MUSINGS ...REFLECTIONS...
It was the Punchline on Battery, late on a Thursday night. Williams was a regular --a regular pop-in many times. Not just the Punchline, but the Holy City Zoo on Clement and the old Cobb's Comedy Club.
In the same time period I was a regular judge for the yearly SF Stand-Up Comedy Competition. That was when comedy was hot and many of the clubs were thriving. Williams was front and center in the city's comic zeitgeist and the owners were thrilled. It all sort of jelled together.
*Bob Sarlatte, Jim Giovanni, Will Durst, Bobby Slayton, Larry "Bubbles" Brown, Dana Carvey, Mark Pitta, just some of the comics in the city that knew Robin, knew him well. Must not leave out John and Ann Fox, producers and founders of the Comedy Competition.
MEDIA COVERAGE...
Didn't see a lot --had prior dinner commitments. Michael Zwerling, the owner of KSCO Radio, called me on the phone a little after 4 yesterday afternoon to tell me the news...Switched immediately over to CNN where Don Lemon broke the story at 4: 08...Locally, KTVU had the story first, which is appropriate given it was the TV station in "Mrs. Doubtfire." ...2 also broke the story that Williams hung himself. I don't know if that was necessary to report so early on but whatever, I just hope for KTVU's sake, they got it right...EARLY reaction was the abundance of news choppers over Williams Tiburon home. I'm not going to hit both KPIX and KGO-TV hard for chopper saturation because every station in almost every other market is guilty. It's become a sad byproduct of celebrity death--had Williams died in LA, they'd have probably had to close LAX because of helicopter activity...KPIX took a lot of heat on Twitter for reporting that "a guy in AA saw Williams in rehab only weeks earlier." Whatever, I've heard worse...PIX too interviewed their own employee about Williams. Everyone needs a storyline, including PIX...Good work, KRON, which pretty much stuck by the basic handbook: respectable live shots, interviews and honest reporting from the anchor desk...It was inevitable everyone in town immediately had to send a crew to Broadway and Steiner, the 'Doubtfire house...Dear KGO and KCBS: could we hold off a day for interviews with therapists describing the "demons" that caused Williams depression. Truth is, we ALL don't know a damn thing yet. Yeah, he was depressed and he was probably back on the bottle and pills too but let's hold off on early diagnosis.
Much more to say later...
*Follow me on Twitter
415 Media
Robin Williams
The Culture
Celebrity Death
UPDATE: 8: 15 AM PT:
From a KPIX5 staffer: "We interviewed a guy who was in AA with Robin, (Sharon Chin did the story)...it's on our Facebook page and people are outraged. We, (PIX), should have respected the AA code of honor--AA means Anonymous!!--Ugh."
UPDATE 2: 9: 52 AM PT:
Ed Cavagnaro, News Director, from KCBS just told me via e-mail that KCBS has stopped running the Williams-AA meeting story. Note: The "guy" KPIX and KCBS interviewed in the story turns out to be a PIX cameraman. Ouch.
UPDATE: 8: 15 AM PT:
From a KPIX5 staffer: "We interviewed a guy who was in AA with Robin, (Sharon Chin did the story)...it's on our Facebook page and people are outraged. We, (PIX), should have respected the AA code of honor--AA means Anonymous!!--Ugh."
UPDATE 2: 9: 52 AM PT:
Ed Cavagnaro, News Director, from KCBS just told me via e-mail that KCBS has stopped running the Williams-AA meeting story. Note: The "guy" KPIX and KCBS interviewed in the story turns out to be a PIX cameraman. Ouch.
Maybe this is what you want. I began this venture as a forum where the mostly superficiality of some of the local TV News outfits would be exposed. I wanted to provide a sounding board; a cyber bar where those of you newstalk consumers concerned with the systematic takeover of many legacy stations by Cumulus would have a place to vent and air your own feelings of disgust, anger and frustration. I remember a time when KGO Radio was thee most revered and respected radio stations in the nation; I remember the time when KNBR was a magnet for genius performers along the likes of Ed Bush, Pete Franklin, and Frank and Mike. I remember when KRON was the hallmark of the Bay Area TV News division and KTVU was king and didn't have to worry about continuity and consultants and competition was fierce and a positive force for the viewers. I remember people like Dennis Richmond, Rita Williams, Ben Williams, Dave McElhatton and Van Amburg. I long for an Evan White and Bob Jimenez and the talented and funny, all the while great performer like Mark Thompson. I miss the professional, talented and beautiful and magnificent TV journalist, Kate Kelly on KPIX. I miss Betty Ann Bruno and her legendary reports from the steps of city hall. Those were the days of hard-working people that were really good. Professionals. Today we have mostly posers. Spare me the yesterday lecture and new Internet age. They had computers in 1990. Matter of fact the race, the drive, the competition was greater. Yeah, we didn't have 800 outlets on cable, big deal, most of the cable stations today are extra HBO channels and infomercial cooking shows, don't make it out to be like a Masterpiece Theatre on every other channel. There's a handful of quality programs today mostly due to marginalization and an inherent lack of respect, for YOU, the viewer, and YOU TOO, the radio consumer and listener that relied on quality news, news-talk and sports content and you had quite a menu in one of the most cherished markets in the country.