Here's the deal:
Christine Craft and Pat Thurston are, in reality, too smart for KGO. The same goes for Stacy Taylor too, who recently moved out of the state and is no longer doing anymore fill-in on the 810 AM albatross.
I've finally figured it out. The dumber you are, the more inane, the more sloppy seconds you dish out, then the boy wonder producer, the guy with the the 100-ft office and business card, will lure you over and man the mikes.
It really doesn't matter anymore, I mean, KGOne is the mother of all train wrecks, most evident on the weekend. A carnival has barkers. KGOne has bullhorns. A NY witch comedienne with the technique of a stank armpit is considered "brilliant." Her co-dependant, Karel, hangs on, barely, so he can collect health coverage, scream and rage over nothing, walk the Rupert Pupkin red carpet at the LA Pantages, and then SHILL for the masses over a free event. An "event" that he made the subject of himself. Again. And again. And again. If it weren't so sad and the mother of all things unintentionally funny, black and dark comedy, really, it would be pathetic. Then again, it's Karel. I should know better.
Speaking of Karel, upon the conclusion of Thurston's show on Saturday night, (and tonight too), she did not do the customary pre-show plug for the upcoming host, which happened to be the magic red-carpet rider, himself, Karel, and there's a reason here, I'm betting. Karel bad-mouthed Thurston on his mike, (not over the air, but audible through the link, confirmed by several readers here)--it was unprofessional at best and chicken-bleep at worst. Karel has managed to piss off a bunch of people--maybe that's why a rumor has made the rounds that he could be blown out again.
Intelligence? Don't bother looking for fill-in at the KGOne outpost.
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Karel is a know-it-all, big mouth narcissist. He reads something on Wikipedia and suddenly he thinks he is an expert on the subject. The idiot just told everyone on air that Kim Mccallister stays an extra hour to help his show UNPAID. She sounded uncomfortable when he said it. Oh boy. He is an expert on self sabotage.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about money. The less you pay the better the bottom line. These newbies are learning hence the lower ratings & improved bottom line.
ReplyDeleteYou just used "lower ratings" and "improved bottom line" in the same sentence? Really?
DeleteRich, It would be great to see the Ratings again for KGO. I'll bet their week-ends do far better than week-days.
ReplyDeletePat Thurston is brilliant...only wish she was National.
And Karel...He really does think he's God-Gift to Talk Radio!
Such over-kill...so little tact.
Patty is as brilliant as Jean Quan on a slow day. I do not care for Patty and her pseudo sugar-coated arguments. But I loathe Karel a lot more.
DeleteI am waiting for the Richie L. radio show. He will be the new Larry King.
Thurston+Karel+Craft= Crap
ReplyDeleteLooks like Big Rich finally got tired of saying the same thing over and over about Radnich and has a new target.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was odd that Pat didn't even say that Karel was "coming up next" at the end of her show Sunday.
ReplyDeleteWhat did he say about her that caused the brouhaha?
Karel said ON-AIR that McCallister stays to work with him unpaid??
ReplyDeleteNot wise, Karel. AFTRA will soon put a stop to that!
Great assessment. I listened to part of Christine's show Sunday, and she was brilliant, as usual. Had to leave the car for church. Pat is good, too, but her show is at a bad time for me. Karel is useless and horrid and so is that awful woman who is there on Sun. night-can't think of her name.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be serious. I heard Christine's show and thought she was absolutely terrible. Her topics were terrible, her connection to the Bay Area was completely missing, and it just seemed bad. As for the other comments I am pretty much on board. Right now I don't mind Ronn, Monty, Brian, and Pat but I would not hang my hat on any of them.
DeleteAnd Rich is the next "Larry King?" Who wants to hear LARRY KING?!?!? Is he even alive?
You're full of it. Name the topics that were so terrible! I think for a Sunday morning her topics were fine. I especially enjoyed how she made fun of the new Schwarzenegger ”think tank”. At night she has a more hard hitting edge. I think she was excellent. Montemanure could learn a few things from Craft.
DeleteI think I mentally tuned in during a discussion on hair removal, or maybe something about animals. Her thing about Schwarzenegger was terrible too. Something about how he could remake his image, and kept calling him stupid names. Then she did something about celebrity chefs. These were all pointless topics that had nothing to do with anything important. I shut it off twice and my wife got upset, so I guess someone cares about hair removal and dogs, and that's not good for me. She made me appreciate Ronn!
DeleteThe topic which included mention of four dogs mowed down by a multiple DUI offender had to do with whether the three strikes law should be used for harsher sentences for such perps. This man, who also had assault and other violent arrests, drove down a suburban street at 10 at night at 80 mph. He had no lights on and no brake lights. He plowed into a young couple and their four dogs. He squished the dogs, severed the leg of the young man. The young man had thrown his 300 lb body in front of his girlfriend to protect her. He was a true hero. His body was pretty much split from the belly button down. He lived for a few days. The young woman has great grief and hideous leg injuries. The perp was hiding with his mommy and was bagged by CHP! I've only ever called the Boobengrabber one thing. He is now giving USC 20 mill to create the Boobengrabber THINK TANK, hoping it will create the illusion that he is a "thinker". The facial hair topic, perfect for a Sunday daytime show, evolved out of a new book that describes both Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor lathering up daily and shaving. Does that effect your view of the two most famous sexy actress icons of the last century? We had lots of interesting calls from men and women on that one. As for specific SF topix, remember SF is not a provincial place. I've done lots of radio with Ross Mirkarimi as well as the litigators. On Aug. 16, the EC(Ethics Commission ) makes its up or down recommendation on the mayor's suspension to the BOS(Board of Supervisors) for their consideration. I'll have an update on the political back story in this matter on the radio on Aug 18. See you on the radio then!
DeleteIt's nice of you to respond and interesting that you read this blog. That being said, regardless of this unique story affecting a couple and their dogs it still doesn't interest me. Maybe it's a ratings grabber to others, but just seems like a topic for the sake of it. As for the hair topic involving famous older women, it does not interest me at all. Because some callers decided to weigh in on the amount of hair people have on their bodies doesn't make me think it's interesting. In fact I find it pretty dumb the more I write this, but I guess my wife found it interesting.
DeleteEven with all these topics you mentioned and did on the air, none of them strike me as mattering. None of them are really news-worthy. None of them would make me want to listen, but I only heard you the one time so I'll try not to judge. The "boobengrabber" isn't very funny, and that was in fact the name you used.
@4:29pm, nobody gives a shit whether you liked any of the topics Ms. Craft discussed....there are countless other listeners who enjoy her whenever she is on. Since you are such a gifted genius about topics, why don't you have your own show and mesmerize us?
DeleteI'm really glad to hear and hope that it is true that KGO is a complete mess. Here's to KGO sucking! More so............
ReplyDeleteSince this blog is all about KNBR and KGO, I'm surprised there's been no mention of Cumulus moving the 49ers off 680 and over to 810.
ReplyDeleteThere have been several comments posted about Karel making some sort of on-mic, off air, statement relative to Pat Thurston. Can someone take a minute and actually quote the statement?
ReplyDeleteI understand that the comment is posted here on the blog somewhere. But, since there is no search function available for going through the huge archive of past blog entries, it would take way too much time to try to track down the one place Karel's critical comment was apparently quoted, quite some time ago.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to read what was said.
The blog posting (in the comment section) was on July 30, Monday. It's not too far back, so if you want to back up and find it, you can. It was a comment under the blog about the lack of conversation in talk radio.
Deletehttp://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-lost-art-of-simple-conversation-on.html
DeleteThis is the link. Then scroll down through the comments. There are a lot of comments, but it was within the first 10 or so as I remember.
I brought up the link given in the previous post, and as a public service :-) I am cutting and pasting what another "anonymous" gave as a partial transcript of Karel's comments. Note this is NOT me saying this is what Karel said; it's me quoting someone else's post:
ReplyDelete'...Let's play tape from KAREL'S Saturday show (7/28) when Karel announces off-air (but still heard by his webcast and website to Brian, his "producer" -- "Did you hear Pat Thurston tonight? Terrible ... just terrible. She's not prepared. The HOST is supposed to KNOW the answers of guests ... not ask questions. We aren't live, are we? Just you, me and Dominic listening in?" "Yeah, unless your webcast is on ..."
Karel: "I'm sorry, but she's just terrible. Maureen is getting sooo much better, week after week. She really is trying and wants to make this work. I got to hang with her last night and funny? We laughed so hard we almost wet ourselves. I wish her well." ...'
Back to the current anonymous (me). If that is all Karel said, I don't think the fact that he said what he said is bad. He's giving his honest opinion, and that doesn't bother me. Letting it get on the air is pretty sloppy and unprofessional, especially given how much trouble Karel got into for his former microphone faux pas. And observations on pots and kettles could be made.
Uh, bad mouthing a colleague is very unprofessional. To top it off the guy speaks highly of the NY comedian right after attacking Thurston!? He is a self-destructive buffoon. End of story.
DeleteTwo other buffoonish, adolescent moves by Karel... whom I used to - sometimes - like... yes, even though I'm generally consevative, mature, balanced, I liked his energy and unpredictability. Then he kept going too far.
ReplyDeleteTwo items.
1) According to Dr. Bill Wattenburg, a few years back, I gather that Karel somehow slandered him... I don't know if it was on air or off, but Dr. Bill spent at least one full show belly-aching about his comments ... "Where do I go to get my reputation back?" I don't recall what was said or implied, but I also know, at the time, that I went to karel's website, and there were some nasty comments there aimed at Dr. Bill.
It was one or two disastrous nights for Dr. Bill, who I normally enjoy. I think they both came out smelling horribly. I really would have thought that his wife would have walked into his in-home studio and told him to BACK OFF! Apparently, she didn't.
That next week GM Mickey Luckoff got both of them to back down and shut their traps. The online digs at Dr. Bill were removed on Karel's site.
Given their track records, I give Dr. Bill the benefit of the doubt.
2) During his belly-aching on-air rants, Dr. Bill let out that at one station party or get together, Karel was in town and mooned Dr. Bill at this company get together! And I think the good Dr. said it was a full Monty moon, with the sphincter bared for all to see. EEEwwwwwww!!
All I could think of, was, are they this desperate for a gay talk show host? For the youth listeners and Shawn Nix replacement?
Talk about childish!!
Personally, given the stories from his youth, I'd prefer if Dr. Bill just laid out Karel with an overhand right. Then pay him a $20,000 Settlement.
What the heck's going on?!? I thought Karel was an alleged "professional". God, what a dork. Go Pat!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was so happy last week-end to hear Christine Craft on instead of having Monte. My brain was so pleased. Christine is interesting and really smart even when I don't agree with her. I wish I knew of a way to find out when she is on any station so I could tune in.
ReplyDelete