**Wednesday Nuggets**KNBR's Tom Tolbert apologized to just about everybody on the planet last night. Tolbert isn't one to say "I'm sorry" that many times which means what he said, (or what he allowed a guest to say numerous times), was sort of toxic. This might roll under the radar or it may not. Wait a day or two.
*Jon Kelley, morning anchor at KNTV, (NBC Bay Area), is headed back to Chicago, according to Robert Feder.
*At KGO-TV there exists a new round of paranoia thanks to rumors of Disney mulling plans to sell a good chuck of it's O and O's, (including SF). Those inside 900 Front already have been under siege with a challenging ND and intimidating work environment to begin with before news of the Disney would-be move. Senior staffers are convinced that if KGO gets in the hands of someone, (like Sinclair), other than the mothership, a load of layoffs are on the horizon.
*In spite of his temporary reprieve from the Asiana affair, a good source at KTVU tells me that ND, Lee Rosenthal is still teetering on removal simply because staffers have no confidence in him and that he may ultimately be a convenient fall guy if the mood stays sour in Jack London Square.
*Speaking of KTVU, their ex-assistant ND Janice Gin, has moved to KRON. I don't know Gin but she elicits a lot of negative feedback. Probably due to the fact she was the union rep at Channel 2. It's a tough job but someone has to do it.
*Yes, of course you were right to determine that the coverage of the BART Strike was decidedly pro-management. How many times did we see and read accounts from pissed-off, (legitimately), commuters ready to raise hell with the rank and file. Of course, god forbid any of our local tonsils and scribblers did any form of journalism to explain to the public that those dammed great benefits were courtesy of a, yes, UNION. Imagine, a union working hard to get the very best benefits and wages for its paying members! By the way, $65 grand a year living in the Bay Area is no big deal.
*Sal the bartender at a popular place near the Battery Media gulch, (Broadway/Battery) tells me the Bay Area broadcast group are "the worst tippers" he's ever seen. Sal is a Boston native and tells it like it is; probably due to the mass of newbies that have hit the area in recent years and since most of 'em have banker/husbands/boyfriends they wouldn't know how to tip well if they're life depended on it.
*I was listening to the history of mattresses and the Ronn Owens show broke out.
*Cumulus doesn't need to hire company shills that spout the line about how wonderful they are and how the workers are treated with such great respect--all they need do is to hire a certain in-house KGO Radio brown nose reporter/producer who's so full of shit his mouth stinks.
*Tom Raponi, GM at KTVU: The next time I give an on-the-record comment is when John McCain becomes president. By the way, Raponi is supposed to be a "good guy" which is great because I'd hate to see what he'd be like if he were a bad guy.
*The STORY that has made the rounds in the city that REFUSES to go away: many years ago a weather woman at KGO-TV was driving on the GG Bridge when she was tragically involved in a fatal accident. When the coroner arrived, so goes the story, the "woman" was actually a man.
I've heard people in the biz here who swear the story is true and those who insist it was nothing more than an old wife's tale. My own thoughts are I have no thoughts other than this was, (and still is), one bizarre story whether it's true or false.
**415 MEDIA WELCOMES TRI-VALLEY TAX SERVICE AS OUR NEWEST ADVERTISER!!
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Tolbert allowed a guest to drop the "N" word multiple times on the air, in the context of the Washington Professional football team nickname being just as offensive. Tolbert himself did NOT use the word... I guess he is apologizing for letting the word go out over the air.
ReplyDeleteI'm an older black man, who believes the young people can keep pretending to go into hysterical fits when they hear a white person say the N word if they want to, but their sincerity is in doubt. This from the same generation which insists on mainstreaming the word as an acceptable Term of Endearment, or as part of that so called music (rap-is-crap). So, sorry, you cannot have it both ways kids. Less people believe they have done something wrong, due to all that casual use.
DeleteNever heard what Tolbert said that was so incendiary. What was it?
ReplyDeleteAre you saying Tolbert was apologizing for his Redskin and "N" word show? I heard it,and wondered why with a delay they didn't delete the "N" word after its first or at most second use?. A bad call by the producer. On the other hand it wasn't a celebration of the word or used for ignorance reasons like "Chinamen" that got Tolbert into hot water a few years ago. This time it was a guest who used the word.
ReplyDeleteSomeone thought inclusion was a good idea at the time. A manager obviously had a different thought later. The manager obviously wasn't listening to his/her "air". Maroons. I have no actual knowledge, but having sat in those places on both sides of the mic, would wild ass guess.
DeleteWould he helpful to know what statement/moment prompted Tolbert's rare apology...?
ReplyDeleteJanice Gin generates negative feedback because she's worn out her welcome at every shop. Her KRON deal is for more hours, less money, and less power.
ReplyDeleteHow many times are you going to bring the Beverly Johnson story up? I remember the night Mark Gibson announced her death on the air. It was nearly 30 years ago. It's ancient history. Leave it be Rich...What's next? Dredging up KGO's infamous "penis on the railroad tracks" story"?
ReplyDeleteouch remember that one.. Van Amberg telling everyone.. that is a penis.. and Jerry Jensen having a shocked look on his face.
DeleteIt may be "ancient history" but I've lived here about forty years and (as an outsider) have never heard about it before today. At that time in my life there was too much going on. But now I have that proverbial time on my hands to appreciate such nuggets. Please Rich, keep dredging.
DeleteI was also surprised when I heard it but it did make me think. It was being said by a Native American and he was using in the context of how African Americans use it in their own culture and comparing that to his culture. Does that make it right? If a black person uses it is that ok? I guess if any minority uses the offensive term used to describe their heritage is it ok? Can minorities use offensive terms because they are minorities and possibly been subjected to them in their life? So many questions and I am not sure the correct answer. Where is Gene Burns when you need him?
ReplyDeleteKelley is leaving? Too bad...I liked him. WHo will take his place on the KNTV morning news show? Tellez seems popular.
ReplyDeleteMarla Tellez ROCKS!
DeleteLOVE Marla. Super smart, personable on-air, good delivery and well, she's smoking hot.
DeleteJanice Gin as part of her duties was to harass the union cam-tech's by changing their time sheets in direct violation of NLRB sanctions. If the worthless union rep for IBEW ever got off his knees and quit giving blow jobs to KTVU management and actually help the people he is supposed to, people like Janice wouldn't have gotten away with breaking labor laws. Of course, this is how Cox teaches their management to operate. If you can lie to people to their face, and mix the kool aid and serve it up, you will go far in Cox.
ReplyDeleteThat is why the personality trait of douchebaggery served KTVU middle management so well. Ed Chapius, Andrew Finlayson, Janice Gin, Jeff Holub, Jim Haman have ridden this formula to at least middle management bully status.
Holy Fuk! Janice Gin's last day on the job was KTVU's worst. Still think there's no connection? Now she brings her "talents" to KRON. Look for another crash on Van Ness.
DeleteLOL!
DeleteI think Tolbert should allow the word 'nigger' to be used on the air in that context because it's just as offensive to many as the word "redskin", and that's the point. As far as I'm concerned, he shouldn't apologize to anyone, and has nothing to apologize for.
ReplyDeleteDoes Ronn Owens do the show while on a mattress? That show is such a bore you'd think that's the case.
Did KGO make a new hire?
I think the attacks on Ronn is somewhat uncalled for. I have never, ever heard him saying Cumulus is wonderful to work for, nor have he said they are awful to work for, as far as I can tell he is pretty much hands off when it comes to management. I know Rich does like him, which is fine, but why the personal attacks, I don't think Rich cares much for Brian Sussmann, and he often critics his show, but does not get personal, same with Gil, actually I think Rich likes Gil, but not his show, which I can understand, but why is Ronn being singled out for personal attacks, it does not add much to the dialog. I'm neutral on Ronn fact is with so many bad hosts on different stations, Ronn for the much part still has a good show, I don't always care for Ronn's subjects, but many of his shows are still entertaining, informative and intelligent.
DeleteRich doesn't like Ronn because he thinks when they fired people Ronn sat on his hands. Add to it Rich doesn't like Ronn's producer Jared but it's never been stated why that is. When contrasting Ronn with Tom Tolbert, at least TT had something to say about Ralph when he was let go, but Ronn seemed to go about the day like nothing happened. Yet I'm not really sure why this is Ronn's problem anyway since businesses get bought and sold all the time.
DeleteI don't think Ronn has ever been that good and I've been listening to him for a long long time, but I don't find him offensive.
IMO Ronn is an obnixious boor. Couldn't stand his glaring ego. Then he latched onto an effort to be self-affacing and started joking about his huge ego. Not funny and the end of my mornings with Ronn. My final thoughts about listening t Ronn were simply corporate and self-shilling.
Deletehttp://quacked.com/video-268-beverly+johnson-kgo+abc7+news+1+2+85+.htm
ReplyDeleteApparently KGO weather woman Beverly Johnson was mangled in the head on crash on the Golden Gate Bridge. Coroner couldn't immediately Id her which may have led to rumors that she may have been a man or transgendered, who knows how rumors start or for what reason. Woman lost her life way before her time. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19850812&id=AxpJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pQUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3908,1597763
Watched the first clip and Janice Gin was listed there as producer. Circle of life?
DeleteTHE STORY THAT REFUSES TO GO AWAY. I worked with the person that died on or near the Golden Gate Bridge and did a lot of live shots with her. I had the job of putting her microphone on many times and believe me, she was not a man. The man in the story was in another accident that occurred in the Oakland area on the same evening at around the same time. The confusion happened due to a broadcast over a scanner and the listeners confused the facts.
ReplyDeleteLet's get real. How is it that big mouth Southern cow Bell Georgia has a show on KSCO and Rich does not? I don't mind listening to different viewpoints but that hag has the worst voice for radio in Northern California. Today she was particularly annoying and I could not stand her dribble for more than 3 minutes. She makes Charley Freedman's ramblings sound cogent. When is your new show starting big guy? I think sending a man to the moon took less time than the launch of Lieberman Live 2.0
ReplyDeleteJanice Gin "was the union shop steward at Channel 2"?
ReplyDeleteThat's like saying a Hatfield was a member of the McCoy family.
And yes, the IBEW rep is pretty worthless.
WHy all of a sudden is everyone on the "Anti-Redskin" wagon?
ReplyDeleteSheep....
Because when presented with the argument that it's more important as a society to not offend people than it is to name a sports team, most people aren't idiots. Congrats to you on being so different, aka, ignorant/racist.
DeleteBecause most people in this area are default conformists. They usually have not thought the argument through by it's merit, but if enough famous and popular celebrities are disapproving of something, well, By Gum, these little lambs will also say they disapprove without hesitation. These are people who more than anything, want to be on the 'winning side'. Winning Side is heavily influenced by all the cultural echo chambers in today diluted, muted fruited media.
DeleteWhen in doubt call your opponent or those with differing view points "racists".
DeleteEasy. No debate skills required.
So there's an argument that the team should be called "red skins" in the nation's capitol? Sounds interesting. Feel free to explain this.
DeleteIt's interesting that some people here are defending this, and making the argument that other people are "sheep" for being against the name. When there's really no difference between those against it, and those for the name, as far as who the sheep would be. Now I know you probably think you're intelligent by calling someone a "conformist", but viewing yourself as different, but believe me, it's obvious to most that you're probably just puppetting the material of someone else anyway.
The name is racist. If you support it, you're a racist, no matter how you want to label others.
I heard the interview live. It was with the lead singer of Gwar, who are a more outrageous version of Kiss. He's a lifelong Redskins fan and was asked his opinion of the current team name. The lead singer used the N word comparing the insult to African Americans similar to Redskins for a Native American. Maybe as I'm White guy I'm less sensitive to its use, but I thought the actual word brought home the point the speaker was making more powerfully if he hadn't used it.
ReplyDeleteWhat were they expecting when you have that type of person and goof ball tolbert you could have bet someting off the wall would have happened and in fact did.Why they even had them on the air leads to questions of who is running the show or not
DeleteAn Assistant News Director as shop steward??? REALLY? I don't think so. Pigs will fly before this happens. Newsroom managers are NEVER in the union. EVER.
ReplyDeleteThe word nigger has a terrible meaning in this country as anyone with any sense of American History should know.
ReplyDeleteDr Harry Edwards, who is a longtime sociology professor at Cal/Berkeley says that he is especially offended when he hears non-caucasians using this ugly word.
"In the 1960s and 70s, we used to say: 'hello my brother, good day to you my sister.' Today you hear more people of color using the word Nigger than white people. That's really sad!
Does anyone know why Jennifer Jones Lee has been off the air? I know this is off topic, but I have been wondering where she is.
ReplyDeleteShe's off on medical leave. Expect her back soon.
DeleteRichard, you are right on! The wages and benefits that BART employees received were bargained legally and faithfully by negotiating parties on both sides. Their compensation has everything to do with their experience, training and certification. A local tonsil on a radio station at the beginning of the dial as you noted said anyone can do the job. This is fair from the truth. BART invests money screening the applicants and many months training perspective employees to make sure they do the job safely and efficiently. They are compensated for their work but are not rich. Those that complain about Unions and are NOT members only need to look at their pay and working conditions.
ReplyDeleteIf I may add, part of "managing" includes offering a living wage. Underpaid positions will discourage better qualified folks from considering bart as a perspective employer. Example? most ceo's aren't worth their keep and command more than a living wage but in a competitive market, some else will pay the asking price.
DeleteAlso, underpaid employees will bring an assortment of personal problems to work that they wouldn't otherwise have. That matters.
Anon at 5;35PM, When in doubt, when someone tries to describe the complexity and subtlety of race relations and language, and you don't understand, or care not to understand, you say they are playing the race card. Easy peasy, no debate skills required.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 5:21pm. So true....like all the people with no concept for seeing things from another persons' perspective, they just tune into Fox news for Hannity, O'Reilly, or the radio dial for Rush, or Savage, or Morgan, or the internet for Beck.....they need to be herded into their pens and given their talking points.
ReplyDelete> *The STORY that has made the rounds in the city that REFUSES to
ReplyDelete> go away: many years ago a weather woman at KGO-TV was driving
> on the GG Bridge when she was tragically involved in a fatal accident.
> When the coroner arrived, so goes the story, the "woman" was actually
> a man.
Should be easy enough to prove or disprove. There would be police records. As for "refuses to go away," I worked in the biz 15 years, including time at KGO, and never heard this. Neither have my former colleagues.
Rich---you continue to take shots at Ronn---but no Radnich-----explain please
ReplyDeleteDear Don Law,
ReplyDeleteI noticed you posted that Paul Hosley hired all the people at KGO who are bad on the radio. That's not true at all. If you're talking about weekend hosts, maybe Paul didn't do a great job, and from what I'm told he wasn't even responsible for putting the newer hosts on the air.
It's unbecoming to bash someone who you probably don't know, who was very good at his job.