Robin Winston OUT at KGO Radio; Takes Full-Time KRON Traffic Morning Gig; 415 Media Exclu

WINSTON OUT AT KGO RADIO; KRON GIG AWAITS

Bay Area, your new morning traffic anchor at KRON is Robin Winston --but that's only part of the story.

The well-liked Winston, who was the full-time traffic voice in the afternoon/evening news blocks for KGO Radio was, according to my reliable broadcast sources, taken off her shift last week and escorted out of the building, in tears no less, by KGO personnel. This, in spite of Winston giving prior notice to management that she was leaving to take the KRON position.

So much for the diplomacy route.

Winston will begin her KRON traffic duties January 4th.

She had also auditioned for the KGO-TV traffic position recently held by the fired Leyla Gulen.

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Finally

 At least there's finally a reason to say these things, oh, maybe 500 times today, give or take a few hundred:

1. Live Team Coverage

2. Anchor to weather person: "Every bit helps."

3. "This won't help us in the long run but we really need the rain."

4. "Don't forget to bring your chains if you're heading up to the Sierra." (No shit)

5. "Let's go to the storm desk."

Finally, the all-time topper to commuters: "Folks, give yourself extra plenty of time..." Thanks, I was going to leave at the last minute and head down 880 to the Santa Cruz Mountains and have my tea.

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Caldecott Tunnel Fire Dominates Morning 415 Media: Where Were the TV Live Shots?; KTVU's Castaneda Saves The Day; KCBS Radio Sends Schaub To The Scene

 This (Monday) morning's fire in the Caldecott Tunnel (caused by an auto accident) brought back chilling memories of 1982's horrific blaze in the tunnel--also caused by a car accident and ensuing tanker blaze-- that killed seven motorists.

Overhead shots by KGO and KTVU choppers this morning were vivid and disturbing, early on. People could be seen leaving their car and walking outside the Oakland side of the tunnel.

My question: where were the live shots? Not one local TV station sent a reporter to the scene. (At press time) Amazing. Fortunately, KTVU's steady traffic anchor, Sal Castaneda, became the eyes and ears of the ongoing story providing viewers his phone conversations with the CHP. It would have been nice for 2 to send a reporter to the scene --after all, KTVU is but a few miles away in Jack London Square in Oakland and the story deserved a live shot. Information was scarce.

To its credit, KCBS Radio sent Jeffrey Schaub to the scene and got an eyewitness account shortly after the 8 AM news open and Kim Wonderley reported on the traffic conditions which soon became the focal point of the story as no one was hurt inside the tunnel and the fire was eventually extinguished.

Schaub went so far as to go inside the tunnel at 8: 30 and described the scene soon after. Good deed.

Given the sometimes extraordinary pace and frenzy of a Monday morning commute and news, it can be a challenge for assignment editors to get a crew to the scene of a story--but this story deserved more prominence. Later on it became the top news story of the morning as it should have been.

Better late then never.

KRON relied on its studio anchors and overhead shots (courtesy KGO)--KNTV (NBC Bay Area) and KPIX pretty much stuck with network programming and local updates.

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Tuesday Morning on SF TV News; Car Slams Into Bank; 'Breaking News' Orgasm Plus 14,000 Weather/Traffic 'Updates'; Darya To The Rescue

This is your "Breaking News" flavor of the day on SF TV.


It all looks rather spectacular, for awhile.


A car careened into a BofA branch on Mission St. The woman driver was hurt, (don't know extent of injuries nor if driver was impaired), but no other injuries to pedestrians and obviously the bank was closed.


Nevertheless we saw big gulp coverage on the locals, especially KTVU and KRON. Endless "updates", traffic situation, (little impact); sometimes I think this is what they, (news managers), crave for; it sure as hell beats real news, minus 14,000 weather reports and traffic analysis.


Meanwhile, back to things that matter:







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The Great Cumulus Cavalcade of Comedy on San Francisco Radio; Traffic/News Reports Bizarros Invade KGO and KSFO; Comedy Central On the Airwaves

 STOP and consider this:


What if you were listening to a big-market radio station, say KGO, and the announcer ended his news/traffic report with, "I'm ...KJO News." That's what took place on Saturday afternoon on the albatross station. I was in the car zigzagging my way through the melodrama known as the Nimitz, 880. It was raining, pouring really, and yet, when I heard some goofball in Dallas blurt that out, I was belly-aching. Surprised I didn't cause a sig alert. There was some great unintentional comedy on the Cumulus airwaves. So funny, so sad, so unbelievably sad for a legacy station that has reached the ultimate low. And I haven't even mentioned the chaos on KSFO and other outlets, a real cavalcade of laughter.




City names mangled. Highway connections that don't connect. Unless you can explain to me how "Freeway 13 connects to the Bay Bridge." And that was just one report. It got worse at night, or better, depending upon your sense of humor. Some guy named "Dupree", probably a part-time Dallas DJ, mispronounced at least three towns; garbled out bizarre nicknames and put forth more dead air than a Colma cemetery plot.


Worse yet, and perhaps to be more serious for the moment, the chaos, and it WAS chaos did more than just damage the normal weekend carnival act on Cumulus' 560 and 810 airwaves, it sullied legitimate shows like Mike Finney's fine consumer program. I could only imagine how Finney felt listening to this garbage off-mike. The same carnage continued on to the Pat Thurston show and the red-carpet one, himself. The guy who inquired whether radio is dead on one of his rants. OMG, the irony.


Mind you I know I'm harping on trivial matters here. Cumulus/KGO long ago settled into the abyss and gave up on establishing itself with normal broadcast content. I know their motives are strictly dollars and cents and to hell with professional air talent but this latest disaster is so bizarre, so minor-league, so bush, so relentlessly horrid, I gotta wonder can it get any worse? Yes, of course it can and will--we're talking about a company that has interns doing news updates. For all we know, they might as well have hired rejects from all the Dallas 7/11's to supplement their student jobs...that's how bad it is.


We'll, this is how bad it is...even the normally it is what it is hosts are livid. They don't, (or really, can't) rock the boat because they have no alternative. They just go on and try to do their jobs all the while "Lee Rose" in Dallas performs the Malaprop shuffle. Wait, dead air was suddenly a commodity at the messy outpost called the SF Cumulus Cluster. I can only imagine what's on today's audio menu.


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Breaking: The Latest Cumulus Bloodbath; KGO Radio Traffic Layoffs; Only Mark Nieto Spared; SF Cluster Gloom At 55 Hawthorne

 Cumulus, the company that might as well adopt consolidation as its corporate logo, has let loose again--this time at its SF headquarters, more commonly referred to as the 55 Hawthorne cluster.

Late Thursday, the cloud company had another bludgeon; a mini-downsizing if you will.

This time, KGO Radio was the latest recipient of the Dickey family consolidation.

They have a habit of doing this.

Those let go involved the entire traffic division. Google Radiate.

Those receiving their walking papers are not household names although I'm sure some of them have house payments and families to feed and will no longer be employed. They include Clark Reid, Paul Rogers,  and Sherry Brown ,  Carolyn Burns. There's others on the list but I was not able to confirm the  names through some of my sources. Only morning drive traffic anchor, Mark Nieto was spared.

I also heard they let go of some reporters--this MO might be a chance to explain how they operate. Or, as a staffer told me:

 "We're a news station in SF with NO air coverage, and we outsource traffic to a place in Dallas where they pay them Less than they do here. That's LIVE and LOCAL for you."

About reporters, Cumulus' lean and mean cuisine is nothing new in the broadcast community. Only here, the carving has been minimized by the presence of the union at KGO. The motto: We hire someone who will work for less with no experience.

*Developing ....

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