This is hardly news, but if you've listened to KGO Radio's Ronn Owens and/or KNBR/KRON's Gary Radnich the past few years, you know by and large, the end is near.
Twilight of their career? Try sunset is beckoning.
And that's a shame because both at one time ruled the Bay Area airwaves.
Owens still commands a heavy-duty following from 9-Noon but his cachet as one of SF's most pronounced media personalities has faded away. Both on and off the air.
Radnich, who still has some element of industry juice left, but whose own brand of insincere, false shtick on the radio has grown mostly weary with listeners and his bosses alike, has been thrown to the back-tier of broadcast relevance in town. Nobody takes him serious anymore and his star power has been severly marginalized.
He can still elicit a laugh or two and conduct the occasional informative interview, but the fact that his new bosses have insisted to pair him with relatively weak sidekicks, (hello tame Larry Krueger), shows that they acknowledge his impending professional doom.
Owens, on the other hand, seems to be cruising to retirement when his personal services contract is up in January, 2013, (at a shade north of $1,000,000); whereas his dominance as king of SF news talk-show culture remains, and the prime guests touting books and all gets him top priority, his on-air aura has dimmed considerably and he seems, at times, withdrawn from the whole process.
Not helping matters is the new frugality at KGO, (new owner, Cumulus, which also owns KNBR); Owens is one of the last castoffs from the Mickey Luckoff era. While his shows have not deteriorated to the max, you can tell his own style and personality seems detached and sullen.
Granted, Owens still makes money for KGO and corporate, but when his contract is up in 2013, he'll be 67. And the odds on him retaining a seven-figure deal is unlikely. That's not in the Cumulus playbook.
So enjoy these last of the SF market once-behemouths. They are quite likely entering a phase out of the limelight and into the professional sunset. Just the facts, mam.
*Tips/E-mail/Inter-office memos: Rich.Lieberman@Gmail.com (All confidentiality assured)
*ADVERTISE ON '415 MEDIA': Rich.Lieberman@Gmail.com
The Bay Area's #1 read media blog 24/7 and read by all the professionals!
*Follow me on Twitter
