Friday, January 18, 2013

Owens re-upps with KGO because he wants to talk and the price was right

Ronn Owens formally re-upped with KGO Cumulus for two years and an option, as reported here first.

"It's a very fair deal on both sides," Owens told NTS Media.

Yeah, even better for Cumulus which gets a 20-1 shot with about four furlongs left at less than a third of what he was getting, but since content is scarce these days and you can only run so many SweetJack spots and news filler, the price was right and Owens still wants to work.

It's a far cry from just a few months back when Owens told a former colleague at lunch that he was "seriously considering 'retiring'". Both the colleague and restaurant owner, I'm sure, are thrilled.

And the mattress industry is ecstatic.

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39 comments:

  1. $300K instead of a cool million? I guess he'll have to make do. Even with his pay cut, Pat & Karel are no where in that league.

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    1. 4:46PM: Just where are you getting your information from? Rich?

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    2. Puts him under the 400K in the new tax deal.

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  2. none of the current talkers ( monty included) are in the same league as the previous hosts.
    cant stand that monty fellow and pat thurston...even copie is a bore..langan is awful...i do like candace delong though..wish chris craft had her own program.

    i say put bernie back on the air when he gets out...bush adm shafted him

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  3. What's your compensation package, Rich? Is that off limits?

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  4. Ronn Owens has said Lieberman's blog stories about him are "totally made up." He denies Lieberman's claim that he made a seven-figure salary under his previous contract with KGO-AM 810.
    Source: Talkers | 26 Sep 2012 | http://www.talkers.com/tag/ronn-owens/

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  5. As I recall mattress man makes around $250k from the mattress ads, therefore he will still make over half a million a year. Not bad for such a spineless jerk.

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  6. In horse racing parlance, sounds like Ronn fell from stakes races to claiming, where Cumulus grabbed him for a fraction of his former salary. Mr Owens can now enjoy his media twilight years before being put out to pasture.

    The Daily Racing Form still has Ronn a 3-2 favorite over Rush. Gary and Larry close at 5-2 on a clear track. Place your bets.

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  7. Really glad to hear this. Despite all the mean spirited comments about Ronn on this blog over the past several months, he is still a great host and and a great interviewer. He covers a wide range of topics and has a lot of great guests. He got me hooked on talk radio in about 1978, and it wouldn't be the same without him. Months ago I was invited to do a survey for KGO, and it asked what was the first thing I'd do if I was program director. I said do whatever it takes to keep Ronn. So this is a happy day.

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  8. $300K in the Bay Area? That's middle class at best. I wonder if he is going to have to get room mates now to pay his mortgage. $300K??? The sales people at KFOG make more than that. Cumulus sticking it to Owens. I fuckin' love it.

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  9. Closure at last...or is it? Might we now finally move on to fresh 415 media observations concerning editorial integrity/compromise at the recently sold S.F.Bay Guardian, where the new owner just happens to also own the S.F.Weekly and the Examiner? What about getting the word via a timely interview with Tim R and Bruce B?

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  10. Good for Ronn. Better for us he wasn't replaced by any of the weekend stable. Copie may have been tolerable but even he would have been weak. I wonder if the weekends are so average because they can't find anyone willing?

    Enjoy the free entertainment, and stop complaining already.

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    1. Nope, gonna keep complaining. The station is terrible and was once wonderful. The local news is boring. Do agree with opinion on Ronn and Copie, but Cumulus deserves complaints until they improve their programming. Should be just put up with bad tv and bad radio because it's free. Sorry, but we have to listen to commercials and that's how we pay.

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  11. I think Cumulus is now cognizant of the colossal blunder they made in summarily firing their top-tier hosts and plunging KGO instantly into ratings obscurity, and angering a goodly percentage of the local radio listening audience.

    300k *is* top dollar at Cumulus, unless perhaps you're Michael Savage or Huckabee. I'm betting they had protracted negotiations in which it was made clear that Cumulus would walk away above 300k, and Ronn "seriously considered" his options, and decided to continue his storied career for another coupla years, what the heck. The money he'll earn over the course of this contract is more than enough to put his kids through college, and really it's a pretty cushy gig.

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    1. His kids are already through college - a few years ago now.

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  12. On another subject: I'd love to hear Christine Craft's take on the lawsuit just filed by Ivory Madison and her lawyer husband against Mirkarimi. That whole affair just won't go away!

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    1. Why? You want another lecture from the angriest, most self-absorbed, self-important, losing plaintiff in local media history?

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  13. I doubt that Cumulus think that they blundered in their decision to fire the good quality hosts. If they realized their mistake they would not have Monte on and they would hire better people. They do know that Ronn brings in ratings and has a strong following so I will give them that. I'm pleased that Ronn is staying.

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  14. I enjoyed hearing your interview with Bruce McGowan the other day on your radio show. Sounds like 'Bib Bruce' is keeping busy with his kid and his surfing and that he's still got a great attitude about life. Your interviews with media folks are always fun and interesting.

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    1. I fell asleep during that particular interview.

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  15. They are probably worried they'll lose advertising revenue if they let Ronn go. One thing is for sure, no doubt the new contract RO got from Cumulus is written in their favor, with lots of termination clauses.

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  16. For me I am just hanging in on KGO for Ronn. But I really miss the others. Where the hell is John Rothmann? Gene Burns? Gil Gross? And what about Ray? My heart is still broken. Cumulus stabbed me there and I miss the good old days. I even miss Wattenburg!

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    1. You're kidding, right? John Rothman and Gil Gross (and Len Tillem) are on 910 AM. Rothmann only on occasion though. We all miss Gene Burns, and you can do the google to find out what he is up to. Recovering. I hope we hear him back some day.

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  17. Having looked over the ratings a while back, after a friend passed them on to me, it seemed to me as if Owens rating was higher than that of the rest of the station. I could be wrong about this but this was what it looked like to me. I am not an expert in reading the numbers though. With that said, Ronn Owens is being paid around $300,000, according to some of you. Lets assume for a second this is true. What is the cost difference between paying Ronn, and anyone else who works for him vs continuing to pay others to work in his place? That's a factor. In addition, what if Ronn is garnering enough money in his spot to allow the company to continue with their goal of seemingly being a news station only. He would then be serving as an elongated stopgap measure in that they are still bringing in revenue during that part of the day while moving toward their longer term goal (assuming there is one). To hire an outside host is a risk, and to replace Owens with a weekend host wouldn't bring in the revenue, or at least they'd be risking that stream.

    My buddy works at Cumulus and he has "no idea" what they're trying to do long term. All I know is I've been listening a lot more since his involvement, and while I don't know a whole lot about the business, or other stations, it seems to me KGO needs to make some type of a bigger splash. Since they aren't doing that I think it's a fair guess that the long term goal is to not having talk programming at all M-F.

    I would be interested in seeing the older ratings when KGO employed all of these supposedly great hosts so many of you reference time after time. My only questions would be 1) Where are they now? 2) Is the place they went to doing well? Answering these questions would probably shine a light on part of Cumulus's decision to go a different direction. It would seem to me these people are nowhere to be found since there would be less complaining (I'm guessing) if the were available.

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  18. 3:20 interesting post. Your questions regarding how well the previous hosts are doing is going to be hard to give a fair answer because the radio station that hired only two of them for daily shows has a much weaker signal and in fact, when it get dark early, many cannot get a signal. It's also a station that is not as well known compared to KGO with it's big signal and it's long history. I believe there is still complaining because the combination of radio hosts that KGO had made the station very interesting as a whole.

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  19. Hey, does this mean Ronnnnn is on the Rich Lieberman plan? He's paying KGO $300K to work there and sell the ads?

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  20. Rich:

    What is the latest on Bernie Ward and Gene Burns?

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    1. Bernie Ward. I thought the holy roller is in the slammer.

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    2. Bernie is in jail.

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  21. C'mon Rich get a 49ers post up!..gameday my man!

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  22. Whatever happened to Reagan Taliaferro???

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    1. Sir, I beg to differ with your frivolous use of our former Commander-in-Chief's name! After all, sir, where would Iran-Contra be without this great man? And, sir, sir. you query about my whereabouts? On Martin Luther King Day, Inauguration Day? Your priorities, sir, just possibly need fine tuning!

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    2. haha, well done, Anonymous at 5:12 AM!

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  23. Rich you got some love from MZ and callers Sat AM on KSCO!

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  24. Ron Owens isn't the force he once was. I still do listen to him once in a while now because I'll be damned if I would ever listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck.

    But Ron has lost it. He is, to use his favorite word, "disingenuous." Over the years, he asked for listeners to send email, he never once (to my knowledge) read a comment of mine on the air (save the snotty replies) and he has -- for sure -- never once replied to an email I sent him. So why bother?

    That and his phony laugh. Please. Either it's funny or it's not -- but the fake laugh sends me for the OFF button.

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    1. I agree that he isn't as compelling as in the past. However I'm no one special but he has read many of my emails on the air (and responded to a few). You just have to make them brief and on point.

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  25. "It's a very fair deal on both sides," Owens told NTS Media
    Translation . . . I am so desperate to work, I will settle for any offer given by Cumulus.
    How the mighty have swallowed their pride.

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  26. He cannot possibly make $250,000 per year from the mattress ads, can he?
    (ref. Anonymous January 18, 2013 at 6:28 PM above)

    $25,000 maybe??

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