That KRON veteran anchor, Catherine Heenan, avoids Gary Radnich like the plague isn't big news around the Battery Media gulch; it's more Heenan has had it with the Rad man trying to spin it around his circle of buddies that all is well with him and her; that they're that practically bosom buddies.Not!
THIS AGAIN
Heenan is a proud and dedicated TV News woman and has profound respect from not only KRON staffers but Bay Area industry people as well. She tries to maintain a degree of respectability and cares not only about herself but her reputation and image too. She is no fool by any means even in the dark abyss at KRON and Raddy's tactics.
She wants ZERO to do with Radnich. She will only put up with his presence if she happens to be on the desk and he is working which is seldom if she has her way. She is profoundly embarrassed by his patronage and wants no part of his act. Heenan, the pro she is has maintained her dedication and grace under the most trying of circumstances while he giggles and belittles --everything is a joke to the Tenderloin twit who parks his car in the handicapped zone.
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| Pam Moore |
*If you like listening to local KCBS traffic people who know the area and provide the very best traffic news and data even on non-prime days then you just got screwed. CBS Radio just kicked its national traffic team to the curb. Ted Anthony, Mitch Thompson --know these folks? Come April they're probably looking for work. It's a cost-cutting move (isn't it always?) with you folks, the listeners, who rely on good, concise, LOCAL traffic reports, being screwed once again.
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| Justine Waldman |
Gary probably rips a fat one when he's on set & blames Catherine for it. Kinda like what Christine does when she's in the elevator at the Barnes & Noble in Santa Rosa.
ReplyDelete"It was you."
Catherine Heenan would not admit to "ripping one" and more likely would blame someone else.
DeleteWaldman is pretty much middle of the pack. I see her as most interested in being mama and making it on hubbies income if possible in the future.
ReplyDeleteRadnich turns on everybody the same as his jokes do. His spend a fortune second wife has put the old tired 70 year old trotting back and forth to KRON and KNBR ten times a day. No wonder he stopped obeying traffic,lane stripes, and handicapped parking signs- He's sick of driving too.
Plus- his spend it likes its water second wife is why he does the embarrassment of having minions go out and drum up "sponsorship" of KRON sports. There is no sponsor of KRON weather or traffic. So why sports?..it goes into Radnich pocket.
DeleteRadnich is a money whore. Like Lodes says,he cant say no if you wave a dollar in his face.
Any idea why KGO7 News at 11AM is using the old standby set instead of the new $$$ set?
ReplyDeleteKGO turned it into a granny flat and rented it to some google kids.
Delete$9,000 per month +util+free tv.
Say it ain't so about KCBS traffic one of the main reasons I listen to them while driving.
ReplyDeletePretty sure most News Directors in this country KNOW the KRON people are looking. EVERYBODY KNOWS the situation at KRON.
ReplyDeleteSorry but there is no room at any other station for these "KRON BoatPeople" refugees...matbe some of the younger women...
Stanley ain't getting my parking spot at the Oakland bart.
I sure do wish Polly Gonzalez was still alive, she'd be one of the best anchors we'd ever see in this crumbling market. There's a park named in her honor in North Las Vegas. Many of us miss her, and love her. What a tremendous loss, years ago.
DeletePolly Gonzalez was a San Jose native, if I recall. I remember seeing footage of both Gary Waddell and Paula Francis at her tribute in San Jose in a news segment when she was buried there. Totally agree on how professional she was.
DeleteTotal agreement of Polly Gonzalez. Looked forward to her anchoring when I lived in LAS. if I recall, she was interred in the San Jose area, as there was news footage of both Gary Waddell and Paula Francis making tributes at her memorial out there…
DeleteRemember when she said during the 94 L.A. quake...
Delete"It was like a funhouse".
Polly was a giant pain in the ass to work with, ask anyone who ever worked with her in Salinas or Las Vegas.
DeleteThe woman may have been a wonderful person...but she was an awful Journalist.
Her 4 minute self serving performance during the Northridge quake in 1994 was classic.
Polly pioneered "All about me" TV.
KCBS has a good mix of news, traffic and sports. The traffic reports are more important to me commuting on 680 or 80 to and from the North Bay to Walnut Creek or San Francisco. The traffic is even important on holidays and weekends. Why CBS radio would change a successful format when they are the only news station in the Bay Area makes no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteRich -
ReplyDeleteIs CBS Radio actually getting rid of the talent? The press release looks like (maybe) they're just providing the underlying data, although the company certainly does provide on-air services:
Radiate Media will supply CBS RADIO with customized traffic data for its over-the-air radio stations, operating in 26 markets throughout the U.S., as well as on corresponding station websites.
Pam Moore was loyal... she shoulda BEEN gone to better pastures.
ReplyDeleteKCBS would be making a HUGE mistake. While I know YOU don't care for this Rich, their stable, boring, predictability is what makes them an asset. I know that if I'm on 80 and traffic grinds to a halt. I know I can wait no more than 10 minutes and get a usually pretty good sit/stat on the traffic by folks who know the area. I know if a 3.5 quake shakes me awake at 3 in the morning, I know they will take a few calls from folks and talk you back to sleep, calming your nerves that most folks are ok and that instant community over the air waves has always been reassuring. Sure there's Twitter, I just feel better that Rusty in Montclair called in to describe the shaking and that his house is OK and that his wife Betty slept right through it but the dog was at his bedside ready to assist his owner. Those kinds of moments make KCBS. I know when my alarm goes off at 4:57 (right before the traffic and weather), that the world is either ok or some ish went down overnight based on the tone and cadence of the news report. Be wary of too much change KCBS... just look up the dial to 81.
No doubt, Pam Moore is a very nice person, She has longevity and a base level of major-market competence. I hope she can retire on her own terms when she decides the time is right.
ReplyDeleteThis market has fallen into the abyss. Bravo to Heenan for standing up to that fart bag blow hard. What a loser he is. Meanwhile, CBS is fucking up a great thing by getting rid of the local traffic people. Guess you'll have some millennial minimum wage dickhead in Dallas mispronouncing San Francisco street names starting in April. You might as well have that Theus woman do the traffic on radio too. Yet another chance to fuck up. Hope the good KRON 4 people like Danon, Fletcher and a few others get the hell out of the sinking ship. Leave Folsom there. They'll need a flotation device.
ReplyDeleteA couple days on KNBR, Radnich commented on something that made me think of the Radnich/Heenan incident. He mentioned that if a colleague flubs up, he's okay if they just admitted it on air. Which is exactly what Heenan did when she saw that her mention of Space Jam 2 seemed to step in Radnich's domain. As she said, she doesn't pick who presents the stories, it's the floor producer. But he couldn't let it go, got personal, and looked like the horse's ass prima donna he is. He's almost Trumpesque in his denial of what everyone else sees and hears come out of his mouth or watches on the screen. He lives in a self-deluded bubble.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to KGO's live copter updates?
ReplyDeleteAt one time they had planes and helicopters flying all over the bay area.
Just another example of the changing landscape of local radio.
Recycling the same old names and storylines.
ReplyDeleteStep it up and go national.
Will Dave Lewis and the weekend sports anchors be replaced? I believe they're also employed by the company Total Traffic Network? that supplies the traffic people I thought Kim Wonderly and Sheryl Raines are/were? CBS employees. When they started outsourcing traffic I think the AFTRA contract stipulated that AM and PM traffic reporters had to be CBS employees
ReplyDeleteI don't think any CBA stipulates any person or daypart be CBS employees, though Wonderly and Raines are, almost all the rest are not. Dave Lewis reports sports, not traffic, so he would be unaffected.
DeleteWhen I travel any distance on the freeway I tune in to KCBS. If there is a traffic issue I tune to KCBS. The only stations I play on my radio in the car and at home are KCSM KCBS and Brian Copeland of KGO. These radio stations seem to pride themselves on shedding listeners.
ReplyDeleteThe traffic reporters on KCBS will be going away, except for Kim Wonderly, who is a KCBS employee. The others work for the current traffic provider. Traffic information will be provided by Radiate from outside the market and, hopefully, they will either hire their own people to staff at KCBS or poach the current lineup to maintain credibility. What they will most likely do is pipe in cheap talent from out of market who will mispronounce everything like the reporters on KGO do.
ReplyDeleteGiving one more reason to abandon terrestrial radio entirely - and depend solely on Waze...
DeleteDamn I'm gonna miss Sky1Ron Instagram photos during his traffic patrols. No... seriously
ReplyDeleteKCBS has always contracted out the traffic reporting, with the exception of Wonderly and Raines, to Metro Networks, until they were acquired by Total Traffic Network, which is owned by Clear Channel. Radiate Media supplies talent for radio and tv, but it honestly looks like they're getting out of the talent business and focusing on data and web products. I would be surprised if the KCBS/Total Traffic partnership ended, though not shocked because, alas, we're talking about radio.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rich for reporting on the dismal takeover of KCBS from the outsider "Radiant" who will outsource our local traffic reporting to Dallas! It may not be glamorous, but those airborne reports, as well as the local reports we all depend on and find on even the secondary reports found on Alice and 99.7 among others. These negotiations were underhanded without any knowledge of those intimately involved. ..this should outrage anyone who listens locally. TTWN covered KCBS for the last 30 years before they were blindsided by this money grabbing takeover. This corporate rape has no interest in local coverage and could care less about the market. That means all of us as a commuting force. Be outraged!!! The audience DOES have a voice if only you made a few phone calls. Make a statement, get angry..radio was meant to be a community service, yet they believe you're too stupid to give a shit.
ReplyDeleteRadiant would probably try to base the traffic reporters outside of SF so they can convert it to a non union operation with a lower pay scale than what Total Traffic pays. Shadow/Metro workers had an AFTRA contract I believe Clear Channel took them over without a union contract but eventually agreed to one when it went to iheart or Total traffic. I think Clear Channel agreed to union representation so a sale or reorganization could go thru. Radiant and upper level CBS management probably don't care if traffic is done by some unqualified people outside of SF. In the Shadow/Metro days they had to get the KCBS KGO and other people approved by Jack Swanson, Ed Cavengero or PDs at other music stations. I don't know if Jack Swanson could veto the traffic reporters supplied by Radiant. If Radiant does set up shop in SF I don't know if they're obligated to accept the current contract or if they could rehire people from total traffic at a lower payscale. I believe Total Traffic would have to pay substantial severance to people like Ted Anthony Ron Cervi and others who've been there since the late 90's or early 2000. Do any anonymous people out there know if any or all of this is correct?
DeleteRich do you know what will happen to great traffic people like Sheryl Rains, Mitch Thompson, Erica Kato etc? Radio traffic reporters are head and shoulders above TV traffic reporters, thats for sure
Delete@10/29 12:27a, you're mostly correct. Individual stations that have contracts with Total Traffic Network still have absolute authority over who does or does not grace their air. Since Radiate made a deal with CBS Corporate, KCBS would ultimately have to do whatever their NY people want them to do. However, KCBS is the crown jewel of CBS's entire radio portfolio, so I have a hard time believing corporate would want to mess with the wildly successful local formula, and throwing out KCBS's entire traffic operation which, keep in mind, is the only reason why most of the KCBS audience tunes in at all, would definitely fuck up the formula. Not just because of the unfamiliar voices, more so because Radiate's data products are dog shit, mostly because the data gathering takes place in Chicago and Philly by even more poorly paid, overworked bees.
DeleteI don't think any local talent have anything to worry about for now, though I could be wrong. Severance checks are NOT a hangup for any corporate radio broadcasting entity. Traffic reporters on the radio don't make that much money, and the CBAs aren't exactly a cash cow. They have pensions, but that doesn't affect any corporate bottom lines.
The way I read the PR from CBS Radio, this does not affect the current KCBS/Total Traffic relationship since Radiate is specifically tasked with handling national radio business, not local. At most, Radiate may handle the local traffic data that goes out to Garmin units and web products. Traffic anchors rely on those data products too to get current info for their reports. Good traffic anchors can, and already do, get that info themselves directly from CHP dispatch and other sources, like Google Maps.
If I'm wrong and Radiate takes over Total Traffic's KCBS contract, it's likely Radiate would keep everyone where they are and they would be legally obligated to honor the SAG-AFTRA CBA that Total Traffic/Clear Channel signed. Unless someone at SAG-AFTRA stupidly included a severability clause for situations such as this. Dumber things have ended up in CBAs, but let's stay optimistic.
Different story, however, when the term of the current contract comes to an end. Radiate does not in any way have to agree to anything with SAG-AFTRA and in fact, since Radiate's main selling point to corporate partners is "we're cheaper," I would assume they'd categorically ignore anything SAG-AFTRA wants to say. Granted, that would probably be very little anyways.
But that's just one anonymous writer's opinion.
Oh!, and @10/29 2:13p - I'll give you the first two, but Erica Kato is dog shit. You must have missed her reports during the Doyle Drive closure a few years back. She recommended people in S.F. looking to drive to Marin take the Bay Bridge, stay on 80 to Richmond, then take the /San Rafael bridge to 101 in the North Bay. Keep in mind, the Golden Gate Bridge was still wide open, only Doyle Drive was closed, but anyone with half a brain could've told you that. I feel for the lost souls that took her advice on that unnecessary, hour plus detour.