Lame Duck Raiders Bad Business for Entercom; 'The Game' (95.7 FM Sports); Gruden Doesn't Do Weekly Show with Damon Bruce Who Is Pretty Pissed Off; With A's Leaving, The Game Has Little Game; Wednesday Sports 415 Media Schmooze

 SPORTS RADIO is quite lucrative to the station because sports in general is huge; big business jock radio dominates the media landscape even if you're not inclined to follow sports; that said, the revenue streams that are generated make gargantuan globs of money for local and national outlets.

The Giants are healthy money makers for KNBR and Cumulus even if the team stinks; they drive the car and butter the bread; so to, the 49ers. Relationships are vital to the cog that brings in the big dough; the GM; the star players and non-star players do frequent interviews on their respective flagship station. KNBR relies on its weekly chat with Kyle Shanahan, 49ers coach; John Lynch; its GM also does the talk circuit. Teams around the league and their home stations have similar relationships. It's called business and it benefits both.

Except for the Raiders and Entercom and its stations; KCBS (all news and carrier of Raiders' football games on Sunday) and 95.7 FM (The Game)

Jon Gruden, that coach racking up the big money (at $10M a year for 10 years) doesn't do a Monday call-in show with PM drive host, Damon Bruce even though he's contractually obligated; by extension, so too the Raiders. It's to the point now that Bruce routinely rips Gruden and the Raiders about this situation --I don't know if that's good business to air your dirty laundry but I applaud Bruce for being honest because the Raiders, even in good times, are absolutely the WORST sports franchise in the world to conduct business with; Entercom and its minions are experiencing this for the first time and are both embarrassed and royally ticked off.

Beyond the obvious discomfort is the fact that the Raiders horrific act on and off the field is bad business for their broadcast partner; try to sell Raiders' football now when the team is one foot out the door in Oakland and headed to Las Vegas probably next year (playing in a college stadium when the new one will be ready, maybe, in 2020).

Damon Bruce

Gruden doesn't do any shows. The worst part is the Raiders organization doesn't care and almost flaunts its giddiness --some things will never change.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE...

"The Game:" has a lame duck Raiders and a soon-departed Oakland A's who will leave its flagship come 2019. As Susan Slusser of the Chronicle reported the A's will be on a more franchise-friendly station --maybe KFRC if they can buy the current religious station; or snatch up some AM or FM outlet that will actually talk about the team. 95.7 FM hosts rarely talk A's baseball even when the team shined like it did this year.

Yes, frankly in good times, the A's don't generate the same traction as do the Giants but given the fact that KNBR is so embedded with the Giants that's never been surprising.

To its credit, KNBR builds its entire talk structure around the team. The A's haven't been able to garner that treatment with The Game. It's unpleasant if you're an Athletics fan but it's fact.

Then again, with the Raiders about to become extinct on their Entercom client and the A's on a different station for 2019, that leaves the Warriors as the only sports team (and a golden one) left.

Good sports-talk radio is mostly host-oriented but having teams on the domain not only brings in more money and revenue streams, but prestige too. That counts both ways. Just ask KNBR and Cumulus during the Giants' run of championships in 2010, '12, and '14.

Ray Woodson Leaves 'The Game' --95.7 FM Sports Talker Departs 'This Time Its My Decision'; 415 Media Exclusive

  Ray Woodson, the sports-talk radio veteran who spent the bulk of his Bay Area career at KNBR and most recently, 95. 7 FM "The Game" decided to bail out, suddenly and swiftly --with little notice.

"This time its my decision."

Just like that. 

Those of you that have lived a little know that radio has changed and that what little creative energy is left is expensive ...and many broadcast companies are either unable, or more likely, unwilling to pay the freight.

Therefore, you then have stagnant radio and talent-impaired talent.

I asked Woodson directly why he decided to leave the radio biz and his response was both expansive and telling:

Via text:

"It was a combination of factors, Rich. Family and professional. As you know the business has changed quite a bit. To me sports talk radio is an art, not a science but that’s not how this business is “trending.” Also, after what happened this year, I decided I want to be my own boss from now on. I figured after 40 years in broadcasting I’ve earned that. I will do podcasts, for one thing. Pretty soon I’ll write a book—maybe it won’t be of interest to the general public, but for my kids and grand kids. Everyone at The Game was great, by the way. This was just a personal and family decision about how I need to focus my energy at this point in my life, plus I am going to need recovery time from an upcoming surgery. Just as a postscript — I got REALLY tired of commuting into SF. One year, when I was working in Monterey and SF, I put 55K
miles on my truck. Between driving and BART, and the overcrowded conditions — as Sinatra once said —  “that’s enough.”

Which is a crying shame. Woodson was one of the few original sports-talk radio hosts who could spin a good tale or two and he was both informative, funny, and easy to listen to.

He didn't have to resort to cheap and disingenuous sound drops and bits that is a common nuisance in today's mostly banal, innocuous, talk-show code where there exists a whole lot of noise and very little substance not to mention extremely boring sports radio that neither enlightens nor entertains.

Woodson was one of the few KNBR hosts that I looked forward to listening to and was bummed when Cumulus gave him the boot. Why?

Because he was deemed too expensive by today's radio morsels and excavated out to pasture. He soon landed at "The Game" but was mostly doing fill-in. It's a shame someone of Woodson's talent won't be a part of the Bay Area radio landscape, but as he quoted Sinatra, "that's enough."

On his terms, that's good enough for Ray Woodson, which is good enough for me.

  

Breaking: Exclusive! Barbieri Settles Wrongful Termination Suit With Cumulus For $4 Million; Former KNBR Sports Host Was At Station Nearly 3 Decades

Ralph Barbieri

EXCLUSIVE TO RICH LIEBERMAN 415 MEDIA--

BARBIERI SETTLES CUMULUS WRONGFUL TERMINATION SUIT FOR $4M!

A source close to Angelia Alioto, the lawyer representing former KNBR Sports host, Ralph Barbieri, told me directly the suit was effectively settled Wednesday afternoon in SF Superior Court.

Barbieri, according to the source, will receive $4 Million, pending normal signing of legal documents and papers pertinent to the case.

The source told me that "Barbieri and his son 'Tate will live comfortably the rest of their life."

Barbieri was fired from KNBRCumulus in April, 2012 after nearly three decades on the air with the all-sports SF Radio outlet. In 2011, months before his firing, he disclosed he was battling early-stages Parkinson's disease.

The source also indicated that Alioto was prepared to continue to pursue the case but was "blown away" by the offer from Cumulus. Ultimately, it was Barbieri who told Alioto that the amount offered was good enough for him to settle.

*Rich Lieberman 415 Media Exclusive

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Ex-KNBR PD Bob Agnew hired as new PD of LA's KLAA

Bob Agnew, who brought the sports talk format to KNBR way back in 1989, has landed a gig at LA's KLAA. The station is the flagship outlet for the LA Angels. Agnew is PD.

Agnew devised a highly successful format that was foreign turf to many Bay Area radio listeners. His plan to format sports talk during the day, at the time, seemed illogical but became a very successful venture and vaulted KNBR into the sports domain.

Not all of his business savvy worked.

Agnew was fired in 2005 from KNBR over an incident involving racial slurs about Giants manager, Felipe Alou. The slurs were broadcast by Larry Krueger, also was also let go.

Krueger was rehired in August, 2011.





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