Monday, April 21, 2014

Cook/Martin Tension Still Exists as She Works Easter; Marzullo Star at KGO7; Bob Safford, Longtime KCBS News/Sports Reporter Dies; Monday Quick Start

*Monday Morning Fast Start*


Turns out Liz Cook's Easter anchoring was nothing out of the ordinary after all --she was simply filling in for Ann Notarangelo although one of my PIX eyes also found it curious that they'd put one of their name anchors out there amid the speculation game between her and Allen Martin.


And make no mistake, the hostility toward Cook by Martin is genuine. Those vets in the newsroom know it, Martin knows it, and Cook, I'm sure, knows it now.


Both being professionals, I would assume by now that any tension existing, has been thwarted by the boss and common sense.


*Bob Safford had a great voice, was a fine reporter, a gentleman, and one heckuva news and sports radio reporter. Mr. Safford, a KCBS News veteran who retired a few years back, died over the weekend. Our thoughts and prayers to his family...we also extend our sympathies to the family of longtime Sacramento broadcaster, Ken Gimblin, who passed away last week.


*Katie Marzullo might be on the short list of Channel 7 possible replacements for the departing Carolyn Johnson, although Ama Daetz continues to be the favorite. Marzullo certainly is seen as an up-and-comer over at KGO where sweeps month is coming as it is for all the other stations in town.
Marzullo is not only polished and steady, but has a great degree of presence too. That may sound sort of superficial but superficiality is a known virtue in the biz of TV News. Marzullo, from here at worst figures to become a prominent player in KGO's news talent.


*Only in the Chronicle: So, first we have this and only an inch or so away, this. Call Ben Bradlee.

25 comments:

  1. Hi Rich. Just thought you'd like to know that KGO has an ad up on Craigslist jobs for "News Archer". I assume they meant Anchor. Get your resumes together folks.

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    1. Craigslist? Sounds like a good way for a "community organizer" to find a job.

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  2. Welcome to the Mother of all Media Blogs, Katie! This one should be framed and hung at ABC-7. At least you weren't the kicker story ... or just before it!

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  3. I'm sorry to hear about Bob Safford, a fine gentleman. He'll be missed.

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  4. On second look ... yes you were! Maybe this will hang in the KCOY & FOX 11 newsroom in Santa Maria -- what's left of it. Miss you on the Central Coas, Katie!

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  5. "Marzullo is not only polished and steady, but has a great degree of presence too."

    And she's cute. :-)

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  6. I knew Bob Safford and Ken Gimblin very well. They were both good guys and brought up in the days when radio and TV broadcasters were actually trained pros, who knew how to write, use their voices, and the language. Today we have former jocks, young kids, writers who have been thrown out of work by the newspaper business, and many other people of less repute who, because the standards are lower and management is dumber than ever, have filled many of the fewer available spots. Both Bob and Ken were not only true gentlemen who loved sports and enjoyed talking with the athletes, but they represented a dying breed. Our industry is far poorer when people of their like pass on.

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    1. Hello,
      Just wanted to thank you for the kind words you spoke about my father, Bob Safford. It gives my family great pleasure to hear people talk about him & appreciate the great work he did over the years! Thank you again!

      Steve Safford

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  7. Rich, nice of you to pay tribute to Bob Safford and Ken Gimblin. Two real gentlemen and broadcasting professionals

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  8. Rich, you've brought me back to KPIX - mainly to see which one gets bounced.

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  9. I agree with the last two posters. Both Ken and Bob were hardly superstars, or even stars, but they were among the many hard working broadcast journalists that we've been fortunate enough to have around the bay area over the last half century. Good guys and solid pros. Thanks for mentioning them Rich!

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  10. There is NO WAY Marzullo gets Johnson's gig. None. Both Sze and Daetz would have to be out of the running and KGO would have to decide not to go outside of 900 Front they'd even consider looking at her. And even then they'd still have to put her on with Ashley as a test drive and so far that hasn't happened.

    The chances that all those dominoes fall are too low to bother contemplating...especially the idea that they would go with an essentially untested Marzullo over getting an experienced B-level outsider.

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  11. I agree that Katie Marzullo has a quality that suggests a bright future. I don't have the male eye that can adequately gauge "cuteness," but she is attractive. She seems intelligent and witty.

    For the record - I have never met her, and I haven't worked in local media since the mid 90s.

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  12. Echoing your comments regarding Bob and Ken. I worked with, and learned from Ken, many years ago at KTXL in Sacramento. He was always a gentleman, and a calm and steady presence to all of the unruly young "news kids" around him. His community and teaching work never stopped, and neither did his professional life.

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  13. Everyone at Channel 2, 3 ,4 5, and 7 should be fired!

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  14. I've noticed her for years now. And that's why today I went, Hmm..as she looked Anchorwoman with more makeup and the eyeliner stuff and whatall. Previously.she had been Katie soccermon natural. Or office natural. I would have said In Court natural..but I can't believe the sexy dresses female lawyers and assistants wear. Kimberley whats her name learned to be sexy from our legal system...

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    1. Who in the hell are you talking about?

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    2. And who is he talking to?

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    3. stan is the town idiot who stands on a little box on the corner spouting incoherent thoughts. He clutters the world without a clue.

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    4. stan has been under a lot of duress lately because gary radnich is on vacation and he has no one to watch on television or listen to on radio.

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  15. I really don't see why Allen Martin has taken such a highfalutin attitude with Elizabeth Cook. He is hardly the only experienced, savvy older male news anchor paired with a younger (and attractive), less experienced female who owes her position more to her looks (and connections) than to her journalistic credentials. It's the way of the business. "The Gruff and Fluff Look." If every guy carried on like Martin three quarters of the anchoring teams in America would be on non-speaking terms.

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  16. Who cares what Allen Martin thinks? Elizabeth Cook is a lot easier on the eyes than he is, by far. Since when do you need to be a rocket scientist to read the news? Case in point Darya whatever her name is on KRON.

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  17. Typical of today's mentality when it comes to blog posts. People are more interested in gossip and discussing the ego clashes of TV anchors.. But we have to give them an excuse. Most of this new generation (anyone born after 1980) has been brought up on trash/tabloid TV and 21st century media and they don't know any better. Their sense of history and respect for the past is pretty much non-existent. It's a sad world, because it wasn't this way for many, many years. I know young people think that some of us older folks are too nostalgic, but it wouldn't hurt any of them to try and learn a little more about their predecessors and some of the good things that WERE happening, 'back in the day.' Maybe we would be doing a little better if that happened. I guess our parents probably said the same things about us though during the Vietnam War and that crazy time from 1965-74 when there was rampant use of recreational drugs and people started having too much unprotected sex. Oh well, that's life!

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    1. That's a lot different then 1969 when people in the bay area were shocked and amazed that a anchorman laughed during the ch7 news. Unheard of as stone faced men in black was on every (4) channel doing the news. The weather woman also stayed serious writing backwards on her weathermap.
      News people were the Buckingham palace guards.
      Maybe it was "happy news" people who ended the Vietnam War. They stopped being happy reporting that. People knew then it was wrong.

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