It's not that profound to cause a major concern, but the numbers don't lie and the conclusion from a number of observers is stark: was KNBR's drop in the June book, albeit slightly, a direct result of the Ralph Barbieri firing? A little bit of yes and no.
It's been three months since the Barbieri ouster. While the Razor's Q was beginning to wane, and his detractors were orgasmic that he was booted, the fact remains he was Knibber's top dog. And his supporters have apparently soured on Tom Tolbert in the important PM drive spot, (3-7 PM).
Tolbert has been paired with the insufferable Eric Byrnes, (as an experiment), and has also done the show solo, (which is far superior), although Cumulus is looking for a permanent co-host to dance with Tolbert.
Again, this is a minor blip on the Knibber screen, but given the Giants are thick in the middle of the season, the drop in the overalls, (6+) that don't mean anything to advertisers, but do count in industry talk, is something of a concern to the Hawthorne cluster. And Barbieri's 86 may have been a good reason. After 28 years at an outlet, there has to be some impact on numbers-- I'm hardly a Barbieri fan, but this a logical conclusion.
*Another ratings pointer: Can we all just conclude once and for all for all it's fist-pumping and bravado, the Game, (95.7 FM Sports), has officially flatlined and is stuck in neutral. The personnel maneuvers simply have not registered into the Bay Area sports media domain. That's not only an opinion, but a fact.
The Game's problems, of which their are plenty, are still saddled with a weak link, (the A's are playing better, but don't have the stability nor the fan base) to be the centerpiece of the station. Combine that with a weak signal and rejection of the station's other personality shows and you have the Game's status.
Maybe it's time to draw up a new strategy.
QUICK DARTS:
*Condolences to former longtime KGO producer, Mark Silverman, who's wife passed away suddenly last week.
*The loudmouth TV exec that continues to saunter into the North Beach area and act like a schmuck has a co-pilot. Your "girlie-girl" is easy on the eyes, but the barkeeps are tiring of your act and would like you to keep it down.
*Dennis Constantine: that was one lovely PR boost by your buddy, Ben Fong-Torres, in the pinkie last Sunday. I don't know who came off worse: Constantine, who has the ego the size of Texas, or BFT, who continues his coffee-table press release act every other Sunday.
*Brian Sussman act in three words: "Libs", "great", and "ObamaCare." Genius, no wonder the suits are looking around.
*Greg Papa is on vacation and thus explains his exit from the radio/cable scene--mankind can rest.
*Those insane "Kars4Kids" jingles are backed by A LOT of $$ and provides the main reason as to why you hear them every five minutes.
*So far, Cumulus hasn't officially responded to the Barbieri lawsuit, which should get to the courtroom in about ten years or so---or roughly when the A's move into their new San Jose stadium.
*Speaking of which: the most NON-STORY of 'em all: The continued reporting of a story that ISN'T a story. The A's and MLB and San Jose. Stadium this, stadium that. Giants this , Giants that....You want a story? Here's the story: The A's are STUCK in Oakland whether you, San Jose, like it or not. And yes, the Giants don't want to give up the lucrative Silicon Valley corporate base. And baseball doesn't want to get sued as it no doubt will no matter what decision it makes. Lawsuits tend to take time and therefore, we're stuck in neutral. That's your "story." You're welcome and have a good day.
*Follow me on Twitter
*TIPS/Inter-Office Memos/E-Mails: Rich.Lieberman@Gmail.com (All confidentiality assured)
Pretty sure devoted Fogheads were able to read between the lines of BFT's lazy coverage on KFOG's Morning Show debacle. The smarminess of Constantine's comments show contempt, not self-assurance.
ReplyDeleteIf Constantine was actually a good program director he wouldn't put himself on the air in afternoon drive. It can't be a budget thing since Renee Richards is also doing the shift with him. Why do they need 2 people? He's awful and WAY out of KFOG's demo.
DeleteIt is my understanding that Cumulus corporate REQUIRES all PDs to do a regular airshift. Renee is there because DC realizes how weak he would be on his own. And the way he threw Tony/Twitch under the bus in that article was something to behold.
DeleteYou're naive if you think he actually hired that guy. The fact that they let him get rid of him is the stunning part. The bus throwing gets done from the next wrung up the ladder in Cumulus-land...with very few exceptions. Dennis gets to take the heat though as part of his job requirements.
DeleteYes, Constantine is a real POS for throwing Twitch under the bus. And to imply Webster couldn't hack the job due to the hours? How many years did Webster do the morning show? And wasn't he on a morning show prior to kfog? I hope he sues Constantine. What a dickhead.
DeleteConstantine had to say something to justify the hiring and firing of Itch..er I mean Twitch. Pretty hard to believe Cumulus thought a "homophobe DJ" would do well in SF. Constantine reminds me of the PD I worked for many yrs ago who used to BS his employees, guess that's part of the job.
Delete"The Game" won't be relevant until they make the Raiders their centerpiece. Why the hell not? The A's are much better than expected but the RAIDERS have a rabid ( pun intended) fan base. 95.7 could go Raiders most of the year
ReplyDeleteThat is up to the Raiders and LIVE 105...I think the Raiders are under contract for this year again, then open...but don't quote me.
DeleteSo, if the Raiders come available, you may see that, and it seems to make sense..but again PBP does not make or break a station...one has to have good show hosts that drive good sports topics, with good insight, humor (hell it is sports, not life or death) and intelligent banter among themselves and with callers.
Wow, I'm glad I found another person who thinks Eric Byrnes is horrendous. It's not what he says, its how he says it. I actually think he has a lot of informative takes on sports, especially since he was just a recent player himself. I just can not take his Bill and Ted's excellent adventure voice.
ReplyDeleteWhen Chris Russo left Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN, everyone wondered who would be Mike Francesca's new co-host. Well it turned out that Mike could handle the show on his own very well. He's a really strong personality. Unfortunately, I don't think Tom is able to do a daily afternoon drive show on his own. He needs the stronger personality to drive the ball up the court. Sure he can finish, but he's not a great ball handler if that makes sense? Kinda like letting a color commentator do play by play.
Your post makes plenty of sense. Many share your sentiments.
DeleteJust so you know, here is another person that cannot stand Byrnes. As you point out, it is his delivery more than his content that makes him impossible to listen to. He is no better when he does his fill in gigs on the MLB network.
DeleteKarel mentioned Silverman's wife passing, it just was not clear whether it was recent or not. Your post answered that question. Condolensces to Mark. I tune in to his KSCO show on ocassion. It must be very tough.
ReplyDeleteYou should listen to Mark today on KSCO...for the whole story.
DeleteRhodora Silverman was a lovely person and a great mom. She was alive and happy on July 4th,for part of the day.
Kay Zwerling will be hosting.
I tuned in. It was a very moving show, especially when Mark told the story of how they met and also that his wife was a donor and eight people will benefit from her organs. My condolensces go out to Mark. His wife was only 52...
DeleteA's fans are very vocal on THE GAME's Facebook site with their anti-Giants comments but can you blame the station for not going wall-to-wall with the A's only coverage? We see a bump in the numbers for KNBR when baseball starts but there was nothing for The Game with A's baseball. It is a shame because I think it does sound good in stereo and I could listen to Ken Korach all day.
ReplyDeleteI think Townsend does a good job and don't mind Tierney, Eric Davis, Lund, and Urban. But with the numbers being flat and ED leaving for the NFL network, it might be time to think about a Phase 2 for The Game a year after they started. More advertising to get the word out? Who will be ED's replacement? Do they need to attract the casual fan? I hope we can get some coverage of this without the usual Tierney animosity, Rich.
East Bay suburban station KKIQ has more listeners than The Game. Having a sports station is a pure ego thing for Entercom. Ratings will never improve and they know it.
DeleteTownsend if AWFUL mabye the late night Sportsblyine show he does Wonder why he does 2 shows? 10pm -2am m-f. Sure makes for a long day.
DeleteHe and his producer were arguing or more like yelling for a good 15 minutes or so who was a better singer or more successful Lady Gaga-townsend or Pete Townsend-producer.
Radio at its worst proably filling time and i bet nobody listens to Sportsblyine
Raiders on KMGZ makes them an INSTANT player.
ReplyDeleteExcept for the Giants, 49ers and Marty Lurie (without the redneck Marine), KNBR 680 has been unlistenable for quite some time - and that includes when Ralph was still around. The program lineup is so pathetic that I wonder how they get any listeners at all.
ReplyDeletei've recently found 95.7 and i like it except for the overnight which is a disaster across the dial anyway... (they drove me to the space alien guy with the UFO's...) i like the Game hosts because they don't speak as if their target demographic is having their first onset of acne. instead, they act like they speak as adults in a knowledgeable and conversational manner. as a big Giant fan i listen to the Giant games and Marty Lurie on 680, but i just can't stand their hosts anymore... i won't go into it now. suffice it to say that if it's not Giants, then i'm with the new game in town.
ReplyDeleteThey need the Warriors and the Raiders on that stations and they also need to find an AM station that they can simulcast with to try to reach areas that the FM signal cannot reach. its a shame that a franchise that has been mostly successful in the Bay Area has always been treated as 2nd class citizens even during the good times.
ReplyDeletewhen KNBR went to 1050, i was under the impression that they were going to try to be 'KNBR East Bay' featuring the A's instead of the Giants and 49ers. i thought the Raiders would rule the roost over there, especially with J T the Brick types at the mic... remember when J T was on air hours and hours on end? kind of like Marty Lurie's Giant pre and post game shows...
DeleteByrnes is the kind of guy you think is fun and refreshing the first five minutes you listen to him and then just becomes annoying as all hell in minute six. Kind of like Steve Lyons, Rex Hudler...
ReplyDeleteSeeing how bad the Game is performing in the ratings makes me wonder...if ESPN might come in and purcahse a station since Cumulus is going with CBS Sports. I wonder if we could see ESPN come in and try to grab the Warriors and Raiders radio rights and put their fulltime programing on.
ReplyDeleteByrnes is unlistenable and Tolbert is boring blowhole, these temporary guys doing the game in the PM is much better then Tierney and Davis
ReplyDeleteByrnes is unlistenable and Tolbert is boring blowhole, these temporary guys doing the game in the PM is much better then Tierney and Davis
DeleteMinor disagreement with your position. I still think Tolbert/Byrnes it's still vastly superior to any Barbieri hosted offering.
Tolbert probably shouldn't be paired with another ex athlete....he needs a Ted Robinson, or Ray Woodson (or dare I say Bruce McGowan) as moderator.
Byrnes needs adult supervision even more but I still think he brings more to the table than that tired old hack Barbieri!
Tolbert and his show played a recording of somebody burping and replayed again sure lowered the standards of the show along with no having comedians and what not on air D.Bruce sure seems like having one a week.
DeleteTed Robinson should host a show again like he did along time ago at KCBS. But KNBR proably wants somebody with juvenile humour and such. At least with him he treats whatever he is saying with respect and thought and insights. He has knowledge on all sports and instant crediablity more so than anbody on KNBR put together.
Ray Ratto is on with Tom T today and I like it! They did a nice job of covering the Sandusky mess. Maybe they are the unlikely couple we are looking for?
ReplyDeleteUM, I DOEN'T KNOW? WHHHHHY YEW WOULD SAYYYYY....that Eric Byrnes...issss....UNLISTENABLE??? ....that said... I think we're stuck with Byrnesie. Have you ever heard - other than these pages - a bad word said about him? Oh wait! The only person to not dig his act was Milton Bradley. I'd love to hear Eric read a transcript of some pure Ralph-isms: "YEAAA...verily?? and...forsooth? Let us sally forth, feldhouse!.......that said.
ReplyDeleteKNBR's ratings would be worse if Barbieri was there. So yes, there is a Barbieri factor.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeletePlease remember to click on to Rich's new advertiser!
ReplyDeleteKNBR and 1050 both sound horrible - sonically. Ever since they installed the Ibiquity IBOC (In-band, On-channel) digital transmission system - the whole station sounds like shit in analog - which is how 99.999999999999999999% of the cume listens to the station(s). The IBOC system requires that the analog signal be "sacrificed" so that the antenna system will pass the digital footprint of the analog signal. Crap-in, crap-out. KNBR & KTCT always sound like "telephone" audio - no highs above 3.5k or 4.5k and the lows are filtered out at around 100hz. The sibilance in the current signal makes long-term listening difficult (the audio quality is too brittle and harsh)and is actually bothersome to the human ear. But this is all for the good, because everybody has an HD radio that they can listen in stereo to 680 & 1050 on, right? Cumulus = clueless in engineering as well.
ReplyDeletewhat?
Delete680 has never been iboc.
signed,
clueless in catalina
Not referring to Ralph, these guys that did the pm of the game were not bad this week
ReplyDeleteYes it has. I talked with Kerry Watkins (their CE) when he narrowed up the station's bandwidth about 3 or 4 years ago and he told me KNBR was going digital IBOC and this was part of the bargain. I told him he was making the radio station sound like a telephone for anyone w/o an IBOC radio. He got pissed off and hung up on me. What an asshole. I can remember when KNBR had one of the best and widest sounding signals on the dial. On my McKay/Dymek radio with the BW switch in the "Wide" mode - KNBR sounded like an FM station in monaural. Now the sonic quality of the station matches it's programming - GIGO - "Garbage In, Garbage Out."
DeleteRich sayth:
ReplyDelete*Those insane "Kars4Kids" jingles are backed by A LOT of $$ and provides the main reason as to why you hear them every five minutes.
What is with them? There must be a lot of money in the car donation game, but where and how.
Just musing.
I agree 100% about Byrnes. I hear him, I tune out.
Phil Brown
No longer listen to KFOG, miss my friends on the air
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you about Brian Sussman he is a one trick pony, as are other conservatives, Rush I guess is entertaining, although I can't listen to him, same with Mark Levin, don't know how these guys have national shows, tells me that conservatives are pretty boring people. However, Brian has no creativity. I do like Tom Sullivan, he is really quite thoughtful for a conservative, did a show on a HBO special about people that use to have good jobs and now can't find one. He was very sympathic, even admitted that in the past he would judge the un-employed and think they didn't try hard enough. Not so with the people featured in this special. Has also had some in-depth discussions on healthcare, and although he does not favor Obama care he admits something has to be done. Anyway still rooting for the day Sussman looses his job, he has very little compassion for others. (unless they are conservative, military and whatever else his narrow definition is of people he can identify with. Perhaps they should have kept office Vic and let Suss go.
ReplyDeleteI don't care if Sussman is conservative. I do care that he is boring. The show is worse without Morgan. I can't listen anymore.
DeleteFog heads. That sums it up, dim wits, lefty twits who love a bunch of burned out yacht rock and whiney AAA artists that all sound they need to be thrown down a flight of stairs or water boarded.
ReplyDeleteSports talk radio is for idiots. Just noise to fill time for advertisers....that's true for every radio station these days.
ReplyDeleteToday Raddy waited for a marriage proposal from Larry. He was as giddy as a girl at EVERYTHING Larry said. And when Kate Scott called Kreuger a hypocrite to laugh at anything Gary said..Radnich put her in her place,and thanked Larry for "saving me". It was so weird ..like the rest of the world was all in Gary's fantasy's. Gary loves Larry and wants the whole world to know it. He doesn't even say that about his own "real wife".
ReplyDeleteIts them,or the dullness of Lund and Urban.
No wonder I'm most successful at my job between 9-noon. Nothing to hear her, just move on.
DeleteSports talk radio is a joke, and not in just this market. The 'product' has been dumbed down to accodate the 'joe-lunch bucket' types who are supposed to be the hard core fans, but because the content and the way it is presented appeals to a niche audience, so the ratings will continue to suck.
ReplyDeleteKNBR can thank the Giants and to a much lesser degree, the 49ers that they are making any money or getting any listeners. Meanwhile, 'The Game' has a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding because very few people seem to care about the poor A's anymore, and the mediocre out of market talk show hosts that were brought in
(with the exception of Townsend and E Davis..who is now gone) haven't been worth listening to.
Radio will always have great possibilities as it's the only medium that is still free, but with clueless corporate dolts from Cumulus and Entercom calling the shots, local sports radio is never going to be very high quality.
Yes, there are a few good voices out there (Marty Lurie, Ray Woodson and Damon Bruce come to mind), but they are in the minority.
Most of the time, KNBR and the Game subject the audience (when they can get one) to listening to the insufferable blatherings of blowhards such as Fitz and Brooks, Eric Brynes, John Lund, and Brandon Tierney. A bunch of clowns who remind of me of a crop of teenagers screaming "hey look at me!"
I left out Rich that Radnich and Kate sort of butted heads today...I forget what he told her back..but she turned red. I think it was right after Radnich did his family values speech in Kate's face. I feel for her..no wonder Dibly left. It's all Raddy's strange world. When he says "lets have fun" it's like every creepy horror movie line..
ReplyDeleteMaybe Jason Barret should poach Kate. Could work.
OMG, Radnich made Kate turn red!
DeleteAhhhh,I remembered..Radnich was talking about fathers..then mentioned something in code that meant penis. Then he said to Kate "Something you would have no interest in"..THEN she turned RED.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pal he is.
PLEASE GOD Jim Kozimor on KNBR on Sat morning is Horrible
ReplyDeleteI heard his show as well and almost comitted suicide.
DeletetheGame would do well to take calls from listeners. How many canned segments can you take over and over and over without turning them off? Today, Urban and his MLB show on Sat morning -- he kept begging for calls, and then put maybe two or three calls through in 4 hours. Why should you call -- to order pizza? Either only two called, or lots of people called and were told to get lost. The rest of theGame's shows are similar. It's nonsense...
ReplyDeleteDamon Bruce and Ray Woodson are the other regulars at KNBR worth listening to. Marty Lurie on weekends, also. Everything else is horrid. Eric Byrnes is unlistenable -- he makes me pine for FP Santangeroid as a golden age. Now, THAT's bad...
ReplyDelete