A once-great market with loads of talent and outlets has become stale and overly predictable. And those are the fortunate ones with a few cents left in the kitty to pay for the mediocre mavens who run the show here.
Part of this banality and feh is due to the corporate morons that own these guys, but even that is no excuse for the product which has gone to hell in a hand basket.
There are some exceptions, fortunately, but even those are muddled with 'schmutz on the floor.
I've been hard on KGO lately but, damn, can you fault me? Sure, when they have an excuse called Citadel, but KGO has been in a free fall for quite a while, many moons before "Fagreed" Suleman decided to get in the broadcasting business.
For one, while the times have changed, KGO has simply not changed with the times. In sports, at halftime, you make adjustments; KGO hasn't made an adjustment in ten years. They think that giving tickets away to Jimmy Buffet and playing rap music bumpers is reaching out to younger listeners. Good luck with that, the kids have tuned out radio and are too busy with their IPods. Yo, Mickey, you want to cultivate a younger listener base?, try hiring YOUNGER talent instead of middle-aged retreads--that'd be a good start.
Ronn Owens, John Rothmann are all still pretty solid; but what about the rest of the lineup? More Brian Copeland, more Pat Thurston would be a good start. Bill Wattenburg is a genius, I know, but if I were 33 and listening to his overt, consistent RUDENESS, I'd turn the dial.
Its not just KGO.
KNBR is so forcacta out of the loop its beyond embarrassing. Really, I don't listen anymore outside of a few moments here and there, what's the point? Oh, the Giants are playing, maybe I'll catch an inning of Jon Miller.
I recently lauded Gary Radnich for his fresher broadcasts, but he's once again in the "mail-it-in" mode and since he's "got a lot of overhead", we should give him a pass too. Radnich has been doing a lot of work on Comcast lately, so maybe the latest KRON rumor, (more financial mess) is something to reckon with.
KNBR is, well, KNBR. What else can I say.
They do have Damon Bruce and Tony Bruno and Dan Patrick on KNBR 1050. Thank God. for that.
Is KSFO still relevant anymore? Who listens to that? Call me when you know. Oh, I know about Limbaugh, Levin and Hannity--since they're all syndicated, they don't count, but they all are predictable. (Yawn)
It bears repeating: Michael Savage is the most entertaining host on local radio, (he's syndicated, but based out of SF and his home station is XTRA Sports 860, KTRB) You can hate him, call him crazy, love him, but his monologues are priceless.
KCBS is still, somehow, managing to churn out news, 24/7 and they do it very well on a consistent basis, but even KCBS has issues, with a penchant for repeating stories, but I'll give them a pass because when the news cycle is stale, you have little choice.
KQED-FM is a welcome alternative to its AM brethren, particularly the "Forum show", hosted by Michael Krasny, but unfortunately there's only one KQED and that's not enough.
I'm going to deliberately leave out the music stations on FM because they all sound alike. Yes, of course you have your KFOG's and Alice radio, but the rest seem to be all vanilla. OK, I'll give a bone to the Bone, (107.7) because there's times that "Lamont and Tonelli" make me laugh. Hallelujah! oh, and I do like KCSM and KBLX.
Radio is beginning to lose out to horror stories like IPods, the Internet, TV and alternative music listening sites like satellite and music boards like Pandora, but the fact is if the product is sound and entertaining, then people from all demographics will listen.
absolutely agree about Wattenburg...rude, crude, braggert and a blowhard. Am a consistent KGO listener but Sat nite gets a solid "click".
ReplyDeleteFrom my October post:
ReplyDelete"KGO can get better and a younger demo if:
-They find a way to bring back Shawn Nixx
-More Brian Copeland (sans his son)
-More John Bristow
-Less chat from Ed Baxter (just read the news)
As far as Ronn Owens ( I agree with RG, too full of himself and smug), his show used to be great, the best 2 years being the one immediately prior and the one immediately following his attempt at going national. Hopefully Ronn and management have tapes of those years."
Thurston is the best new talent on KGO since Karel, though we in the northbay were familiar with her similar work on KSRO.
There are so many predictable Wattenburgisms that I'm sure it is a drinking game somewhere.
I hear people say, "Radnich is the king of Bay Area sports media," and I just don't get it. I mean, he has a KRON show that nobody watches any more. He's on the radio from 9-12 AM, when everybody is at work. And he hosts some post-game shows on Comcast that everybody switches the channel from after the game is over. Most of his radio show is spent talking about things other than sports. I love sports radio, and I turn the station when he's on, not because I don't like him, but because I think he brings so little to the conversation. And he doesn't always seem well-informed. I remember when KRON had a powerhouse sports team in the 1980's with Tom Nettles, Radnich, and Pete Liebengood, and they always dedicated more time to nightly sports than the other stations. They were the best back then, but that was 25 years ago. Now, KRON's news programs have poor production values, amateurish talent, etc. I never watch that station any longer. Just my two cents.
ReplyDeleteI think the true king of Bay Area media is probably Greg Papa. Or maybe even Ted Robinson, who I always learn something from when he's on the radio, unlike Radnich.