KTVU and Post-Dennis Richmond Six Years Later; A Station in Crisis; Revolving Door of New Reporters; Management More Concerned About Tweeting American Idol Than News Product; Thursday Opener

 It'll be six years in May when Dennis Richmond retired from KTVU --May 2008--seems like ancient times. Six years in today's environment is like 20 lifetimes. Six years ago KTVU was still the legacy station with a roster of award-winning reporters, anchors, news writers and directors and some of the finest people working in TV News.

Today, after a series of debacles --the biggest of which involved the Asiana fake pilot's names read on the air, KTVU is a station in crisis. New reporters almost every day; the big ones still left being pushed my management to leave.

How bad is it when your News Director and Managing Editor of a once-storied operation are tweeting about American Idol?

Richmond wasn't perfect by any means but was respected and revered by KTVU staffers. He didn't get along with a lot of people and he often clashed, quietly, with fellow anchors. But he remained the face of the station and was credited with making and establishing KTVU as a news powerhouse. Especially at 10 O'clock.

Here's a story I told not so long ago: Richmond was ready to call it quits back in '08 and enjoy retirement and a steady game of golf. He had lingering health issues but was mostly fit and active.

I asked a prominent Channel 2 air personality if the station had asked Richmond to stay another year or so because he looked and sounded at the top of his game would he do so. The answer was yes. Emphatically yes. Only Richmond wasn't asked and in fact, encouraged to split. Let that marinate in your mindset.

I have both praised, admired and scolded KTVU since Richmond's retirement. Clearly it is not the same company. Sure, change is a constant in life and business but that should not have dramatically rearranged the furniture at 2 Jack London Square. It did.

I have been consistent. I was the FIRST to praise Channel 2 for its smooth transition post-Richmond into Frank Somerville anchoring the ship. I lauded Somerville as a quality lead anchor with solid credentials and news savvy. I was the FIRST to recognize Frank and Channel 2 for its immediate and tremendous coverage of the Asiana crash direct from the scene of the tragedy and eight hours of non-stop reporting.

I wasn't the one who wrote a press release about the coverage the Monday after.

I was not the one who read the fake names of the pilots on board that plane.

And today, I'm not the one who blasts out mind-numbing "BREAKING NEWS" silos every five minutes of NON-BREAKING NEWS. (Yeah, everybody does it here and around the nation, but 2's over-over-over is beyond embarrassing).

It would help that KTVU have a team of management that staff would respect and heed advice only the big boys who run KTVU are a bunch of low-rank amateurs. The GM has the people skills of a diseased cat. The News Director, Wonder Boy, is lampooned and satirized. At least Special Ed knew how to read the room. He knew what he was and what he wasn't. Wonder Boy thinks he Willie Mays but he's really Wally Pipp.

I didn't write the Monday Press Release. He did.

2008 was a long time ago but at least the anchors were not thanking viewers for trusting us. Reporters weren't coming and going. People weren't reading fake pilot's names on a teleprompter and tweeting out American Idol sweet nothings.

BREAKING NEWS: KTVU is the not the same KTVU.

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Monday Headlines Sunday

Monday headlines Sunday...

*KSFO actively on the market

*KPIX hires yet another manager --Sacramento influence

*Armstrong and Getty duo make outlandish salary grab; producers and staff feel their wrath.

*KTVU responds to Cox Media heat; either play or pay!

*A's/Raiders radio uncertainty at 'The Game'

*Details Monday on 415 Media

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415 Media Exclusive: Veteran Weekend Anchor Ken Wayne Signs Contract Extension to Remain at KTVU

Ken Wayne staying at KTVU

    Veteran news anchor Ken Wayne will remain at KTVU for at least the next four years. The weekend anchor and general-assignment reporter on Friday signed a new multi-year contract to stay with the Oakland Fox affiliate through 2017.

Reached by phone, Wayne confirmed to me he signed the new deal even after receiving inquires from several stations "in and out of the market." The new deal involves a considerable raise.

"I'm very happy to be here in the Bay Area where I've been working and living for a long time. I'm happy, my wife's happy too," said Wayne, who has been with KTVU since 1992. He's been the lead weekend anchor since 2002.

Retaining Wayne provides a needed source of stability for Channel 2 which has seen a steady amount of new faces at the station, particularly reporters. Wayne refused to comment on whether he considered an offer from a cable outlet, (I heard CNN was interested).

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Sorry, but KTVU is a Mess; The Real Powow at 55 Hawthorne; The New Guy at KSFO with the Fake Name

 Those were the days...


Remember the time when Dennis Richmond and Elaine Corral graced your screen? Do you miss Rita Williams grilling Gavin Newsom? Recall Lloyd LaCuesta doing a live shot from the Santa Cruz Mountains? The late Bob Shaw's lucid movie reviews. Bob McKenzie's brilliant commentaries on anything. Fred Zehnder commanding the ship. KTVU in its heyday.


Now: A zombie-like workforce. A bunch of misfits that have wreaked havoc on a once-prestigious TV News outlet. Good people still on the payroll with an uneasy acknowledgement that this place is really gone to hell. A new reporter every other day. Over-worked producers and writers. A management that sits in denial unwilling and unable to provide any adequate vital communications not just for bloggers but so-called, "legitimate news-gathering" operations who seek some semblance of inquiry.


Question: Has anyone ever even heard a whiff out of News Director, Lee Rosenthal, the boy wonder? And Tom Raponi, the allegedly good-guy GM from the sales dept. no less, become a virtual ghost in the upstairs back office? It's called basic public relations that has been lost in the shuffle or maybe the teleprompter is providing bad names again.


Channel 2 is a mess. I have no axe to grind because those who know me wish remnants of the old KTVU were in place. Thank God Sal Castaneda is still there, ditto Somerville and Rob Roth and Ken Wayne. There's others too but unfortunately they're in the minority. The place looks old. The newscasts lack spark and energy. The feuding sports guys on the weekend jealous of Mark Ibanez. The once-congenial weeknight weatherman who suddenly has an attitude and is befuddled by the slightest bit of constructive criticism.


The "10' O' Clock News" is still king but has lost considerable luster. There's more teases than a strip joint on Broadway. The jaw-dropping obscene amount of fake "Breaking News" sounders that has become an industry-wide joke in an industry that is overload on fake breaking news.


They're still good. They have some fine people. But they continue to destroy and marginalize the brand. Part of that is not their fault because of the nature of the business but a lot of their current look and feel has been fast-forwarded by a clueless management team that has brought forth a system-wide dysfunctional and frankly, lackluster news operation.


Sorry to say nothing even remotely resembles the old place. And that's too bad.


*That Cumulus-KGO/KSFO meeting that took place regarding programming the other day was NOT the "powwow" some of you thought I was referring to; a couple of people, one, whose name is Bloomquist, had their own meeting and you don't even wanna know what they were talking about, then again, it's Cumulus and nothing is a surprise when it comes to the cloud people.


**Oh, they named a new horrible morning guy with a fake name at KSFO. Brilliant move, does he get to bring his dog into the studio?


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Silence Of The Lambs at KTVU

 The GM never talks even after repeated e-mails that would love to give him a chance to talk, to speak openly and set the record straight. And I'm not the only one he doesn't answer after endless requests.

 

--The News Director has also been silent. Never talks, never bothers to at least try to make his case and by extension, the station's case. That's not very bright.

 

Even before the Asiana name disaster, the station PR effort was mum's the word unless highlighting ratings which is fine, SOP.

 

But ever since that day, it's been abysmal from a once preeminent Bay Area TV News Masterpiece Theatre.

 

KTVU should know better.

 

God knows they could use a bit of transparency and injecting a whole lot of oil into a sputtering engine. That's what professional operations do, even the rank amateurs because the current silence of the lambs policy isn't working and only further revving up those in the newsroom and beyond who talk of dire straits at 2 Jack London Square.

 

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