Roberta Gonzales Back at KPIX? Maybe

Roberta Gonzales

ROBERTA BACK? Not Yet, But maybe. Maybe.

Roberta Gonzales, she of KPIX fame via the weather dept., would love the idea of returning to the CBS/SF 855 outpost. Her role? Probably same old weather but maybe more too. That remains to be seen.

The big story here is that Gonzales may be back at PIX but under her conditions. What's that? She is asked to come back. Or something to that effect.

Gonzales left PIX a few years back after 21 years to start up her own production company and shoot and perform her own private gig; it's been successful and Gonzales seems quite happy. But she loves the idea of coming back, especially to work in an environment where she can do so not in constant battle with the News Director. He's gone. Which might have accelerated the plan for her return to Battery.

STAY TUNED.

Can We all say the Ken Wayne KRON Experiment is a Royal Dud? I will; KTVU's Mark Ibanez Slobbers on Gary Radnich; Roberta Gonzales Fallout All Her Own Doing Not Myself; No Big Deal Too; Greg Papa Arrogance Filters to TV and Radio; Monday Mash

Ken Wayne --no spark at KRON

KRON is undergoing severe change; it's not something that will historically change the present situation which is the case and has been the case for several years now. KRON still looks, acts, and is and will always be awful. Until someone or some decent broadcast company swoops in and saves it. I won't hold my breath.

The other thing is the personnel. It still stinks. There are a few talented people still on board but the
bulk of its personnel looks like third-rate amateur posers and even with the addition of some newcomers the product is still infinitely infected with KRON germs.

Let's be the first one to say the addition of Ken Wayne hasn't accomplished anything. Wayne is boring and vanilla. He has no personality. It could work at KTVU where his understated delivery was the essence of old-school KTVU and consistent with their pre-Fox design.

It doesn't work at KRON. It never would. You can't save a rotting corpse.

KRON needed a JOLT. A shot in the arm and some human credibility. Wayne was thought to provide some of that and he's been lukewarm oatmeal with melba toast on the side. He could walk down the Embarcadero and no one would recognize him. As a KRON staffer jokingly told me recently, "Wayne is Steve Aveson with a slightly better personality."

So, KRON has a lifetime to go and that's just plain impossible with or without Ken Wayne.

Dud.

*A FEW YEARS ago at a sports banquet, Gary Radnich made a joke: "Hey, look out in the audience: 'there's Mark Ibanez with a nice suit; hey Mark!", yelled Raddy. "Is that another trade-out?"

Gary Radnich

Ibanez didn't think the joke was funny. In fact, he was royally pissed off and angry. Ibanez has a sense of humor but was outraged that Radnich would go a little too deep and personal. He was stung to the max.

Circle back in time to present day last Friday when Radnich was on his KNBR show and saying that night would be his last on the KRON and guess who called in? Ibanez himself, who proceeded to slobber for a good ten minutes and laugh and giggle at Radnich who sounded downright giddy. It was poignant, fun, a little too much gushing and a whole lot of sweet nothing from both but more so from Ibanez who frankly sounded nauseating --especially given his feelings for Radnich who on more then one occasion, Ibanez told this blogger he thought Raddy stunk. And not just that memorable banquet night.

Maybe Mark has a bad memory.

I don't.

Mark Ibanez

*Roberta Gonzales posted a sort of interesting picture on Twitter and it was sent to me and so I posted it here.

Several people ripped me for being a juvenile and offering poor taste because I used it.

Wait a minute!

Roberta is the one who posted it online so obviously she had no issues with it so why all the big fuss directed at me?

Because most of you have a sense of humor and don't automatically assume the picture was nefarious and laced with sexual overtones.

In my headline, I said "Roberta was being creative." And she was and that was it.

Those of you that want to rip me maybe you should contact Roberta instead.

Roberta Gonzales

*Dave Feldman was absent over the weekend on his NBC Sports Bay Area Giants' gig; gees, I wonder why and he was not on vacation.

*Greg Papa has built up a GIANT wall at both his radio station and at the cable outlet over his massive ego play and arrogance that has become quite problematic.

Greg Papa

Papa thinks he's God and while his moxie has been able to provide him a 49ers' gig (which he needs to finance the impending divorce from hell to a former Raiderette) its not very comfortable to be around Papa now if you're in his footsteps.

Papa is an accomplished professional and very good at his broadcast duties but his boorishness can be an issue and when he's en fuego he can be a real big jerk.

Arrogance is one thing. Self-absorbed assholeness is another.

Papa's self-importance and personal diatribes have future negative consequences and it'll be interesting to watch all this down the road.

Gonzales Begins Weekday Morning Weather on KPIX Wednesday; Hackney on Weekend

 Roberta Gonzales will begin her morning weather anchoring duties this Wednesday on KPIX, in a move first reported by 415 Media

 

Station officials are meeting this week to go over various details.

 

Brian Hackney will replace Gonzales on the weekends and will also co-anchor news with Ann Notarangelo.

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Exclusive: KPIX5 Weather Personality Roberta Gonzales Moving to Weekday Mornings; Will Work With Karnow; Friday Starter

 Roberta Gonzales will be moving from the weekend weather duties, (and KPIX pretentious "mobile weather lab") to the weekday mornings, according to a reliable broadcast source.

The move, which is supposed to take place "in about a month" will see the enormously popular Gonzales work  with current weatherman, Lawrence Karnow. If that sounds awkward it should be, but reading between the lines, looks as if PIX wants to hit weather very hard and therefore, getting Gonzales back to give the mornings a jolt will accomplish that on a number of fronts.

As to how Karnow will react to all this is anyone's guess but my source indicated Gonzales feels a bit uneasy moving into his territory. In addition, the new move is not the only one on the horizon. Look for some more changes coming.

 The decision on Roberta back to a more prominent time frame was probably high-up, either NY and/or from GM, Bruno Cohen. Keep in mind it was not too long ago that Gonzales was aced out of the M-F front by the vanilla wafer guy, Paul Deanu. (And boy has that move turned out swell--I know, it's all about the money.)

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Trouble brewing at KQED; Roberta Gonzales/PIX Dynamic; The Knibber Morning Frat Boys; Radu and Damon Bruce; KCBS; SF Posers; Media Notes Thursday

Trouble Brewing at KQED ...Media Notes Thursday

KQED, SF's acclaimed and highly profitable PBS outlet, has some egg on their face and some veteran workforce rank and file are none-too-pleased.


Seems the station posted six positions for work behind the scenes in master control and all the hires were white--no minorities were chosen despite the fact that at least two candidates, one of whom has been a 20-year veteran, were not picked. The 20-year vet was Hispanic.

 The shop steward at KQED-- upon seeing the three hires wondered why not one was of color. No plausible reason was given and a great case of hush-hush has ensued. I actually called KQED to inquire and couldn't get a call back to comment.

 

Another level to the brewing storm is that a few people who freelance there, (at KQED), are full timers at KTVU which is in direct violation of Channel 2's competitor clause. Not sure if that's what started it, but another twist to ponder.

 

And here I thought our lovely local PBS outlet was the personification of "diversified."

 

*It bears repeating: KPIX has made a monumental blunder in its dissing of popular weather woman, Roberta Gonzales. New weatherman, the bland and insatiably wonderbread torso named Paul Deanno --he may be a nice guy but his mayonnaise style has staffers perplexed and Gonzales' fans in a constant stupor. It goes to show the buttheads in upper management at 855 Battery still haven't got a clue. Except they do posses the craft of hiring more mangers with less and less reporters.

 

*The frat boys in the morning over at KNBR made an impromptu visit in the Giants clubhouse and were startled to learn, firsthand, that one of the team's star players told them directly that he's never heard of them and that he doesn't listen to sports-talk radio. Dude!

 

*A big powwow of a meeting took place over at KGO Radio Wednesday. My mole says a few people are worried because, in addition to the fact that nobody knows what the hell is going on and that the station is rudderless, everything else is fine. Except that Lew Dickey isn't happy and that is not good.

 

*"Celebrity" chef, Ryan Scott: maybe a couple cups of coffee--too much Red Bull. Maybe there's something in the water at Hawthorne St.

 

*Eric Byrnes is a colossal joke at Knibber, so much so that even the interns are laughing. One intern at least has the distinct pleasure of working with the frat boys which is cause enough to inflict pain and suffering. It could be worse: they could be locked in a room for an hour and forced to listen to "Paulie", the guy with the fake Jersey accent compose and sing his lovely song parodies.

 

*The "Who cares" dept: Betting fool, Larry Kruegar and traffic yenta, Kate Scott hate one another. In the meantime, the main circus performer continues his insecurity act with mail-it-ins every day. Maybe the used Bentley needs a tune-up.

 

*One person who absolutely can't stand the Radu: 1050 AM's Damon Bruce. Then again Bruce is a team player who while he detests the bloated one, also understands that it's best not to confront him. Speaking of which, I lauded Bruce's new gig at CBS Sports Radio only to be informed that the money isn't great and that the CBS folks simply needed a West Coast guy really fast.

 

*It bears mentioning at the good old KTVU Sports dept. that one of the assembled three anchors has been schmoozing just a tad too much and at least one of the three is none too pleased. Especially when the gossip has nothing to do with sports.

 

*Lovely market we have here: A group of relatively young to middle-aged posers just hoping they make it through the pecking order and not be subjected to a bunch of narcissistic assholes in the back offices. It could also explain why all of them have been turned into the 2013 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

 

*Worse than waterboarding: A. The weekend line-up at KGO Radio. B. Chef Ryan Scott. C. Eric Byrnes. D. Ann Killion. E. "The Saloon with Peacon." F. "Live from the Conklin Brothers studios in  the 'Sleeptrain mattress chair with the Gadget man at the microphone...

*How bad is "Paulie" and his sound tracks? An ex-Knibber worker told me: "I'd rather stare at a Byrnes bowel movement."

 

*The beer boys at PIX should know that the beers flow better when the ratings are better. Now? Not so good. (And try to tip a little better at the Old Ship--they tend to notice.)

 

*Dear Stan Bunger: I like you on the air but really, you're not God. Try to inject a bit of levity. And ditto Steve Bitker who acts as if he's entered into the Bryant Gumbel school of purity. Jesus Christ, you're on radio!

 

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Pew Study: Local TV News lacks Girth; KPIX5 and Gonzales Blunder; More KCBS Repetition; Ronnnn's Cruise; Monday Media

This much is clear: while local TV news here and beyond have increased revenue, (for the most part), audience traction has declined. And stagnation has become a significant element into the dynamics. How so?

Because local TV news looks the same. No one has dare tried to do something different. Notice how they all look like everyone else? God forbid, screw a split-screen close-up interview at the top of the newscast--we must have that multiple story count volume continue.

It's the same formulaic news product day after day, night after night. Nobody has the foresight nor the push to make the product unique. And those few souls that try fail miserably. Consequently, the content is largely vanilla and less people watch the result and continue to migrate to the Internet to get their news. It's just that simple.

*I don't know, absolutely, first hand who and what were responsible for demoting Roberta Gonzales from the weeknight to the weekend, but I do know it's been a colossal blunder. Gonzales has a personality, is a large TV presence, commands real "star power" for KPIX. Her wonder bread replacement, Paul Deanno, might be a nice guy, (by all accounts), but is severely lacking in the charm dept. Not his fault, but PIX, whoever was behind this bonehead move needs to reevaluate it. Yeah, I know money was involved--it always is. Tell that to the viewers.

*Don't tell me about "formats" and such and such....KCBS' repetitious central taking place is plain old lousy programming. Lazy too. Monday morning, between the traffic, weather, commercials, etc saw multiple repeats of bike at Bart stories and Mike Sugerman's 10x-repeated "report" on the parking-meter quagmire near AT&T Park. It was insufferable, it was ridiculous, and it was a bore. C'mon people.

*Expect soon, because it's that time of the year and the weather gods have made it possible: an endless series of stories involving the "drought." We've been down this road many times quite simply for the fact that they, (Bay Area news people), have very little else to talk about and can't think creatively.

*Ronnnnn's cruise promos on KGO fail to disclose that he's cruising, (in June), comped, courtesy of the sponsor. Hopefully the toilets will work and power doesn't fail.

*Speaking of the gadget man, whatever happened, Ronnnnnnn, to the "Up to 30-bit?" Did SweetJack cut back?

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Gonzales in NY to do Weather for CBS This Morning Saturday

 

Roberta Gonzales is in NY the next two weekends to do weather for CBS This Morning Saturday show; too bad KPIX5 doesn't promote one of its biggest personalities doing a network gig.Oh well, I did. Gonzales indeed has star power and this national gig is indicative of that.


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