Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Hosley Firing only latest part of KGO Radio Abyss; Does it really matter anymore?; Analysis

Paul Hosley is the latest scapegoat that is the Titanic called KGO Radio. Oh sure, Hosley is the dimbulb that has served up the likes of Tim Montemayor, Ryan Scott, and Maureen Langon-- real genius mind programming a station as if it were listened to by a stream of 30-something techies outside a Palo Alto PF Chengs. Real brilliant guy.

And don't forget it was Hosley that brought forth the wonderment known as Jared Hart, the young, cheap, loyal kiddo that ironically is set to become his interim replacement. That'll go over well inside the newsroom and programming dept. where a few of the last remnants of KGO's waning personnel talk shop, try the best to remain calm and collected and perform their duties under the most dire of circumstances. Makes you want to dream about a third repeat of the "Finch Files."

Jared is now the conductor of the lost ship, the ongoing abyss. He's got a firm title now and so long as he obeys whatever management missive Atlanta sends here, (how many has it been--I lost count), he'll stay on because, well, he gets a check and can tell Ronn Owens what time the next gadget hour is and whether "Copie" can handle a week's chores while the mattress man goes on a twilight cruise, (still gettin' those tradeouts, eh, Ronnie?).

Don't get me wrong now--Jared is the most despised guy in the building, Ronn too, but we've been down this road before. KGO lost its soul a long, long time ago. It is so off the radar it makes KSFO look like 1010 WINS. The human parts are totally interchangeable and the Hosley offing is but another part of the octopuses garden: a tentacle here, a tentacle there, where's the latest tentacle? Who really cares? And that's the problem. When you lose your core, your soul, the people that defined the station and made it an indelible part of their lives, the listener's lives!, a long, long time ago, these types of transactions don't mean anything anymore--they'll be more, many more. Only the meek and those still standing and desperate enough to want a paycheck will survive.

Owens is only hanging around so he can hang around long enough until he gets a radio HOF trophy and meanders into the sunset. The news division is now firmly entrenched into the albatross dept and god only knows what morale is like: maybe without the ineptitude of comrade Hosley a brief respite until Jared has a wet dream one night and thinks he's suddenly Jack Swanson.

So, another day, another diss at the once-mighty 810 AM. After a few days nobody will notice and things will carry on. Until the next violin player sinks and your Titanic is barely floating. It's close to disappearing. The next PD? Maybe they should try out Karel. Nothing to lose. Does it even matter anymore? Stay classy, Cumulus.

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17 comments:

  1. I'm starting to wonder why Cumulus Corporate has so many inexperienced BALD "program directors" in SF.
    Hosely=Bald (hack)
    Hammer=Bald (brown nose)
    Hart=Bald (overnight board op at best)
    Madden=Bald (clueless joke)
    Hearing that everyone from on-air to sales laugh behind their backs because of their lack of power and small paychecks. The only person qualified to be called a program director at 55 Hawthorne is Dennis Constatine.

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    1. This is absolutely foolish.

      Bafflingly foolish.

      Paul and Jared are great. Don't comment when you don't know.

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    2. Wow. Thanks for chiming in Jared. Shouldn't you be clipping newspaper articles for Ronn's show tomorrow?

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  2. It's never great to work at a place where you don't know what's coming next but i'm absolutely certain your assessment is nothing more than guesswork and assumptions.

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  3. I don't understand airing Maureen when there is so much talent out there that the listeners love and respect. Christine Craft, for one....

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    1. Because Christine Craft and the rest of the hosts you are probably alluding to received their AARP mailers over a decade ago. That's not really the future of this radio station. It also doesn't seem like KGO is that concerned with the weekend air staff because if they were there would be even more changes. All of these hosts people refer to who were so great can't make a dent any place else. Why is that? Maybe because they're not that good? Sure, maybe they're better than some of the hosts on there now but lets not pretend Craft, Gil Gross, Tillem, or some of the others are all that interesting. None of these people received any real offers in major cities, and the rest of them can't seem to get an air shift in markets in and around the bay. I think that speaks for itself.

      As for Maureen, there's the consistent refrain that she's the worst radio host around. She's far from it. Her first couple of shows were pretty bad but anyone who listens to her lately cannot say she's not somewhat entertaining. It's not old-style KGO issue talk, but it's also a weekend night program that discusses topics beyond politics. I think people are way off making her the scapegoat, and even more to the point, people are ridiculous for suggesting KGO shouldn't be trying to find NEW voices, as opposed to these retreads people clamor for.

      Please elaborate on who all this idling talent is. I'd love to know!

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    2. Beg to differ on Tillem. Craft, agreed; plus, I'm sick of beating on Christians, like she recently did on Karel's show when she sat in for him. Hey, Christine, pick another religion for a change.

      I like Gil, but I fall asleep listening to him. He's one for reporting, not talking.

      Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaareeeeeeeeeeeen. Tolerable? Like nails on a chalkboard.

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    3. for the record, I'm a Roman Catholic..sort of the original Christians..yes?

      I fill in for Karel every friday on his syndicated show.

      The issue had to do with men in dresses(bishops) telling a talented young football player that she couldn't keep playing football.

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    4. I'm not, nor would I ever be a member of the AARP. I have never sought a job on radio anywhere. KFBK and KGO both sought me out originally. It's always a delight to fill in on KGO which started for me nearly twenty years ago when I was still in law school. Later, when I was at a firm in Sacramento, that firm graciously let me work one week a month in San Francisco at KGO(during the post Bernie period) and adjusted schedules so I would able to do that.
      No one should be surprised that broadcasting is not a job with tenure. That was a part, a small part, but a part nonetheless of why I became a lawyer, just basic survival skills.

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    5. you're not every good at reading comp. AARP definitely sent you a mailer, whether you're a member, or not. yes, radio is a fleeting career if you're merely average at it, I would agree.

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  4. "The only person qualified to be called a program director at 55 Hawthorne is Dennis Constatine (sic)."
    Uhhhhh...you're kidding right? Constantine, the PD who fired Webster & Irish Greg to bring in a shock jock from Kentucky named Twitch. Only to turn around 2 weeks later and let Twitch go after the uproar from FogHeads on social media. Constantine, the PD who puts himself on the air in afternoon drive even though it's painfully obvious he has no business behind the mic. Qualified to be a PD? Really?

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    1. You're naive if you think he was in charge of those programming decisions. Cumulus dictated the changes, pure and simple. He is a lousy jock though a great programmer (when he's allowed to program that is).

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    2. And Dennis has a beautiful, full head of brown curly locks of hair!

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  5. Po po KGO, and their arrogant talk show hosts. they got canned and they thought they were such hot stuff.

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  6. Say, whatever happened to Gene Burns???

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  7. Owens is still at KGO? Thought he was gonna quit.

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  8. Hosley out makes KGO sound better already. I can't say why people with no talent stay in radio so long.

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