SUNDAY BREAKFAST
I don't remember a week that would place the North Bay Wildfires as Topic A in Bay Area newsrooms --one full week of extraordinary coverage (quite legitimately) and by and large, a top-notch effort by most of the TV/Radio crew. Some things, some people, some anchors and reporters stood out, some did not.
*KGO-TV and KTVU get "most comprehensive" coverage. KGO went 11 hours straight early Monday into late in the day, with no commercials ...KTVU too, which ran virtually all press conferences and utilized it secondary station, "KTVU Plus" --switching network programming to the outlet and keeping firestorm reports on KTVU. It was both logical and just.
*KRON gets ripped here a lot (justifiably) but canning its sports reports made a lot of sense.
*KPIX went gonzo on coverage but a majority of its reporters need to figure out the geography --it would be very useful.
Some standouts:
Mark Ibanez, KTVU's senior sports anchor who lives in Napa, who took off his baseball cap and delivered multiple live shots, all of which were both useful and necessary especially from someone who knows the territory.
Allen Martin, KPIX, was especially effective out on the front line as a reporter; most anchors will tell you field reporting makes an anchor earn their stripes, not reading copy inside a studio. Martin scored bigtime; as much as I criticize him for his lack of warmth, I've never doubted his news acumen.
Dan Ashley is a steady presence in the anchor chair and was most effective both from the studio and as an astute interviewer which requires a lot of ad-libbing, a foreign art in the Bay Area except in the case of the lead KGO anchor; on the weekend, Carolyn Tyler was top-tier --so too NBC Bay Area's Terry McSweeney.
On KTVU, Frank Mallicoat guided the ship. I wish I could say the same for Claudine Wong but Wong was remarkably unremarkable. I'm being kind too.
Weather stars:
1. Sandhya Patel/KGO
2. Paul Deanno/KPIX
3. Lisa Argen/KGO
Honorable mentions: Mark Tamayo/KTVU and Drew Tuma/KGO
*Ouchers:
*Jessica Flores/KPIX: oh dear god, market#6; she's out of her league. Sorry, but I'm being honest.
*Rosemary Orozco/KTVU weather: she may look great but there's a reason why KTVU left her off the primetime newscasts in the evening. Orozco clearly doesn't know enough to get 10 PM status on the firestorm story otherwise she would have been there --instead we got a boatload of Bill Martin. I don't know about Martin anymore who seems more fixated on talking rather than forecasting --Martin was front and center on KTVU's newscasts but I was underwhelmed with his work.
RADIO:
KCBS, hands down the winner of radio coverage. KQED a simple adequate ...did not get a chance to listen to KSRO but am told their coverage was top notch.
KGO/7 actually went 25 HOURS on the North Bay wildfires Rich ! They went directly from their 11pm news into fire coverage. Matt Keller and Drew Tuma did a fantastic job until the hand off to the day crew. They were the only ones on the air ALL NIGHT and should be commended for their work as slowly but surely their field reporters were able to get north to report on the fires. You also neglected to mention the fine work done by KQED/88.5 not just in their reporting which was picked up by PBS but also in the special broadcasts and extended Forum's which allowed folks to share info and stories. Mina Kim's reporting from Napa was very good. It was wonderful to see so many of the reporters shaking hands with the fire guys + gals and the cops and thanking them for coming to help us.
ReplyDelete> I don't know about Martin anymore who seems more
ReplyDelete> fixated on talking rather than forecasting
They're all doing this on KTVU--Ibanez too. I have a feeling they laid off more writers/producers and are looking for more ways to fill time. Story count seems to be down, and they're filling the difference with chit-chat, presumably to save money.
I live in Yountville and the two Napa stations (AM & FM simulcast) are doing an excellent job.
DeleteThe KDFC 89.9 transmitter out of Angwin is out. I don't know if it was destroyed or what. I plan on giving them a call on Monday.
Rich, were you aware that we are now Market #8?
KSRO has been on top of this 24-7 since the outset. the best disaster coverage i've ever heard on air! kudos to Pat Carrigan & the entire 1350 family!
ReplyDeleteI agree, re: Ibanez and Martin.
ReplyDeleteI saw a clearly (and understandably) fatigued and stressed Ibanez file a report on one of his scheduled days off. At the time, the fire was burning very close to his Napa home. It was a stellar performance; a demonstration of Mark's professionalism, dedication, and skills under the most trying of circumstances.
Allen Martin's reports from Santa Rosa were clear, firm, poised, accurate, and reliable. He came across as the veteran reporter that he is.
KGO-TV and KTVU did a great job on the north bay fire.
ReplyDeleteAs for the chit-chat on all the stations...I must say Joe Friday on Dragnet had it right... 'Just the facts, ma'am'? I'm so sick of the chit-chat-crap on all the stations that I find myself yelling at the TV and that's not good.
"On KTVU, Frank Mallicoat guided the ship. I wish I could say the same for Claudine Wong but Wong was remarkably unremarkable. I'm being kind too."
ReplyDeleteSomeone has pointed her out a few times on here............
On the sports front: Comcast isn't doing a Raider postgame show. None. Not even delayed to Sunday night.
ReplyDeleteI don't miss it. They are not a local team.
the Las Vegas Traitors. Traitor Nation.
DeleteA well written blog Rich. I think we can conclude the ABC 7 news has by far the best overall talent. I thought they did an outstanding job covering what is a very difficult situation.
ReplyDeleteNot only does Jessica Flores have any idea where she's reporting from, she can't properly pronounce the locations she's referring to!
ReplyDeleteABC7 put their new co-anchor, Dion Lim, right into the fire. She did an amazing job.
ReplyDeleteFor her first weekend, anchoring with Eric Thomas, she again was phenomenal at the anchor desk.
KZST in Santa Rosa flipped from music to live news coverage for a week, despite having to evacuate the station at one point and having no phone service. They were amazing and used the airwaves to get people the info they needed.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!
DeleteI have a friend who lives near the Larkfield area, and they relied exclusively on radio reports for most of last week. KZST provided a vital service to the community.
One thing I noticed about KSRO's coverage is that they have completely disowned the AM frequency. The station has two small FM translators and they now refer to the station as "FM NewsTalk KSRO, never once mentioning 1350 AM. That's their perogative but I also noticed that they are neglecting to even give a legal ID at the top of the hour for the AM which is totally illegal. I'll be contacting the FCC this morning about it.
ReplyDeleteNo. It's not totally illegal not to give a staion ID at the top of the hour. FCC says when a natural break in programming occurs. We used to bury the ID at many of our music stations.
DeleteIIRC, the strong suggestion is to give the station ID/freq/location at the top of the hour, but there's a 10-minute leeway...
DeleteAmy Hollyfield of KGO is the best LIVE reporter in the Bay Area. IMHO, she doesn't get the accolades she deserves. Her
ReplyDeletereport of a Livermore fire crew who worked for 28 hours straight to save six homes in Sonoma was the best personal story of this disaster.
dear Stan...yes the Raiders are leaving..but this "not a local team"...gave a million dollars for fire victims, locally fyi
ReplyDeleteTax write off from the team that gypped cheerleaders,Coloseum parking income,and of course Alameda County in general.
DeleteYOU paid for what the Raiders "gave".