| Michael Zwerling |
You could have knocked me over with a feather when Rich Lieberman invited me to pen a guest column for his ever-growing 415 Media blog.
"Wow, what an honor", I thought to myself. Now I have a chance to talk directly with his audience, however large -- or small-- it is. But what do I want to say to his audience?
Shucks, I don't know; maybe I should just relate my thoughts about why I think Rich is a diamond-in-the-rough, brilliant talent poised to blast off to true celebrity status if only someone could find his fuse and light it...
I've been trying to do just that for the more than two years since I become acquainted with Rich, but have yet to succeed. Could my premise be wrong? Most of my staff at KSCO/KOMY/ZBS think so. For the life of them, they cannot understand what I see in Rich.
Well, for starters, he is very intelligent, very eloquent, very well-read, very dynamic, very commanding, very affable, very articulate, very well-rounded, very clever, very funny, very rude, very crude, very low class, very self-deprecating, very introspective, very confident and very insecure (huh?-how is THAT possible??) and very many other, often conflicting things.
Rich is the ULTIMATE enig-man; and there MUST BE a way for him to cash in on that prominence!
I've been yammering at him almost since day one to do what I do to successfully fund my media operation; KSCO/KOMY/ZBS. I leverage my audience, not by "renting it to advertisers" although we certainly do that; but rather to educate the audience about the importance of nutrition over prescription drugs to achieve and maintain optimal health and longevity -- and hopefully influence them to get on the high quality supplement program we support and promote-- thereby generating a compounding monthly residual revenue stream that enables us to "support our independent media habit."
But maybe I have put the cart before the horse. Rich is fat and not very healthy. We have to make him a believer first by getting him on our program and for him to experience firsthand the success of weight loss and increase in his overall health and well-being. He recently told me he's ready to get serious about losing weight and getting healthy.
We'll see...
I believe that if Rich keeps growing his 415 Media blog, and adds the dimension of interactive audio (ideally VIDEO) it's possible that he can become a modern day Herb Caen (the beloved "Mr. San Francisco" columnist of the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly six decades -- people would KILL to be mentioned in his column)
We at KSCO/KOMY/ZBS hope to assist Rich in broadening his media presence by integrating an on-demand talk-radio component to his existing blog -- that way he will be able to do his radio program on HIS schedule, when he wants, just as he has always done his blog posts, while his listeners will be able to hear him at the same convenient place they now read him: also on THEIR schedule!
To those of you in the media industry who read and use this blog, please join me in saluting, supporting, and celebrating Rich Lieberman, this unique character who loves to read, loves to opine, and TRULY loves his mom (you have to love HIM for that alone! :-), who works tirelessly to bring it to us daily, and who has single-handily created his own unique medium to fill a niche void when no other outlet could or would. Oh yeah -- and donate to the 415 Media Blog. You'll feel good you did!
To those Anonymous cowards out there who take bizarre pleasure in trying to tear Rich down by throwing the rock and hiding the hand: seriously now, get a life or at least grow the balls to own up to your toxic negative comments by identifying yourself. Or better yet, go out and create something of value to others, as Rich has done! Oh yeah -- and donate to the 415 Media Blog. You ESPECIALLY will feel good you did!
Here’s to you, Rich Lieberman. Keep up the GREAT work!
Michael L. Zwerling
Owner, KSCO NewsTalk AM 1080
Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz-San Jose
Owner, KSCO NewsTalk AM 1080
Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz-San Jose
Every time he posts about bars and relaxing - I tell him cut the booze. Its part of the problem. Get a dog, walk in the park. And he then he doesn't post it! I'm no quitter..do it again...
ReplyDeleteI this is from the REAL Michael Z, and not someone wearing a mask, then I say thank you for your honesty. You appear to be someone who understands the type of personalities commonly found in this business. Just like a team coach, you have to be resourceful, sometimes a little brave. Use what you have to make that lemonade both strong and sweet. Stop by again. By the way, if using advertisers will help make this blog more financially secure, I say go for it, just don't become a jammed up Cookie Jar, that I end up staying away from to avoid the spam. Just a drop or two of that (ad spot) poison would be tolerable.
ReplyDeleteRich' blog is always interesting and entertaining. I work on air in the local radio biz and I will tell you that most of my co-workers at the station and many others I know who work around town always check Ritchie's blog. They may not always agree or like what they read, but they pay attention and rarely miss his musings. I remember Rich when he was doing sports at KIO! back in 1981-82 as a 19-20 year old kid! You've come a long way young man! Now take up Michael Zwerling's suggestion and start losing that weight! We need a healthy Rich to keep us 415 fans informed and entertained!
ReplyDeleteSo who the hell is Michael Zwerling? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteLegit question: Has anybody seen this MZ character and Rich in the same place, at the same time?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. You lost me at "eloquent", "articulate", "intelligent", "funny" and "introspective". Good call on "rude", "crude", "insecure" and "low class" though.
ReplyDeleteHe's like the Vince McMahon of Santa Cruz radio.
ReplyDelete"To those Anonymous cowards out there who take bizarre pleasure in trying to tear Rich down by throwing the rock and hiding the hand: seriously now, get a life or at least grow the balls to own up to your toxic negative comments by identifying yourself."
ReplyDeleteAny comment I've left, be it positive or negative, I've always identified myself. However, the bigger issue is that no matter how negative the comment, Rich has to "grow the balls" not to censor it. Deal?
Great point. The censoring makes Rich and the quality of the uncensored comments hard to take seriously. Rich would probably quadruple his click rate for any advertiser if he let the topics take their natural path.
DeleteHe's overlooking an opportunity or stubbornly refusing to see one, his choice.
Great point AGREED.
DeleteRich, Please think about what @9:58 says, "the censoring makes Rich and the quality of the uncensored comments hard to take seriously."
MZ I heard part of your Saturday special this weekend and you said something that resonated with me. You said something along the lines of: "if we at KSCO don't evolve from the democrat vs republican format we are finished as a radio station!".
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. A perfect example is Charley Friedman's show. How much Obama bashing can the guy do? Doesn't he get tired of talking about Obamacare and the faux IRS and Benghazi "scandals"? It makes for predictable boring radio. I enjoyed Charley's show on Wednesday when he was doing the AAA travel interviews for example. You need to shake things up at that station if you want to remain relevant. The British woman is a perfect example of a good host. She's well spoken, prepared, unpredictable in her topics and has good conversations with callers. The style of Georgia the pit bull and Charley is a relic of the 90s. This whole liberal vs conservative is illusory garbage. People are onto the sham. Please stop perpetuating it on your station. You are better than that! Also please add more local programming on weekends. Infomercials are boring! Lastly, a karaoke show is not a good start to evolving. Nix it ASAP!
All good points! I check Charley's show out on my way home and if he is bashing Obama I move on. I think Charley can do better. Same with Rush; who I found entertaining 10 years ago I now find stale and boring. I also feel political bashing shows from either side has jumped the shark. I prefer commentary that provides the facts and then lets me draw conclusions rather than slanting to a particular side and then beating it to death over and over! I admire MZ and how he makes an independent station survive in spite of what is going on in radio today. MZ gives the impression he wants his station to evolve and that cannot be said for most of the corp radio today.
DeleteMZ is playing you like a fiddle, Rich. He is the most disliked radio owner in Santa Cruz, Salinas and Monterrey. His stations are a poor joke and make no money. Mama pays the bills. Vitamins don't finance radio stations built on hate speech, karioke shows and the most boring radio ever. If not true, he'd pay you, but he's not good enough to do that and you keep kissing his arse like it means something. .
DeleteIs an endorsement from Michael Zwerling supposed to be a positive thing?
ReplyDeleteI think I'll start a media blog, too. This one is the pits and says nothing except the comments are generally great. The critic part is what really sucks. So inaccurate, one sided, and without credible much of the time. You don't print the unproven and speculative, you print the facts and work to get them right. That gives you credibility -- not your flacid ego. You're the Karel of blogging. Except, he gets to go to Ireland for free.
ReplyDeleteRich, do you get a percentage from MZ's vitamin sales?
ReplyDelete