Thursday, May 5, 2016

Back In The Saddle; KCBS Shines on Trump Victory; Sandalow and Sovern Analysis Pitch Perfect; KRON New Hire Passes Over Heenan and Stone; 'KTVU Plus' Needs Legit Breaking News; Tolbert on Warriors' Playoff Radio: Great, Just 86 The Jokes; 415 Media Rundown







Moving forward and onward; thanks for the support and kind words --walking near the bay and breathing fresh air helps too.

*The biggest gap in this town was on full display Tuesday night; as news poured in from the Indiana Primary and Don Trump's BIG victory over Ted Cruz, (who subsequently dropped out) I saw no real TV News political analysis; in fact, the best summations came from radio on KCBS. Its political analyst, Marc Sandalow, offered the very best up-to-date spin on Trump's victory and how he (like many others) thoroughly underestimated The Donald's political fortunes. After Sandalow's two cents came Political Reporter, Doug Sovern, who explained now that Trump is effectively the GOP nominee, California's primary would be insignificant now--how true.


Catherine Heenan/KRON photo
*The big news at KRON is not the new hire that will join Pam Moore on its evening newscasts; rather the view from Insiders as to why Catherine Heenan was passed over. I mean, I don't know about you but Heenan can still deliver the goods and is still on her game. Maybe that's not good enough but Heenan would like to know, I hear.


Vicki 2015 bio pc full res
Vicki Liviakis/KRON photo
*Where KRON got it right: promoting Vicki Liviakis from weekend to a prime weeknight slot. Amen, as those of you who come here regularly know by now.

*I'm prone to rip KRON and its management; duh! But I salute its decision to add another newscast (at 10 PM); let's just hope the new addition isn't going to be mostly reruns from earlier newscasts.

*Last KRON item: I have no idea why "Antenna TV" was 86ed from KRON's digital platform. But I sure got a lot of questions from readers. Folks, so you love old TV shows, I get it, try going to You Tube.

*KTVU Plus will be handy in the event of, say, a natural disaster like an earthquake and other legitimate breaking news. Other than that, its simply an extra KTVU platform. Those splashy new ads heralding its launch are sort of overblown, just my opinion.

*Oh, sorry, one last KRON item: as long as we're talking about passed-over anchors who might be ticked over the latest hire, we bring you underrated J.R. Stone who might be slightly shaking his head.

*For those that think you have to have riveting idiots on local TV News to draw a younger demo I offer you Cecilia Vega, late of KGO-TV and the Chronicle and now the weekend prime anchor on ABC News. Smart, cool, and yes, damn great-looking. What a concept.

*Sports-Talk radio transactions in the afternoon; I knew about it but really, who cares? Between the updates disguised as "news" and commercial overload, the existing ten minutes of real time content per hour doesn't warrant any big coverage here.

*Hey, Tom Tolbert on Warriors radio playoff games-- I like your analysis; the spot-on takes; the winning chemistry with PBP guy, Tim Roye, but constructive criticism, Tom: too many jokes and pop-culture references ruin an otherwise perfect broadcast.

*415 Media Question to anybody: who's bigger now, Warriors or SF Giants?

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38 comments:

  1. Aveson grew up in the Bay Area. J.R. Stone didn't.

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    1. James H Sharky Hankel, Mayor, Minden, NEMay 5, 2016 at 4:10 PM

      I, Mayor Hankel, do hereby heartily endorse Donald J Trump for President of The United States!! YES!! Oe Amazing Grace.

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  2. Cate Heenan's face is becoming rounder and more full as time goes on. Her news director may see that as looking too matronly. I disagree, and I'm fine with female broadcasters not looking 21, but that is usually how the business goes. No, it aint fair.

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  3. Does KRON have the greatest collection of lead anchors older than 50? Darya, Pam Moore, Heenan, Radnich. I'm assuming Liviakis is close as well?

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  4. KRON is afraid of quality. That's why they passed over Catherine Heenan and allow Pam Moore to flub her lines every night, night after night. She clearly doesn't pre-read before going on air, thinking she can wing it because she's a long-time vet. But she can't, and she sucks, and she ought to be ashamed. And KRON ought to be ashamed they're making such little use of Heenan, one of their best talents.

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    1. FYI,
      Pam does not only pre-read her scripts but also has to double check facts because of the poor quality of writing and reporting at KRON. And do not forget that she is doing over 3 hours of SINGLE ANCHOR broadcasts! Sure she will flub a line sometimes (mostly names by the way) but no other anchor in this market is asked to do what she does on a daily basis.

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    2. In defense of Pam, she is incredibly dedicated to her job and as long as I've known her, she not only pre-reads and dissects every line written for her, but she will call the writer or producer to discuss any issues with the copy if she has any. Sucks? I think not.

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    3. Pam Moore tries to read every piece of copy she can before going on air. She also tries to verify every questionable fact she comes across. Unfortunately, because of the poor writing at KRON she can't catch everything but not because of effort. She does this while single anchoring three and a half hours of newscasts. Something NO other anchor in this market is asked to do or probably can do.

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  5. Who's bigger? The team that plays in a major league city. The San Francisco Warriors will be HUGE once their new arena opens.

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  6. I agree, I have always liked Vicki! Good job KRON. Looks like the managers at KRON are starting to consume their smart pills, while the managers over at ABC7 are saying, "What are smart pills?"

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  7. Catherine Heenan has been "passed over" for the last 20 plus years, even before her face became rounder. Obviously, previous KRON news directors did not see her as a main anchor, or a desired mother figure.

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    1. Yep. Stupidity is widespread, so it's not surprising past NDs haven't recognized Heenan. They want someone who hypes the news. Catherine's just intelligent and even-keeled...two of the fastest ways to lose your job in that industry.

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    2. If Heenan is such a "quality" broadcaster why hasn't any other station wanted her in the past 20 plus years? Oh yeah...they are all stupid.

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  8. Two teams going in different directions.

    Warriors: Record setting defending NBA Champions, who are winning (in the playoffs) without a player who is considered by many to be the best guard in the history of the game. Good luck trying to get insanely expensive ticket(s).

    Giants: 84 wins last season; pitching is currently 24th in the majors/team is one game over .500; relying on goofy "even year" and goofier Amy G good luck charms. If their pitching doesn't improve soon, you will likely see more empty seats at Third and King.

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    1. You left out the part about them being in 1st place right now.

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    2. Thankfully they are in the NL West, where they can have the worst record for a 1st place team in all of MLB.

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  9. Amy G. is such a disgrace to this business. The Giants would do better with a child from Special Olympics!

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  10. Great Giants/Warriors question and one that hasn't been discussed much to my knowledge.

    The Warriors have always had a strong legion of fans, even when they were horrible -which for me, is as long as I can remember them with the exception of the Run TMC days.

    I agree with the San Francisco Warriors being a huge deal and making them a bigger story than the Giants.

    Baseball is a grinding season and a game that tries to stay true to its past while gouging fans for everything from parking to a damn hot dog. The NBA is more entertaining, people young and old like it, and they don't try to hang onto this lore of old.

    To me, the Warriors are a bigger deal and as the population continues to age, older fans disappear, the Warriors will be the King of bay area sports.

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    1. Not to mention, the average age of a baseball fan these days is 56. That's average age.

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    2. Yep, the NBA doesn't hang on to the old stuff.

      Jerry West logo, awards/honors named after past players and executives, statues of past players and announcers outside of arenas, retired numbers and championship banners hanging inside arenas, fans reminiscing about the Run TMC days, ugly brown basketball, and rules/court dimensions that have remained unchanged for decades.

      During crowd shots, I see more kids at baseball games than I do at the NBA glamfests. But maybe I am mistaken. Maybe they are height-challenged elderly people in disguise.

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  11. if you've sailed on the qeen anna maria 50 years ago, you know liviakis is a greek name! many americans are culturally unaware, actually you don't mind pop culture refs and jokes from Tolbert, beause he usually never sugarcoats the reality of a game. fitz and brooks must have a good savings account because they don't sound worried due to shortened schedule. btw, watch out for any doctor's advice when it comes to drugs, their overprescribed ''drugs'' are deadly ,no joke. watch over friends and relatives who may be ill. the media is partially responsible for medical brainwashing ,so covering media is in line with protecting health.

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  12. Warriors vs. Giants....

    If you're asking who is the bigger attraction, on an overall basis, I'd still say Giants.

    If you're just asking about who is bigger in the momentary timeframe of Apr-May 2016....it's definitely the Warriors. But that's not really a fair comparison.

    5 weeks in to a 162-game regular season just can't compare to the playoffs for a team that broke the NBA's hallowed single season wins record. The Warriors are doing something that's never been done before in pro sports. One game over .500 after one month? That's been done.

    But the same would be true if this was the Sharks. If the Sharks were the defending Stanley Cup champs, in a season where Joe Pavelski broke Wayne Gretzky's scoring records, I'd say the Sharks were bigger than the Giants, too. They're not, but in the moment, playoff run vs regular season, they would be a thing.

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  13. A new company bought out KRON back in January. The loss of Antenna TV could be a precursor to other changes. Antenna TV also featured a lot of interstitial content of vintage KRON personalities such as Pete Wilson, as well as vintage shots of San Francisco and the Bay Area. That link to KRON, the news station, has now been eliminated with the new, faceless oldies TV network Get TV. The fact that they changed from Antenna TV, which features more expensive vintage programming, to the cheaper GetTV (which is already broadcast on channel 14, at that) must indicate something is up, if not now, then in the future. I can't see KRON really continuing in its present form. Their news gathering is primitive and cheap (not even high-def, outside of the studio shots). They may eventually drop the news department altogether, or reduce it. Maybe the addition of the 10 o'clock programming is a test of which news program times are the best, so they can get rid of one or more 'casts or possibly use rerun content in some of the news slots.

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  14. I miss the Johnny Carson reruns on antenna tv.

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  15. Fartsssss O. SchlameilMay 5, 2016 at 7:18 PM

    Hi, radio fans!

    Cumulus reported 1Q net revenue down 0.9% and the net loss went further in the red, a loss of .06 per share. Delisting is not far off, and their share price is $.035...that's "ZERO-point-three-five".

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    1. What is it. "zero point three five" or "$.035?"

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    2. They need a 4 to 1 stock split to generate more interest in this professionally ran Company. That would mean each share would be valued at $.00875. People all over the Country would be calling their Brokers!!

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    3. It's that mean old decimal point, it always causes problems! Who in the hell invented that thing anyway! I flunked many a math test because of that "stooped" thing!

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  16. Meh. KCBS is biased and pushes a liberal Democratic agenda. When oil was ridiculously overpriced at $100 a barrel -- they repeatedly would have some clown from Cal on justifying it while harping on how the time for renewable energy like wind and solar had come. Meanwhile, analysts were noting oil was piling up in storage tanks and supertankers worldwide and how the whole run up couldn't be justified.

    On the political front, their pundits repeatedly badmouth Trump while ignoring Clinton's boatload of lies and half-truths. Dave Ross has a daily segment where he does nothing but badmouth Trump. It's so biased it shouldn't be picked up - - even if it's an opinion piece.

    Feinstein and Boxer are completely useless as Senators representing this state -- yet they report nothing. Jerry Brown's $13B bridge is a complete disgrace, yet KCBS doesn't say a word -- waiting for the Chronicle to break stories about just how bad that situation is.

    No wonder its ratings are so high. They serve up the liberal slop -- and the liberals lap it up without question.

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  17. Catherine Heenan, or should I say, the 'thought' of Catherine Heenan helped turn me from a boy into a man. She is a sacred Bay Area News institution. Untouchable.

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    1. You have issues. Please get help.

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  18. Gee, what team is bigger this minute... I would go with the one in the playoffs over any team just starting the season. If Raiders, Niners or Giants are deep in the playoffs at the end of their particular seasons--ask again.

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  19. Either the Warriors or the KNBR Northern California Honda Dealers Radio Network (feat. SO Giants)

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  20. Any truth to the rumor that Fitzgerald will be relieved of his Warrior duties? Honest question. Thanks.

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  21. I'm hearing the same rumblings that Fitz will be out next year.

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  22. KNTV- please pick up Antenna Tv. Kron goofed when they dropped this great retro tv channel.

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