Tuesday, December 22, 2020

No Morning Magic on The Game (95.7 FM) Still; Warriors' Opener Doesn't Help; FM Stagnant; KGO Close to Killing Saturday; KTVU Sound is Awful (Still) Tuesday Tosses

 A FEW MONTHS and virtually no buzz and notice.


If you listen or gave some time to invest in the "new" morning show on 95.7 FM (The Game) tell me what you think. You're the exception. I haven't heard a thing, which pretty much sums up the new show. They can try every concoction and label it new and exciting and the end result is the same. The same as its always been. The Game isn't any different and its lack of signal will always make it difficult, if not impossible, for it to register anything of significance on the Bay Area's sports radio radar.


Moreover, The Game is the flagship station for the Warriors but the Warriors aren't very good anymore and basketball on radio doesn't really work here, never has. I do like Warriors' PBP broadcaster, Tim Roye, I always have. But that doesn't translate into high ratings.


*The problem (among many) with FM radio here is they (stations) all sound alike. There is no standout FM outlet, maybe a few: KCSM, a small station dandy, 89.1 (big band) and KQED every now and then for a news event. The rest? Just background noise and not distinctive at that. FM needs a bold ID check but that isn't happening anytime soon.


*I'm also expecting anytime soon the announcement from KGO Radio that they've cancelled their Saturday live programming (John Rothmann 5-8 PM) as they most likely will do any day now. Not that I'm shocked because the Saturday show was designed to inform the Bay Area listeners on Covid-19 status. Even as the virus spreads and is out of control, don't expect KGO to reconsider (as it should) and keep the Rothmann show on Saturday. It's a shame too but oh well...


*Speaking of The Game, they're getting killed by KNBR in the morning and especially afternoon. No big news there only the wide distance gets wider and The Game can't win and they know it. Entercom knows it too but continues to live and operate in denial. If they blew it all up and decided to clean house and hire fresh voices then I'd respect them more but they continue to go with retreads and hash out the same hash.


*The "Ronn Owens Report" is on vacation until Jan. 4th. The Bay Area is mourning.


*KTVU continues to broadcast its news with lousy and amateur remote broadcasts from home venues --Julie Haener at her house in Danville looks and sounds incredibly awful and distorted. You would think Fox would fix an obvious problem but Fox obviously doesn't give a darn.


*The whole Bay Area TV/Radio line-up is embarrassing. Everyone pretty much has gone home leaving us with second and third-tier fill-ins. December is dark and dreary. 2020-style. 



24 comments:

  1. "Moreover, The Game is the flagship station for the Warriors but the Warriors aren't very good anymore and basketball on radio doesn't really work here, never has."

    Have you forgotten about Warriors' radio broadcasts by Bill King?

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    1. Bill King on basketball was like listening to the Bard read one of his own plays. "Fritz (Williams) tatoos the dribble up the left side". Was there ever a sportscaster who could build to a crescendo and come back down, in and out of the emotion and energy of a game like BK?

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    2. Nobody ever did basketball like Bill King. He was incredible. Calling out the refs (by name), reviewing the 'cogent' statistics, 'holy Toledo', etc. Remember, in those day, most of the games were on radio only.

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  2. The Warriors will be competive and entertainning this season at least on paper and I am actually looking forward in watching the Game tonight, ofcourse with the sound down, if Fitz is doing the play x play but maybe it will be a National game becaue they are playing KD and the Nets.

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  3. Most stations went to pot when the FCC changed the regulations and allowed big heartless companies to buy everything in site. There are a few small stations around, but very few. And they have consultants saying "Play these 88 songs over and over and over.

    Up here in the Reno/Sparks area we have a Eighty's station that has a lot wider playlist then most others and you'll hear some gems every so often that others won't play.

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  4. Surprised that KNBR is doing so much better than The Game. Both morning shows SUCK!!! M and M are very immature and Papa and Lund just don't work in my humble opinion. What I'm I missing??

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  5. What management needs to do with 95.7 the Game is to buy another FM station or switch to AM so it could reach more of an audience in the South Bay too...get rid of the morning show and put in either Colin Cowherd or Jim Rome Show...then you will have a nice solid radio audience...

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    1. 1050 used to have Colin Cowherd in the morning, and has carried the Jim Rome show for years, so I doubt they would help 95.7

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    2. History shows the nationally-syndicated shows like Dan Patrick's didn't do well in Bay Area ratings.

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  6. Regarding KTVU's quality from the newscasters' homes, I think part of it will involve how much the newscaster will let the IT engineer/tech and the internet provider modify one's home with new wiring for a better placed router. Perhaps better mics and cameras could also be employed but that takes time, money, and someone insisting the newscaster accept these hardware changes. Overall, money is being saved at the expense of lower video & sound quality.

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    1. I love that you all think we have all of these people to set things up at our houses. It's US, JUST US. Doing the best we can while working for cheap, incompetent management. So yeah, they don't pay for our internet service or cameras or laptops. WE DO. And frankly all that considered, it looks a HELL of a lot better than it should.

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  7. I watched KGO's evening cast the other night for the first time in a long time and was shocked how amateurish it looked. Reporters who all look to be in their 20s and an attempt to grab the Millennial market that is so transparent it is embarrassing. I'd expect this from a small-to-medium market but not the Bay Area! Since Trixie's coup that station is crapola.

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  8. Try listening to KPOO-FM 89.5 in SF which is non-commercial with solid blues, jazz and R&B music that I don't hear on other stations. I can hear it in the East Bay if I twist the radio around for better reception.

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  9. The Game's program is crap. They changed a lineup during a pandemic and all these people were working from home? How do you get rhythm and camaraderie working from home?

    Kate Scott sounds like she's interviewing everyone and Damon's show is basically 3 guys in a circle-jerk interviewing each other, all with boring ass takes.

    Dan Dibley, Ryan Covay, Butcher and Matt Kolskie are the only reasonably talented people on that radio station at this point but they are all in bad roles. Except for maybe Covay because at least he can do his own thing and at least he has real passion.

    And don't get me started on KNBR. Somehow that station is even worse! Tom Tolbert and those other two shmucks is unlistenable.

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  10. I actually liked the woman filling in on weather this morning on KTVU better than the normal guy. She seemed like she was actually awake and happy to be there.

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  11. The 95.7 morning show made me (egads) return to the 680 frat boys. That guy named Butcher Boy is a screamer...I don't need that first thing in the morning.

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    1. It's a terrible program. The guy Bonte is not good at all and it seems like they're promoting him to be like one of the main people there. It's just bad stuff all around.

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  12. Butcher Boy has to stop screaming....dude, it is a morning show, mellow out.

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  13. "I'm also expecting anytime soon the announcement from KGO Radio that they've cancelled their Saturday live programming (John Rothmann 5-8 PM)"
    Well great... when they remove Rothmann and Finney then they can clear more space and run the weekend Balance of Nature infomercial for 6 solid hours. Suckering in ever more of their beloved KGO senior family to shell out $200 or more dollars from their Social Security check to become "preferred customers' in paying for a daily total of 4.8 grams of dehydrated veggies and fruits.
    The KGO audience, their beloved 'family'...endlessly duped into buying the near worthless capsules to improve their "energy" or to grow better toenails, or to return to boxing at age 80.
    Just invest $70 a month ($840 a year) for a handful of powder that is 100% proven to do absolutly nothing.
    I aways find it laughable that right after the hour long Balance of Nature infomercial, it is followed by "consumer" reporter Michael Finney. BTW, I'm not blaming him. I am positive he'd tell any senior to NEVER waste their money on such a bogus product.

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    1. The budget for local programming as you know it wouldn’t exist without the weekend subsidy of informercials. The business model as we knew it no longer works. The nanny state doesn’t need to protect us from b.s. infomercials. Buyer beware... otherwise contact the FTC.

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  14. Kate Scott is a total blow hard. She gives great head on the radio and that's saying something since she's a lesbian

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    1. This is what Rich thinks is a comment to approve. Do you ever learn?

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  15. I learned the word 'prevarication' from Bill King.

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  16. This morning's 95.7 The Game Morning Roast: returning from a commercial break with "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in the background, Kozimor asks, "Is there any more self-important song than that? It had Bono, Sting . . ." Whitey replies, "You could have stopped at Sting to explain self-important." Bwahahaha . . .

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