Suddenly, The Mellowed Me? Not Really

 I got an e-mail from a longtime reader: "you've gone soft--what's happened to your edge?" Yeah, the snarky me has temporarily left the building which is bad for business--less hits, less fuss, more, well yes, happy snarky me, your loving media blogger who has this dilemma.

Part of the appeal of this site is that people react to bluntness--want honesty. Maybe too much honesty. It's like the ultimate driving on the freeway and stopping to view the blood from the accident and bodies. I'm generalizing but you get the gist. We complain that the only news is bad news yet we're not interested in good news --in fact, years ago, some TV channel promoted the first "We only report good news"--no murder stories, no funerals, no armed robbery surveillance video, etc. and guess what? Nobody watched. The channel went dead. So good news is really bad business apparently. The National Enquirer's picture of Elvis's dead body was its most popular cover ever. Millions bought it. A cute and cuddly cat appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. It too sold well but nowhere near the figure of Elvis's corpse.

Which brings me back to my buddy saying that I've pulled back and become too mellow. I really haven't but maybe some of you think I have. It's hard, frankly, to go poke at others when you yourself have been in a personal funk like me for the past month or so. There are those journalists out there who have an amazing ability to compartmentalize and perform their work even under the most dire of circumstances. That's why I'm a blogger, I guess.

Even those of you that have been the recipient of my scorn know (most of you at least) that my rants are based, mostly, on my opinion of your work. I seriously try not to make it personal but any criticism, any rip, verbal snipe, el-snarky supreme, is always personal. Some of you get it and know how to play the game- others simply don't get it. It's just my opinion. Nevertheless my current pretzel state instead of the spicy meatloaf has transformed me which is great for the mind but delivers lousy Google checks. So help me, what should I do?

When you're dealing with life issues everything else becomes uber-secondary. I know a lot of you guys love pictures of black Bentleys parked in handicapped zones and ripping the morning talk host who does mattress ads but I'm not in the mood. Not now at least. They'll be a day when things go back to normal but right now is not the time. Or is it? Never mind.

This may sound trite but one thing I've really discovered is that no matter how much we think something is important; some job, some ex-wife; a girlfriend/boyfriend issue, ego, weight, the 'who pays the bar tab', me taking a shot at Ronn; it's really not that important. Surprise. Sure, I can still think that Ronn sold out but I don't wish Ronn any ill health or bad vibe; never have, but going through what I've been through the past six weeks makes it seem, in retrospect, utterly trivial and in reality it is. All of it. I'm beginning to sound like Dr. Phil and that's annoying but I think you get the point.

In due time, God willing and if I'm in a better mood and not worrying about what other people think about me, I'll get back to throwing out some darts and extra cheese on the burgers. Until then, please excuse my detour from Glenn Beck into Mother Teresa.

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KSFO Running Gun Ads On Radio; What's Wrong With This Picture? Sunday 415 Media Column

 

 The other morning surfing the AM radio dial I stopped and was amazed. Not amazed in a good way, more amazed in shock, resentment and then anger.

I should know better by now, it was KSFO, one of the once-legacy radio stations in SF decapitated by Cumulus media.

I was sitting down sipping coffee when I heard an ad being played. It was a local gun store hyping its "firearms and mass quantity of artillery." The female voice-over sounded methodical and chillingly stoic. Perfect tone really considering the fact that she was touting guns and ammo.

I know this is going to open up a can of worms about gun violence, gun control, et al. That's for another lounge, this is a media blog. And please, I don't need a lecture about the second amendment.

This is about a radio station airing gun ads. Given KSFO's white-male dominated limited audience, perhaps they don't care about ethics and are squarely trying to seize upon their target demo, pun intended. Even at that, I'm quite uneasy about Cumulus, which owns KSFO, doing anything for the almighty buck, even selling ads for gun stores. It just sounded, quite frankly, crazy, tacky too.

Furthermore, it speaks volumes about how Cumulus can't read the room. Have they forgot how many school or theatre shootings has occurred in this country? Have they ever heard of Gabby Giffords--do they recall Columbine, Virginia Tech or Newtown, Conn? Wait a minute, once again, I pause, it's Cumulus after all.

Sorry, but I find the ads offensive and inappropriate. I suppose the company that has on its website the image of its morning host aiming a firearm inappropriate too, especially in light of all the seemingly monthly mass shootings that has plagued this country and sent terror through all of our people, including the poor children in Newtown. Dummy me, I thought that would be the game-changer. And I didn't even mention that nine year-old girl in Las Vegas that accidently shot her shooting instructor to death with an Uzi --at a place called "Bullets and Burgers."

So, once again, if you listen to KSFO and hear those gun ads and don't feel a little uncomfortable, I would suggest that maybe you don't have a pulse. I listened and said there's something wrong here. Or just another example of the irresponsibility called Cumulus.

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