TOM TOLBERT, if he had his way, wants out of KNBR and in a perfect world, would be doing a talk show on FM All-Sports, 95.7 'The Game." Which, coincidently, carries the Warriors and would make for a Tolbert-Tim Roye re-union; moreover, Tolbert would love to broadcast Warriors' games as a color analyst; do a Warriors=centric talk show and go in-depth with his close friend and college buddy, Steve Kerr, the coach of the Dubs.
Which brings us to the main point: Tolbert is disgruntled at KNBR. He's past two decades at the Bleeder but clearly, quietly, unhappy at his 2-6 PM gig horribly disfigured on the radio --part of the "TKB" show. Tolbert has been dealt a bad hand only has to put up with it for the time being because, one, he's under contract for at least one more year; KNBR needs him badly considering their dominance in the PM drive sports radio show is tied to Tolbert's popularity, even if the show he's on has been marginalized by the addition of two voices, one of which completely WRECKS the entire program.
I've been listening more and --I can't believe I'm saying this---Larry Krueger (who I generally like) has been much better with back and forths with TT; just the other day, a cogent, interesting, funny, dialogue took place with both Tolbert and Krueger; it had real momentum. Until Rod Brooks and his fake hyena laugh overwhelmed the entire senses and RUINED the discussion, the show. It went all downhill from there.
Tolbert can't stand Brooks but he can't say anything. Deep down he would like to but he can't for obvious reasons. It has zero to do with politically-incorrect issues; Brooks can't handle hand-offs so why should he be able to handle simple quips on the radio? He can't and part of it, to Brooks' defense is that 3 voices on the radio DON'T WORK. It's so simple yet mind-boggling that the idiotic PD at KNBR didn't know this conundrum in the first place. Maybe it's that reason he got the job. Clearly, he doesn't know how to program radio.
A Tolbert-Krueger show would be an eventual fine, funny, interesting program but in its present iteration has no chance. Brooks is in the way. Then again, KNBR had to place him some where because...
Krueger, I thought, was out of place, more suited for nighttime-heavy statistics and booster-club postgame caller-driven radio but as he showed with Gary Radnich (who was told to retire by KNBR) he can handle the Ed McMahon gig
For the first time in months I agree 1000% with Rich. Thank you for this. It actually deserves a "Good job, Big Vinny"!
ReplyDeleteWow, there's so much projection in this article I feel we need a screen to catch it all! We all know Rich's feelings about all things KNBR, but there's a lot of, well, biases showing up in his recent blog posts.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I'm curious what the sources are for saying Tolbert is unhappy and wants to leave. I read another media writer say when the new show was announced that Tolbert was happy with the change. I find it hard to believe they would have made this change if Tolbert wasn't on board. I wouldn't think they'd want to tick off one of their most popular hosts. Rich, obviously you aren't going to say who, but maybe it would help if you at least said "someone in KNBR" or "someone close to Tolbert".... etc. Maybe he is miserable and wants out, but without some reference to where this came from, it sounds like it's just presumption on your part with nothing backing it up.
DeleteSorry but Rich nailed this one. He was always too hard on Gary and has a weird hate for John Lund but he's absolutely correct in regards to TKB. What a shit show.
DeleteTotally agree that Larry could be an effective set-up guy for Tom. He's definitely an improvement over Ratto and Lund. Rod meanwhile just rambles; he doesn't seem to have any idea what he's going to say when he starts talking. I think he stutters so much because he's trying to think of something to say. I would dump Rod and give Tom & Larry a chance before blowing it all up.
ReplyDeleteWe're all different, but if I had to rank these 3 guys:
ReplyDelete1. Larry
100. Rod
1000. Tom
I don't get why people like to listen to Tolbert. Does he even talk about sports? I like beer, too. but one more reference to Pliny The Elder, and I'll blow my brains out. He just seems like a guy who is coasting through life, maybe doesn't need the paycheck, and doesn't give much thought to this gig outside of business hours.
Rod is more complicated. Great radio voice, and good sports knowledge (TM), but he tends to sound like he is filling time. Maybe that's the nature of the afternoon sports radio beast.
On the other hand, Larry always seems to be a totally engaged sports nerd. That's what I prefer (even at the end of the work day, when I'm primarily thinking about a beer).
rod brooks should go work for the fm station, he would be fit in better there with darryl and steiny and bonti or whatever thats called, everyone just rambles on about nothing, brooks would be perfect..
ReplyDeleteThe Papa /Lund thing is awful. They pop on I switch to NPR
ReplyDeleteI want to know the sources on this article. How does he know that Tom hates Rod. I thought the 3 of them went well together. Rod sometimes can be hard on Larry but overall they were a good trio. Curious to see what happens next though.
ReplyDelete