Thursday, June 19, 2014

KGO/KSFO Dynamo Thursday ; 55 Hawthorne Deep Cleansing Underway; 'Pig Vomit' Metheny In; Escarsega Out


"As the Worm Turns" - New Drama Hits KGO & KSFO (and you ain't gonna like it)


'PIG VOMIT' is back!--  Kevin Methany who helped to single- handily destroy KFRC here years ago, then went on to destroy the legendary stations KJR, W-ENNNN-BEE CEE, WGAR, WGN, and Cumulus heritage new/talker WJR has been named KGO / KSFO operations manager as of July 14.

This, for those who know, has DISASTER written all over it.  Metheny hasn't run a rated station that he hasn't bombed and destroyed in his lengthy career.

The evolution of KGO & sister conservative talker, KSFO is now, officially underway as reported here on 415 Media first almost a month ago.

Cumulus operations manager, Ron Escarsega has exited 55 Hawthorne, having arrived from talker KABC Radio (and classic rocker KLOS) in LA not even a year ago.  Escarsega's job, "Fix it.  Get it done, now."  Steve Sklenar was named Cumulus SF market manager and, he too is going, going, GONE as of two weeks ago and dropped the bomb that KGO was headed back to talk after "We screwed up."

A furor exploded across the bows of both local management at the Cumulus Bay Area cluster and among the high-mucky muchs in Atlanta looking over the sinking ship of KGO, KSFO, KNBR, KFOG, KFGG and KSAN.

Cumulus is head-hunting for Methany's replacement at the heritage WJR, Detroit as we speak.

John Dickey, Cumulus Executive VP and Co-COO, noted this morning that “Kevin Methany’s reputation and accomplishments are unparalleled," Dickey adds, 'His deep understanding of spoken-word radio and ability to work with bigger-than-life talents make him the ideal candidate to lead the legendary KGO and KSFO."

Ron Escarsega briefly stated, "I've had a great run at KGO and KSFO." He reported to the staff on Hawthorne that "KGO received the overall excellence regional award for news while I was the OM. The KSFO morning show was often in the top 5 during my time with the station(s)."

Escarsega added, "I'm looking for the next great opportunity." He noted his vast experience "as a proven winner,"  in PPM ratings, in multiple formats including in news (CBS / KNX LA), Talk (Cumulus / KABC Los Angeles) and music formats (Cumulus LA Classic Rocker KLOS, among others. 

More to come.


Developing...

23 comments:

  1. He's BACK!! Is Kevin "Meth"any Any Way Related to the "New Age" Artist Pat Methany? I certainly hope not! Rich BTW, KTVU's Foibles and Miscues Continue Unabated. Just Tonight on the 5 pm News Frank Somerville misidentified Reporter Melanie Woodrow as a San Jose PIO; then there was a 20 second Silence Gap after which the camera showed Frank looking the other way before turning his Head back to face the Camera looking Clearly Annoyed.

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  2. WGN is still recovering from the Metheny era, even after he's been gone 4 years now. Virtually the entire weekday & weekend lineup was changed around. In fact, none of the weekday lineup pre-2008 is the same today, everything has been changed around.

    A list of his hires in Chicago: Greg Jarrett (KGO?), Simon Badinter, Mike McConnell, Jerry Agar, Shawn Wasson, Chris Duffy, and infamous Chicago politician/convicted felon Jim Laski. (All have since been fired by WGN management.)

    He forced his talk show hosts into him controlling every move they make on the air. Many small memos to staffers telling them how and how to not address callers on the air, forbidden words to say on the show, new station promos and branding, and more. He partied it up inside the Tribune Tower, hosting wine-tasting extravaganzas inside his office.

    Several veteran WGN staffers were fired: Steve Cochran, Kathy O'Malley, Judy Markey, Bob Sirott, Max Armstrong, Bill Moller, Alex Goldfayn, Dan Deibert, Wes Bleed, the list goes on and on. (All but Goldfayn and Bleed have since been hired back, but the pain still lingers.)

    At least Metheny won't have to fire any talk show hosts at KGO. They have already been fired.

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    1. AMEN, AMEN, AMEN................................

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  3. We at the station knew him as Ron Escargot.
    Not to his face.
    He never lived in SF.
    He flew home to LA every weekend and holiday.
    A nice guy, loyal to Cumulus even though he knew how badly they fucked up.

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    1. How the F did Karel manipulate him so? Does he have pictures or what?

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  4. The stories that Howard Stern told about this guy were horrendous and proved to be true. How does this guy keep getting hired with such a horrible track record? To me he has the mentality of a radio consultant or some of PD's I worked for, they can talk a good game but when it comes down to actually doing it they can't.

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    1. Ask Greg Jarrett. He has lots of memorable stories. I cannot think of Jarrett coming back to KGO now, but, It would be an interesting olive branch for Methany to offer before the nickname, "Pig Vomit" sticks once again in the Bay Area.

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    2. Known fact: After being fired from WGN as part of the Randy Michaels debacle at Tribune's WGN, he went to CBS Minneapolis to finish things off on WLTE (W-Light) and switch to Buz'n Country. He was hired as an "independent contractor" on a probationary tryout before being offered the PD job at the new country station. True story. That may be why he has had so many jobs. Offer to work as an intern-like position, hang around and maybe get the call to the big show. What a way to live.

      His working at WJR was a "keep your hands off" deal, as he is the King of Micromanagement. His fingerprints are everywhere.

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  5. Ron was a total pro and we thought he could be the person to help stop the bleeding here at KGO and KSFO. Atlanta would not let him do anything he wanted to then blamed him when ratings and sales didn't change.

    Now we are led by Pig Vomit, whom every respectable radio executive in the country agrees the only reason he keeps getting hired, despite a track record of destroying stations and jumping from job to job, is because Howard Stern made him famous by legendarily insulting him and his father was a long time radio guy.

    Guess the old saying is true, you can't fix stupid.

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    1. It's been my experience that this is just how business works. It's not about what you know but very much about whom you know. His family had the connections and Stern made him famous...that's it, check and mate.

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    2. His Father was, at least, a well-respected programmer and broadcaster. His son, not so much.

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    3. I looked at his LinkedIn, has many deep connections to the Cleveland market. He and I almost certainly know some of the same people. It's really a very small place.

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  6. Hey Karel, now that your BFF Lezcarsega is out, you might want to start organizing your things for your Garage Sale. Have Fun.

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    1. Doesn't Methany, "Pig Vomit" remind you, just a little, of "Dr. Evil" in the Austin Powers flicks? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. I worked in Philly when he ripped WIBG uo with his 25 song "Wizzard" format that lasted all of 20 minutes. It was unbearable to listen to. From 'Magic 61' to WTAM, KJR, WGN, WJR and so many others that never quite recovered, this is going to be a controversial, confrontational, confusing time ahead for KGO / KSFO.

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    2. @ 10:41PM You just sent me back in time with the Wizard 100 mention. The only thing worse was the Hot Hits format at WCAU-FM. The top 30 with no recurrents what a horrible time in radio

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    3. Nice post, Eric. You are so right. I never thought anything could come close to being worse than Wizard 100. "So bad, we couldn't even use the real frequency." The Michael Joseph re-incarnation of what he did so well with the "Pop Explosion" on WFIL didn't happen, as you mentioned, with "Hot Hits" on 'CAU-FM. Even Hy Lit an Jerry Blavet couldn't save it. So, what to do? Dump heritage call letters on 1210 to WOGL and make it even worse. Talk about trainwrecks and Metheny sure was one of the engineers and hack conductors that rain WIBG / WZZD off the rails for sure. Thanks for the memories.

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  7. Are you guys phony KGO employees? "Escargo" is a new one on me? He was not known as that behind his back. Are you a part time back room clerk? I temp hire? If not you should be. Go eff yourself. If Ron was a loyal Cumulus guy they would not have let him go. He did the job they gave him and what he's best at, but you can't fix years of destroying a premier radio station by chasing PPM stats. Yes it helps, but you can't force feed people peanuts plucked from poop and make them believe it tastes like a fine Thia noodle dish. Cumulus is just an ugly torturous band of idiots who have priorities so out of whack they set people up for failure. The only logical conclusion is failure is the strategy. Ah, the fine sound a Fahreed brand Wall Street financial wrecking ball so they can just steal from the employees later. It's that or the answer to their problems is right in front of their noses, but they are so busy sniffing each others asses they can't hear that "giant sucking sound" that is traffic on the fives from Dallas. And Dallas is just a symptom, not the disease.

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  8. This is the same as when as bad NFL head coach with a long resume of various positions keeps getting rehired.

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  9. All of us who have worked for many years in broadcasting, know that 'grey matter' is not high on the list of priorities among those hired to work in radio management. One has only to look at some of the nit-wits running stations today, and the brainless 'consultants' who do more to f...k up stations than help them. You have to have blinders on to work in this profession, because it's full of bloated egotists, toadying yes-men and yes women, and back stabbing fools, and unfortunately most of them work in management. It's unfortunately part of the human condition. Give most people any kind of power, money or recognition and it usually goes to their heads. There still are a few good people in radio management, but they're fast becoming an endangered species. As for Ron Escaraga? The last time he was seen walking through the hallways at KGO he had a strained look on his face and you knew something was not going right in his world.

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  10. "Spoken-word radio?" WTH is that? I guess, the term "Talk Radio" is out, since that requires some sort of conversation and if you don't have listeners, there's little chance of that, right?

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  11. No-one can fire a person like Vinny Mac

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  12. Just one nitpicky, hair-splitting note: Stern's nickname for Kevin Metheny at WNBC was "Pig Virus," and it was changed to "Pig Vomit" for Paul Giamatti's character when Private Parts became a movie.

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  13. Are we having fun yet???

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