Friday the 13th, 2015 will be remembered in history as Paris's 9-11--the terrorist attacks that took the lives of over 100 people, a number that is certain to rise in the coming days.The news broke mid-afternoon in the Bay Area. Local TV stations broke out of regularly scheduled programming and began taking their respective network feeds.
Soon, CNN, Fox News, and BBC in particular, were reporting on the massacres and sent their reporters to the location of the terrorist attacks. The soccer stadium scene where a large explosion could be heard was powerful enough and provided early evidence of the ensuing mass chaos.
On radio here, I give full credit to KGO for taking in its CNN Radio feed and dishing local coverage. It was a smart move because any local angle material was and is much too trivial --let those who have vast experience in international stories carry the coverage and details. We all know SF was on high alert, as was NY, LA, Chicago and other western cities. Paris was of main concern and CNN was the right choice.
KCBS also pretty much stuck to national CBS Radio coverage and KQED stuck with its NPR and BBC reporters.
Late Friday, KGO Radio's Pat Thurston hosted a great, albeit brief, one-hour talk show which provided a much-needed dose of reaction to the events of the day. The show would have been even better had Thurston had much more time. No dice. A Cal basketball game hijacked the timeline at 8 PM.
Ouch, well it was good while it lasted.
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Most American news organizations couldn't find France on a map, so how could they cover it?
ReplyDeleteMost Democrats couldn't couldn't find the US on a map let alone Europe.
DeleteHow is this published? Is this funny or witty?
DeleteMost Republicans wouldn't be able to find their penis if it wasn't screwed on.
DeleteAhh, the tolerance and celebration of diversity of the Bay Area loving liberals is on full display here!
DeleteSome are more equal than others, eh Napoleon (9:03)?
10:39 I think you got something wrong here. It seems to me that Democrats are more likely to know where France is than Republicans, seeing that they have more of a world view, not necessarily believe US is the ONLY great nation in the world, and before you attack me for not being patriotic, I didn't say US wasn;t great, I just insinuated that other nations might be great as well, or at least the people who were born there and live there think so, Frankly as far as I can tell many US citizens are very, very poor on geography. I was born in Denmark and went to school there in the fifties, a little country school with about 50 pupils, but before I was 14 I had learned all the capital's of all of Europe, plus the highest mountains, and largest rivers and lakes. I could find New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C. and San Francisco on a map, and although I could not recall all the States by heart, I certainly knew how many States there were and their names.
DeleteVive' Le' France!! Asshole!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think makes more money: Pat Thurston or #12 Ranked Cal Basketball?
ReplyDeleteDo you know how radio works?
Last night FOX News was reporting from morning in Paris while CNN was using evening footage.
Cal Football and basketball should be on a sports station, not a station that claims to have news and non-sports talk radio. I bet the ratings are so-so anyways, regardless of their ranking. I prefer Pat over any talker on the dial and most certainly college sports.
DeleteCNN, has terrible coverage and biased reporters.
Delete"Terrible coverage"
DeleteReally? Terrible how?
Such articulate criticism!
This is really a stupid comment; neither amusing or accurate.
ReplyDeleteI agree that KGO made the correct call yesterday. One of the few things they have done right the last few years. Pat is better than either one of their weekly daytime hosts and she should replace one of them.
ReplyDeleteI know a few mimes better than their daytime hosts.
DeletePat should take over the gawd awful Dreck show permanently. It's unlistenable just like Corey and Joel on 910. Or dump the 6 hours of John Batchelor late at night and give Pat 3 or 4 of those hours.
DeleteAgree totally, Pat or Christine, better yet bring back John Rothmann, either for Pat's week end show, or late night after Pat, or Pat from 7 to 10 p.m. then John Rothmann, then perhaps John Batchelor, I often find Bathelor's show interesting, although I don't agree with him, but he has good guests, is intelligent, and often does some interesting historic show, devoid of politics, but he does not need to be on 5 to 6 hours 6 days a week, Drex is dreadful as is Corey and Joel, and the worst yet is the 2 new guys on 910 from 4 to 6, Elvis and JB I think is the hosts, nothing intelligent, nothing that matters, totally mindless wasteland.
DeleteYou can always count on CNN for wall to wall coverage - whether you want it or not. At least two of their reporters are in Paris right now - they couldn't get there fast enough.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching coverage from Paris on KCSM, a public station based in San Mateo, channel 60-2 which is free over-the-air and on some cable systems. The feed is France 24, a live broadcast from Paris in English in a half-hour format. I find it better than BBC or CNN for international news.
ReplyDeleteI agree about KGO Radio's coverage. I spent a couple of days working on clearing out my Mom's house, for sale. The TVs are gone. I was listening to Chip Franklin when the story broke. The CNN join was perfect ... and they stayed with it. Pat Thurston had things well in hand on the "talk side." But, I said a few (not nice) words, when they went to the damn basketball game.
ReplyDeleteYou can change the station.
DeleteCan't change a contract.
Sports shouldn't even be on KGO. I hated when the 9ers were on there a few weeks while the Giants were still playing and get first dibs on KNBR.
DeleteWhy because KGO programming is so entertaining? I'll take Cal Basketball over the Drex show any day
Deletefox news was superb in their coverage of events in Paris....VERY timely..
DeletePeople who can't stand sports sure spend a lot of time online complaining about sports broadcasts disrupting whatever they'd rather be watching/listening to.
ReplyDeleteSo those people that brought you Black Lives Matter are furious that the events in Paris are grabbing all the attention from them. I wonder if they have ever listened to what they sound like?
ReplyDeleteWhat are you even talking about? Pure nonsense.
DeleteI agree that KGO made the right call to join CNN and mix in brief SF updates. The big story was in Paris and CNN covered it well. When KGO went off to the land of sports and infomercials, I switched to LBC in London. (Just possibly the last great talk station in the English speaking world) LBC's coverage was excellent all weekend. Nou sommes Paris!
ReplyDeleteOkay, Rich, HERE is the next Gene Burns, and you will NEVER guess where I have found him. No, I know little about sports, but I can spot a top radio commentator and call in host when I hear one.. Hands down it is DAMON BRUCE, riveting. a+ A clear strong voice.Objective, goes with the moment, faces what it is.. KGO should grab him and hand him the night spot or replace the mediocre Chip Franklin and give the night spot to fairly promising Pat Thurston. But Bruce is a talk show star.
ReplyDeleteTerrorist attacks fall squarely on the shoulders of Barrack Obama.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are weak you only embolden your enemies.
A terrorist attack in Paris France falls squarely on the shoulders of Barak Obama?
DeleteSurprised anyone that stupid can type.