THURSDAY RUNNER In the old days the local TV News stations shunned San Francisco locales for live shots --they pretty much ignored old stand-buys like City Hall, Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach, even the GG Bridge. The SOP was "go into the 'burbs--hit Walnut Creek, Pleasanton, Burlingame, just forget about the city."
In fact, the infamous and ubiquitous 415 Media favorite: the water fountain in Downtown Walnut Creek became every station's (most notably PIX's and KTVU) favorite place to do MOS interviews. Not so much the case today, as SF visual notables have come back to vogue.
For one, the city has been transformed (for better or worse) into Silicon Valley North. Tech nerds permeate the entire area. The Mid-Market region near the Twitter building is a parking nightmare (like everywhere else in the 415) but has become Ground Zero for live shots. In addition, notice KGO's entire back scene set is centered on the West end of the Bay Bridge. Like KGO, KPIX does the majority of its weathercasts outside the studios with the Bay Bridge outside. Pretty logical but not always featured.
San Francisco was shunned by the local outlets. The feeling was that while the city possessed beautiful post-card pictures ideal for backdrops, ownership felt (rightly so) that the folks in the suburbs wanted their own hometown featured; anything SF was taboo. SF was run by the wacky Board of Supervisors; SF was home to crazy politicians and in the center of the Castro district; what city and its citizens would embrace "Sister Boom Boom?"
The burbs are still visited quite frequently, just not as much in vogue as they were a few years ago. San Francisco, you are back in action. Herb Caen would be proud.
*I haven't seen all the Sweeps data from November because acquiring it is akin to walking into the Kremlin unannounced, but it seems KTVU did real well in the morning. "We killed", said my spy at Channel 2. KGO didn't kill but did real well as did KNTV in various time clusters. KPIX had flat numbers across the board prompting rumors of management shake-ups but I've been hearing that story for a long time now. We'll wait and see.
*It's fine that KGO-TV states a disclaimer about it being owned by Disney which distributes the Star Wars movie and excess. That said, the bombardment of stories that have occurred and are about to commence are wretched, combustible visual saturation X10. Look, I love Star Wars; saw the original movie in 1977 as a wide-eyed 15 year-old waiting in line outside the Coronet. It was cool and fun. Today, the entire Star Wars extravaganza is tired and old already and we haven't even seen the movie yet. The proverbial live shots of morons camping out in front of theatres with their family will be a Winter 2015 TV News staple.
*Ken Wayne and Julie Haener is perfectly capable news program while Frank Somerville is away.
*Ditto Juliette Goodrich and Ken Bastida at 6 on PIX. In fact, if they were smart, it would be this tandem on a permanent basis but common sense isn't so much a virtue at 855 Battery.
*I'll say it again: one of the most underrated reporters in town: KGO's Lyanne Melendez.
*Follow me on Twitter
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| Lyanne Melendez |
I agree that Lyanne Melendez is an excellent reporter. But, I don't know what makes you say that she's "underrated." By whom, and on what basis?
ReplyDeleteShe seems to have her share of assignments from among the Ch. 7 reporter corps. Is she noticeably underpaid? I should think that AFTRA would have a say, if that were the case.
Not to read Rich's mind, but I think he means that she has toiled in this market for more than two decades but perhaps doesn't receive the degree of attention or recognition that her solid, quality work deserves.
DeleteI always thought it was because they did not want to get their camera equipment stolen at gun point in SF...
ReplyDeleteThe same reason no live shots in Oakland. Obama voters.
DeleteSo, how are things in the Klan these days, 8:54?
DeleteKGO would put the Star Wars logo on a fucken dog turd & it would be the lead story at 6pm if they could get away with it. Han Solo's Ass...ASS!!!!
ReplyDeleteRich, I was also 15 years old and waited in line for Star Wars @ the Coronet back in 1977. It was very cool and fun at the time. I don't wait in long lines anymore for movies. Not a huge Star Wars fan, but will see this new one in a few weeks after it dies down. Don't like packed, noisy theaters.
ReplyDeleteHow come Kron 4 is ending its "rewards" program at the end of this month.....it was to help enhance viewers, but they never announced the Word of the Day until the last minute of a news show. Also, most winners of stuff came from radio station listeners.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see Star Wars at the Coronet, but at the Fairfield Cinema on Texas Street in the town of Fairfield, CA. I did see The Empire Strikes Back at the Coronet in 1980 as a 10-year-old, however, maybe two or three days after it was released. I remember the line was down Geary and around the corner, and I told my uncle, who had accompanied me that night, "There is no way we are going to get a seat!" But that cinema was enormous,and despite being in the part of the line that was standing around the corner, we got in and found seats together. It's still my favorite of the Star Wars movies and it I think it's also the most beautifully photographed, but I'm optimistic that I'm going to really like The Force Awakens. It's probably also my all-time favorite movie experience because of my age, my childhood love of Star Wars, and how that movie really delivered great entertainment. May happy memories of the Coronet live on forever !
ReplyDeleteStar Wars is on every channel in the universe - not just KGO. The Today Show was wall to wall Star Wars today and they have nothing to do with Disney. This could be the biggest entertainment event in decades. Your comments seem a little on the dark side.
ReplyDeleteKGO-TV once had a map of the Bay Area in the conference room where the day's main story meeting was held. News Director Harry Fuller put it there to remind producers where the viewers were. Each of the nine counties included in the market's ratings was marked with a percentage of the total potential viewership. San Francisco was, by far, the lowest, 15%. Santa Clara County was more than twice that.
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