Style Over Substance

The edict came from the top.

More heels, more skirts, fewer wrinkles. It's worked at Fox, with former San Francisco D.A. Kimberley Guilfoyle successfully sitting in the "leg" chair at Fox and Friends. Did it work in the Bay Area? 

Sort of.

KRON is the big winner. Her boyfriend manager has convinced Darya Folsom to limit her weight and paycheck for seven hours of billable air time.

KNTV (NBC Bay Area) is the big loser. Hired sexpot Christina Loren only to dump her for a lightweight. The morning numbers have never recovered. Newly minted ND Stephanie Androuny is already on the hot seat.

KPIX's Roberta Gonzales ran marathons to keep her stilettos in play for two decades. It worked until she blurted out, " I was on a Delta boat going 125 miles an hour" last summer and tossed a few weeks later. (Figuratively speaking) 

KTVU is a work in progress. Rosemary Orozco can dazzle but had trouble ad libbing during the North Bay fires. She and traffic anchor Sal Castaneda also share crowns as newsroom divas.

Just The Facts Please; NBC Bay Area 'Investigative Unit' Blustery; Consumer Reporter Fluff Chmura vs Powerhouse Finney '7 on Your Side' at KGO; Saturday Summary

We've carped repeatedly about the joke

called the KNTV (NBC Bay Area) "Investigative Unit" ; its over-costly excesses and fake bravado that basically amounts to a whole lot of blustery and nothing else. 

So too on the Consumer Editor Front

Chris Chmura versus Michael Finney, from KGO: no contest.

Five years ago it sounded like a good idea. Double the staff. Double the budget. Produce some slick promos and kick Finney's "Seven on You Side" backside. 

Didn't turn out that way.

The heavily promoted We Investigate concept at KNTV is a monumental flop.

Castoff KGO/Disney managers like current KNTV ND Stephanie Androuny were hired by NBC/Comcast to shepherd this loser. So what happened?

Freeze your on-camera gotcha journalism is old school and doesn't resonate with audiences, especially millennials who don't trust the media.

NBC wasted valuable resources on “promos” instead of news gathering infrastructure sorely needed during the North Bay Fires. It's primarily why KGO and KTVU had ratings victories.

Live Trucks:

KRON 30

KGO 27

KTVU 24

KPIX 20

KNTV 18

Numbers don't lie.

The Saturday Summary.

Luck Be A Lady; TGIF 415 Media Video Finale

Thanks to all of you who support 415 Media.

Have a great weekend.

Ask Rich Lieberman

YOUR TV/RADIO/NEWSPAPER Questions --answered here. Please include name and town. Questions subject to approval by moderator. Not all questions can be answered due to time.

415 Media Exclu: ABC Stations Pursue KGO-TV Veteran Anchor Dan Ashley

Dan Ashley

DAN ASHLEY...KGO's veteran and senior lead anchor at 900 Front has drawn "heavy interest" and offers from ABC (and non-ABC) stations in New York, Los Angeles and other top markets, according to a source familiar with the local broadcast scene.

The source spoke directly to 415 Media, exclusively.

Ashley, however, according to the same source, seems to be happy at KGO and has certainly established himself as the dominant presence on the air in Bay Area TV News.

If there's anyone on the roster that KGO absolutely, positively, MUST protect, it is Dan Ashley. He defines the essence of what great anchors possess: always good on the desk; better than average in the field and a trusted journalist.

Ashley is all of the above.

NBC Bay Area's 'Investigative Unit' Looks Sexy but lacks Substance; KGO's Noyes' 'ITeam' More Results

I'M SUPPOSED TO BE INTERESTED.

I have been visually stunned and awed by a group of very important, very select, very dedicated and uber-talented, hard-nosed, take-no-prisoner, reporters who are way above the rest of the mere morsels.

They dig deep. They rock the boat. They siege, they attack, they prey upon the powerful and almighty --at least in theory but kick me, I have yet to see thus far and its been a long time.

NBC Bay Area (KNTV) has a team called The "Investigative Unit" or "We Investigate", something like that, I'm not a hundred percent certain but anyway they are supposed to be really good investigate reporters and expose quite a bit but if you know anything big, someone really evil they've exposed, call me because I've yet to see anything of note and please don't inundate my mail with small stuff.

This whole "We Investigate" is not only a San Jose/NBC phenomenon --its a franchise with almost all the NBC O and O's and its chock full of GLOBS of money, somewhere in the high seven figures its budget is and that's for each station. KNTV in San Jose has a "unit" (supposed to sound impressive) and you, the viewer, are supposed to be blown away by its investigative prowess.

To give you a little perspective, over at KGO, relentless, vigorous, Dan Noyes has one producer; less than a quarter of NBC's "WeInvestigate" budget and breaks far more stories. "ITeam" isn't anywhere as slick or sexy as We Investigate but it's far more successful. And relevant too.

Call me old-fashioned but I'm more of a substance over style guy.

Cecilia Vega: From KGO Reporter to ABC Senior White House Correspondent

FROM here ...to

here.

VITALS:

Cecilia Vega:
ABC News Senior White House Correspondent

Former ABC News Weekend Anchor

Former ABC News LA Correspondent/Bureau Chief

Former KGO-TV reporter