigs. The general consensus: "We like the fact that no one from management is here and we have relative calm and get to do our job."

*Union negotiations are tough enough but when KNBR's main "star" in the mid-morning 9-12 PM has been demonstrably anti-union (quietly) and one of the major players trying to louse up the efforts of the rank and file, he pisses off his few friends. His co-host hasn't been that much better.

*Speaking of union issues, lots of pissed off cameramen and photographers at KTVU as FOX has cut their wages and reduced their benefits. Across-the-board major headaches in Jack London Square.

*That's a hearty endorsement: Pero only has the ND gig because KRON and MG doesn't have anyone else who wants the job. Try Craigslist, guys.

*Dan Rosenheim: Maybe you should have taken the KTVU gig after all.

*I mentioned the other day that KPIX has no identity --no face of the station. When you have revolving anchors who are outside the market, don't have a freaking clue about the Bay Area, then you have major disconnect from your viewers. Hey Bruno, get a clue. Can't wait for that May book.

*John Rothmann, David Weintraub or Spencer Hughes: Talk 910 10-1 PM gig. We should know soon. There's an outside chance someone else is in the mix.

*The irritating "Tru-Car" ads: I've heard and seen worse. Here' a novelty approach: TURN the dial!

*KGO Radio's ace in the field: The versatile Kim McCallister --a true hard-working radio journalist reporter who tells it like it is and better yet, doesn't giggle or cackle on the air.

*Pero finally got an assist from one of the trades today, BREAKING NEWS!

*Geraldo in Baltimore for Fox News Channel: now that's a riot.

*Geraldo makes Don Lemon look like Ed Bradley.

*John Madden/KCBS: time for another bocce ball anecdote. I mean, there's only been about 42,553 stories as of Wednesday. Even Bunger is bored.

*Class and eloquence: KGO-TV weekend weather anchor, Lisa Argen. Does her reports and leaves the stage--no gimmicks needed when you possess grace like Argen.

*Ditto Carolyn Tyler.

*Finally...Aaron, take a hint from an East Coast media sage. He's been in the business for over 25 years. His wife works as a publicist for a NY stock company. They do a lot of schmoozing over lunch. They e-mail and text. They do lunch at 21-- he works the room. Even with his enemies. In other words, Pero, they know how to play the game. It's a game. Some get it, others don't.  Wait a minute, you started out in Sacramento, I should know better.

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Branding; KNBR, Your Giants Flagship Station Sends Nobody To Cover World Series While 95.7 The Game Sends Damon Bruce; Henry Wofford Thinks He's God; Sunday Notes

 SUNDAY COFFEE

*A brand is important; think news on the radio, think KCBS; think news updates, sports at "15 and 45", "traffic on the 8's"; top and bottom of the hour national news from CBS.

News-talk? In the old days, KGO, of course. Think for a moment when there was an earthquake, people would turn on KGO to hear those nasal voices describe the quake, however big or little. Case in point, the moderately strong temblor in Napa last August. Most of you went to KCBS instead because KGO is out of the newstalk business.

Branding. "KTVU News"--sure meant a lot in the old days, now just a regular, (or lately, irregular), local TV News station. KRON too, largely an albatross these days, but always news and information. Not anymore but under the circumstances, doing just as fine, and sometimes even better than the other guys.

*Officially now the latest most annoying and irritating radio/TV commercial: Erik Estrada's endless Cache Creek chortling jingle. Life after CHIPS. I hated that show. Still hate it. Bye Ponch and take your game show with you.

*Credit where credit is due: While I'm not a fan of 95.7 The Game for the most part, kudos for sending Damon Bruce to KC to cover the entire! Giants World Series Game 6 and 7. KNBR, the alleged "Sports Leader," didn't send one reporter, not even Marty Lurie, to cover the Series. Murph and Mac were late to the proceedings and Murph and Mac are not reporters. The Giant's flagship station used to "cover" sports back in the old days --now they run commercials and have ditzy traffic reporters do sports updates.

*Speaking of sports, I attended the Warriors home opener in Oakland Saturday night. Ran into ace play-by-play broadcaster, Tim Roye. Good man. Terrific on the radio. And now aided considerably by color analyst, Tom Tolbert, who arrived in the press room looking like he was attending a Grateful Dead concert.

*Henry Wofford, Comcast anchor: be advised there's a real world out there --try not to act as if you're God's gift to the world. I know it's tough, but just pretend. HA, ha, ha, ha!

*Let me be clear: Ed Baxter is a fine and capable radio guy. Just my opinion: he's not a good talk-show host. He's like beige wallpaper--nobody's offended. Or to put it another way: Who shows up to see the opening act of a Stones show? I rest my case.

*The man never sleeps: KNBR Radio remote engineer for the Giants and Warriors, Lee Jones. Sitting in the press room at Oracle Arena Saturday talking about the beauty of Kansas City. From KC to Oakland barely more than 72 hours. Jones has been doing his gig for 450 years and may be more bullet-proof than cockroaches and taxes.

*Belva Davis: eternal class.

*If it's true that the Chronicle is losing roughly a million bucks a week, that's $52 million a year. Good thing Hearst has deep pockets.

*Stan is insane, sort of in a funny way. I allow some of his material on the comment section because, yes, I find him funny. Repetitious, occasionally annoying and bizarre? Yes, Yes, Yes! And keep in mind, we're talking about the Internet, where everything goes. You want journalism? Read David Carr in the NY Times. (Who's great, by the way.)

*Christ, Stan and the NY Times in the same item, I need a xanex.

*Barbara Simpson was attacked and beaten, allegedly by her daughter, in her Orinda home last week. The former KSFO/KTVU media rep was pretty badly bruised but is expected to make a full recovery, I wish her well.

*Yeah, I slightly praised Gary Radnich the other day for his singular work on Knibber, I try to be fair. When I see or hear crap, I rip. When I see or hear good work, I will praise. See the 95.7 FM item above.

*Radnich embellishment: Yes, he works much better alone and if it were up to him, he'd be alone. While all the other screamers in this town were embarrassing themselves out at the parade, Radnich was telling everyone, (quietly), to stop cheering in the pressbox. It was, once again, a welcome respite from all the lunatics making fools of themselves on Market Street. Half the morons aren't even from San Francisco. Two Comcast clowns "anchoring" from the dais are out-of-towners. Most of the reporters were more interested in sniffing jock hood than doing their job.

Radnich is a pain in the ass at times, more so lately, but when he stands out and gives us all a good lecture on keeping things in perspective, he shines. I, for one, appreciated it. When he does the Rickles act at inappropriate times, I'll call him out; when he does the you gotta have kids to be something shit; when he kisses Kate Scott's ass, (figuratively, of course), I'll call him out. 'Nuff said.

*Of course I was joking about Da Lin and Mr. Spock but you asshole no sense-of-humor morons in this PC-laden world are quick to bite. For one, I know Da Lan and like him and his work too. We've met, he laughs a lot. I think he gets it. And another thing? I don't care what you think.

*By the way, Mr. Spock was cool. Ask my Star Trek correspondent, Zennie Abraham.

*Jason Barrett: When managers are on a 10-game losing streak, they pick line-ups out of a hat. You might want to consider that and your morning show.

*Orange ties on anchormen looks positively ridiculous and I don't give a damn if they're Giants fans. So there.

*I want to conduct a scientific study and talk to people who actually listen and call Ronn Owens. Seriously. You have my e-mail address.

*Michael Krasny--KQED. Could have been in the Belva Davis item but screwed it up somehow. Maybe, Mike, look up the word, "humility", in the dictionary.

*You don't get it: It was NOT about David Weintraub being dumped by KGO; that wasn't the item. It was about the people inside that got him fired. You'll know the full story soon.

*Courage is fighting in a remote battlefield in Afghanistan; risking your life trying to save someone trapped in car on fire or in a house ablaze. Not doing a live shot from a parade or acting giddy over getting Hunter Pence exclusively to ask him, "how does it feel?" Some of you need to get a life.

*Feldy and Fareed: see above. (Although you weren't alone).

*Amy Hollyfield/ABC7: seriously...

*Roberta Gonzales: I've praised you and think you're cool, especially considering the guy that bullied you, but your work at the parade was over the top. Cmon Robby, you're better than that.

*Joe Fonzi: Mr. 1982 only it's not 1982 anymore, Joe.

*Mark Ibanez: Tainted.

*Sal Castaneda: Not an ounce of phoniness --native San Franciscan --so he's allowed to be a little excited at the parade. Life-long Giants fan. Good guy too, and even better: consistent.

*Best parade coverage in order:

1. KGO-TV

2. KNTV

3. KRON

4. KPIX

5. KTVU

*Rich Lieberman and 415 Media are not responsible for comments made by others on this website.

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Owens and Bakos KGO Radio Power Play; Frank Somerville's $400K Salary At KTVU To Be Cut By Fox Slashers; KPIX Dysfunction; KRON Nears Moving To 900 Front; Monday Morning After

 MONDAY MORNING ROUND-UP

It's not so much that the wee-hours guy, David Weintraub, was shown the door at albatross KGO Radio, it's the way it went down.

Weintraub, who wasn't a major player in KGO's decaying talk set-up but was clearly better than average, was the victim of a professional hit with Ronn Owens and Rene Bakos the backstabbers.

According to sources close to the situation, Owens wanted Weintraub out. Weintraub used to be Owen's producer and had both personal and professional clashes with the gadget man.

This, despite the fact that Weintraub was well-liked by most KGO staffers and considered an up-and-comer in the talk department. In fact, as I reported last week, Weintraub was ready to take Karel's spot on the weekend until the departure of top suit Ron Escarsega, who despised Karel.

Owens won't admit any of this of course --he's too busy schmoozing and kissing up to KGO's current crumb, Randall Bloomquist, who is essentially running the carnival show right now until the next clown is hired.

*KGO, along with the other Cumulus-SF stations like KNBR, KFOG, KSFO, etc, is moving out of its 55 Hawthorne headquarters and across town to the 300 Broadway building--one of the most heavily-congested areas of the city where parking is a rumor and navigating the traffic is virtually impossible--even with a garage this January move will be brutal.

I'm in touch with the development company based in Emeryville on why Cumulus was booted from Hawthorne and if what I'm hearing can be confirmed, this will be a doozy to report. Stay tuned.

*Frank Somerville's $400K or so salary at KTVU is almost certain to be cut as FOX begins to slash and trash the station's big money earners. The days of high-paid anchors even in big-city markets is a thing of the past. Somerville, like other veteran news readers has little leverage come contract renewal time as other stations in the market, owned by NBC and Disney, also plan to cut salaries.

*To say there's dysfunction at KPIX over a variety of things is like saying there's fog every now and then at the Golden Gate Bridge. For one thing, the cavalcade of managers continues to befuddle the rank and file and create fiction between the GM, ND and news staffers. You'd be surprised too about the very prominent anchors at PIX who are part-timers. It surprised the hell out of me.

*KRON had a tour of its new address, (900 Front; a Nov. 16 date they move in), complete with high-def monitors, news set and new equipment. ND, Aaron Pero, directed the tour with a few station people. Nobody heard or saw any screaming and yelling from Pero but I'm betting he's just getting warmed up.

*If you were listening to the end of the Stanford-Oregon St. radio broadcast on Saturday afternoon on KNBR 1050, it was a good 10 minutes before PBP broadcaster, Scott Reiss, managed to give the score. Not only professionally irresponsible but major annoyance too considering Reiss kept referring to this "Stanford blowout"--really?, then how about a score, moron! Just once.

*If Heather Holmes is considered female anchor royalty then I'm George Clooney.

*Funny: The Rob Lowe DirecTV commercials.

*GAAAAMEONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

I can't get that crap out of my head.

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Adrouny KGO Departure--Part KNTV Wooing, Part Watkowski Fatigue; Keeshan NBC Influence; Best Solo Bay Area TV Newscast on KGO's Sister TV20 Anchored By Ashley; Dream Team of SF Anchors; Wednesday Drill And Items

 WEDNESDAY DRILL




Stephanie Adrouny was wooed heavily by NBC Bay Area, (KNTV), for the position of Assistant News Director --the same gig she had for the past 14+ years at KGO.


Some of my Insiders at 900 Front speculate that Adrouny, who was widely respected and beloved by several staffers, was tired of working under ND, Tracey Watkowski.


"Trixie", as she's known derisively inside the Channel 7 studios, is an autocratic leader and looks over everyone's shoulder. "She's a royal pain in the ass", one of the producers told me. "She also  rules by intimidation and that doesn't work here." So I asked if that's the case, why is she, (Watkowski), still working there.


"She has friends in high places at the network that still have faith in her."


Adrouny's sudden departure caught a lot of people off guard but the combination of tension inside the building combined with a chance to get away from Watkowski and earn a nice wage at KNTV was too good to turn down. Furthermore, Adrouny is a disciple of Kevin Keeshan, the former KGO ND, (before Watkowski), and who still possesses major influence at KNTV, an O and O NBC station. Keeshan has a hightop position at NBC News in NY and was instrumental in Adrouny's SJ courting. It also helped that she spent time there in 2000 working as a producer for the 5 PM News.


ITEMS*ITEMS*ITEMS


*Another thing about KGO: their solo news show on sister station, TV20 at 9 PM anchored by Dan Ashley, is the BEST singular newscast in the Bay Area. Yes, The BEST. Ashley is consistent; a very businesslike, straightforward, no-nonsense and yes, engaging and entertaining news program that zips by fast and furious, is nicely paced and unlike PIX's abysmal circus act, is far more smarter and focused. And it even has pretty decent ratings, what a bargain.


*Here's a DREAM TEAM of ANCHORS, 2014: KGO's Ashley, KRON's Pam Moore, KTVU's Ken Wayne and KPIX's Juliette Goodrich.


*At KTVU, two lameduck managers--soon to be departing for Boston: Tom Raponi and ND, Lee Rosenthal. No wonder there's a lot of people with high pressure in Jack London Square. Combine that with the fact that Mark Ibanez's being courted by KGO--Ibanez' contract is up in March and seems less set with his dream of finishing his career at Channel 2. In other words, Ibanez will listen intently to what, (possibly), KGO has to offer. We continue to hear that Larry Beil would love to go back to his native Hawaii and "be a big fish in a little pond." The money would be a lot less but he loves Hawaii--who doesn't.


KTVU Add: With Fred Inglis' retirement set for August, already the station and Ibanez himself have been bombarded with tapes from interested tonsils. One local guy, (a radio sports fill-in), wrote to Ibanez, according to my mole,--this is no big news, but THIS is: the radio guy used to mock Ibanez' work when he did part-time gigging at a local sports station. I don't think the radio guy is on the short list.


*KGO RADIO UPDATE: The changes are a-comin' in September and they will be fast and furious--in the meantime, OPPS Mgr, Kevin Metheny is scoping the station and getting ready to implement the talk/news hybrid. KSFO too, where the morning zoo father/daughter mishmash struggles forward.


*Spencer Hughes, (aka: Sven Silva), the buffoon from 9-Noon at KSFO: hope you're still renting.


*At Comcast SportsNet Bay Area: the youthful worker bees in the newsroom are FED UP with the EGO-Prickster known as Chris Olivere. Says a staffer to me who asked to be anonymous, "He acts as if he's President of the US --what an asshole." Actually, assholes have more taste than Olivere.


*Hashtag #Likewesototallysuck at 10 PM's KPIX's MTV experiment on KBCW. Maybe they should go all-world and change the name from "NighBeat" to "MY Space News." Ba-Dumb-Bump!


*Ronn Owens on Israel and Gaza policy: We agree.


*That fat slob of a food geek, Grace Ann Walden, is an anti-Semite food geek at that--the fat food yenta referred to me as a "Zionist" in an ad-hominem attack on a Facebook thread. (I won't refer directly to the context but it was pretty gruesome).  Another reason I don't do Facebook threads--stick to the casserole pictures instead.


By the way, Gracie, yes, I am a "Zionist" and proud of it--not a self-hating Jew like 99% of the Bay Area Jewish population.


*Jon Carroll of the Chronicle wrote his 798th column on cats--I think he really likes pussy.


*If KQED is looking for a fight with its rank and file union engineering department, then I think they're going to get one.


*Test-Pattern radio: 'Talk910' AM --The cryonics exhibit at the public library is more interesting. PS: When no one's listening it really doesn't matter if they don't take calls.


*KSFO new contest! Count the number of times the gravel-voiced chick says, "Thanks Brian"--Win a trip to Pleasant Hill!!


*Rich Lieberman and 415 Media are not responsible for comments made by others on this website.


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