More KRON/KGO SSA Bottom Line; The Kate Scott Skinny Devoid Of Political Correctness; Why KGO-TV Has Been Doing Shows From The Newsroom; Tuesday Nuggets

 Funny how the minor-leaguers come out from under their shell to try in vein to spin a story they know pretty much speaks for itself.

As reported here first, KRON will vacate its 1001 Van Ness building and is headed across town to 900 Front, the site of KGO-TV, (ABC7).

KRON's corporate owner, Media General/Young insists "no staffing changes are expected as a result of the move."


Yeah, and I'm Carolyn Johnson.


Execute some common sense here. Read the room. These changes on the horizon allow Media General to eventually lay off staff, particularly tech positions like engineering, production, sales, etc. While KRON will have its own newsroom and studio, their on-air content will be enhanced by the presence of KGO personnel. It's precisely that element that worries rank and file KRON workers who are most concerned about the matter. And who could blame them.


**Let's state for the record: I have zero, ZERO, nada, nothing personally against Kate Scott, the KNBR tonsil who is about to embark on some TV sports anchor work at KGO. Just because I don't care for her work doesn't make me a misogynist or some woman hater--in fact, the irony is that I'd bet Scott would be far better on TV than radio where she says absolutely nothing and is somehow held to high esteem by a bunch of rank flunkies.


Scott, if nothing else, is smart. She's been able to maneuver her cutesy, good-girl, gender-enhanced status into a parlay of jobs in spite of the fact that she's a lightweight with a segment of horny males glued to her persona with false cover given her openness about being gay. Golly gee, how revolutionary, imagine that!


If Scott were truly talented, like say a Lisa Salters, an Andrea Kramer, she'd have major cachet in this corner and beyond the 415. Instead, she's treated like a female God here simply because most of the women media members in this market are so awful, (see: Amy G).


To be more specific, Scott doesn't break any new ground. She simply follows the handbook and comes off, (on radio at least), as the reasonable one to Radnich's wise ass act. It's not ground-breaking in any way, there's no IT! factor whatsoever; tell me one thing that Scott has said that has even an iota of substance? Her many "nobody cares" is a blatant rip-off of Radnich's line and her frequent sexual innuendo riffs are a bit hypocritical given her own status. So much for the Gloria Steinem card.


You may not agree with what I said but there's a whole bunch of you that know what the hell I'm talking about and are thrilled.


**More KGO-TV: The reason KGO has been broadcasting their newscasts from the newsroom is because their studio lighting in undergoing some fine-tuning and maintenance. And that takes time to get it right, so says a KGO mole.


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How 95.7 FM The Game Screwed Up Taking on The KNBR Big Boys; Product Is Still The Missing Equation; Plus Friday Media Notes

 When Entercom's 95.7 FM-The Game debuted in April, 2011, I was intrigued. I always thought sports radio on FM was a clever device and that in this market, it could work. It works in sports-heavy Boston, why not the Bay Area. Moreover, it seemed to me KNBR had worn out its welcome and was largely living on its Giants, 49ers and Warriors affiliations --their talk-radio, for the most part, was mostly meh.




As the latest dynamic duo hits the street, a few things need to be aired, so to speak.




*The Game has never been known to be bold and take a chance. I suggested something fairly radical, but it can't be any worse then their current presentation.




*It continues to mystify me that their, PD, Jason Barrett, is still employed. Barrett's programming menu has been nothing short of a disaster, with experiment after experiment going nowhere.



Barrett's tenure has been largely defined by a knack for bringing in out-of-town unknown loud-mouths who don't know the Bay Area market--this is not exactly rocket science, but SF is not NY. That's not in any way denigrating NY nor the city but the point is what goes in the 212 and 718 doesn't naturally resonate in the 415 and 408/510. Pretty much common sense unless your Barrett and it's still mind-boggling that his boss doesn't see that. I don't know Barrett, never met him, but you can learn a lot from a guy who does contests to get hired hosts literally off the street. That's a wise business model.




It goes on. Hiring human junkets like Brandon Tierney--(boy, that worked well, didn't it?), was a foolish move from the get-go. There's been other puzzling moves too. The concept of originality, I guess, is something that's not on the sticky pad in Barrett's office. And spending globs of money on radio-TV ads making fun and belittling the competition was a ludicrous move at best. What was that all about? "You suck, we don't---you have old, stodgy listeners, we're fresh and new--listen to us, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!" KNBR was nervous enough to tweak their schedule and pass out a few memos but the bottom line is KNBR still has the dial position and the dominant teams, advantage Cumulus.




Truth be told, I welcome an alternative to the sports leader. But if you're going up against the big boys you have to have a firm, legitimate game plan, (no pun intended); you have to have original ideas and a long-term commitment and business model to implement. A Brandon Tierney, (who lives from radio suitcase to suitcase), is not a well-thought-out hire. Tierney lasted about as long as expected and never registered an ounce of traction on the local sports radar. His blustery was far more pronounced than his results.



Local, fresh, and engaging personalities make for successful radio. By and large, it's not a science but it goes a long way to reaching out to listeners begging for something different, something edgy, something, well, that's not the half-eaten omelet called "Murph and Mac". The Game's "Rise Guys" mostly do it right but the hodgepodge of manufactured shtick and reliance on a curious brand of humor isn't working. I like Dan Dibley, to a degree, but he's not a dominant personality. Of course, sad for the Game, neither are his partners.




The fundamental problem with 95.7 is a lack of original programming, a very lousy signal and extremely poor guidance. You can always help yourself as the flagship of MLB and the NFL because, like KNBR, you build your talk shows around your clients, (although Knibber does it better)--but franchises alone don't automatically lead to ratings nirvana particularly when one of your teams doesn't win a lot of its games. That's where the PD earns his living and in the case of Barrett, he's done nothing to earn any sort of respect let alone job longevity.




FRIDAY MEDIA NOTES...




*That hot microphone that Michael Savage didn't know was hot the other day on his KSFO, (and syndicated), show created quite a storm. Savage was heard ripping another local host, (who frankly deserved it), and lecturing a producer rather, uh, pointedly. It wasn't especially juicy but it was enough to spring a rumor that a head might roll.




*I'll be filling in next Tuesday on KSCO from Noon-2 PM, (following Rush Limbaugh); we'll do some media material and a few surprises. Management is also talking about a weekend show that will concentrate on radio, TV, the Net, sort of a "Reliable Sources", stay tuned and be sure to listen on Tuesday.




*Changes, I'm told by a mole, are coming to KRON faster than you can say Van Ness Ave.


*Speaking of KSFO, have you noticed the frequent amounts of dead air lately? Maybe someone should wake up the engineer dept. On the other hand, the dead air is far more superior to the actual content at times.




*I figured it out: Maybe Raponi over there at KTVU doesn't have a computer.




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Radnich Post Mortem; Latest KTVU Namegate; KCBS Little BART Muck; The 408 Reporter Chickey; Kate Scott; KPIX Christin Ayers, Smart and Looker; KQED; Savage Still the Best; Media Friday

There's a lot of you upset that I had a civil make-up with Gary Radnich. "I looked forward to your 'catfight --it's the only reason I came to this blog," offered one reader. Fair enough.

A notable KNBR figure texted and called me out. This should be my worst problem in life. C'mon, people.

Truth is this: There comes a time when enough is enough. How many rip jobs does it take to get the message? Rip, rip, rip, that's real exciting and entertaining. Well, really it isn't. I had an epiphany. I decided to myself that it was plainly evident that the daily crap on Raddy had served its purpose. Yeah, so he's not as good as he was ten years ago, but he's still pretty good. I said that many a times and I think I made that point. Why pile on? Look, as screwed-up as I am, I've had better days in my life too; what's the point of picking on others?

I've said to you that because I've worked a deal with Gary to bury the pen knife doesn't mean I'll occasionally rip him and/or the program when I see fit--that's only fair, right? Endless Gary-chirping may be fun to some of you but on a grand scale of things, it becomes sort of counterproductive and therefore, bland and unacceptable to the majority of the readers.

I didn't wake up one day and say let's kiss up to Gare--I figured out life is too short. No, I didn't get a lunch or threat to accelerate détente. It was more a case of pragmatism as opposed to favoritism. There's nothing else to it. If you want to go and dream up a conspiracy, do so at your leisure and have fun with it.

**If you think KTVU Namegate is anywhere near over and quit beating a dead horse, you are soooooo wrongo, chap and chappess. It's still THE TALK of almost every newsroom in America because there's a million side stories that have yet to be explored other than myself and a few other schmendricks.

**KCBS did a lot of reporting, (as it should), on the likelihood of a BART strike Monday. What was not good: interviewing one of your own, as Janice Wright did with the afternoon traffic reporter, Sheryl Raines. A little too smug for my taste. And please, take a break from the giddy thoughts of carpocolypse now on Monday. It was much too evident.

**That star women field reporter in the 408 who likes to strut, so to speak, might want to take a few days off, according to my evil eyes who tell me her antics are the toast of the lunchroom.

**Dear Kate Scott: I'm not a hater. Those are your words. I don't care for your constant use of "nobody cares" and "frickin'" which sounds disingenuous and is, frankly, boring radio. You're getting better and that's good. The board goes back.

**Hey, KQED, quit taking yourself so damn seriously.

**The radio beauty-contest ratings are out next week and there's going to be a bloodbath at at least two of the stations in town. Really, old news now but worth mentioning nonetheless.

**Michael Savage could do a better show at 10% of his game than most of the local schlubs do at 110%. Savage was screaming and yelling, ranting and raving, and still talking about spaghetti and meatballs, Teddy, the whole meghillah; yes, it was fuuny. Sorry, it's an acquired taste.

**Tom Raponi and Lee Rosenthal: All the President's Men, 2013.

**At KTVU, it appears that I lost a few acquaintances over you-know-what, which is fine because I'd rather get to the truth than have coffee talk. Take note, anchorman and sportsey guy.

**Hey, KTVU-Cox: There's a simple process of HOW to handle a crisis and how NOT to handle a crisis. It's a simple case of being open and transparent and making it appear to the viewers and critics alike that you're trying to get to the bottom of the problem. Frankly, your performance so far has been brutal.

**One of the fired people at 2, Roland De Wolk, has hired prominent attorney, Michael Cardoza, who's been on my radio show.

**Smart, beguiling, professional and easy on the eyes, personified: KPIX reporter, Christin Ayers.

**The plethora of commercial spots on local AM radio in this town makes it all the more reason as to why more and more people are going to satellite and listening to music. KCBS' traffic reports aside, it's getting kind of messy.

**KRON is starting to act like KRON again which is sort of sad.

**Yes, the pay for major-market field reporters is low. That's more a state of the business, but not really. If you have 10-15 years in the biz and you don't work at KTVU, you're probably pulling in anywhere from $150G and up...factoid: KTVU doesn't pay as well as the other players in town--that's been the case for many years. I know for a fact.

**New KTVU Mgt. Reputation: Silence of the Lambs.

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