Monday, April 5, 2021

Dennis O'Donnell Mystery Clouds KPIX Sports Anchor; Stan Bunger: Unidentified Talking Object at KCBS; Dion Lim Speaks Up on Asian American Violence at Circle7; Cumulus Wants Hosts Back in Studio in July; SAG-Aftra Not So Fast; Monday Media Minutiae

THE BIGGEST MYSTERY: IS KPIX Sports anchor, DENNIS O'
DONNELL OK? The veteran Bay Area native has been the subject of rumors because of his frequent, unexplained, unusual speech pattern (of late) and the tight-lipped response from many of those close to him (O'Donnell) ONE KEY broadcast official in town was concerned enough to ask me if I knew anything. I DO NOT but a slew of people are hoping it's nothing more than some personal quirky acts and nothing else.

*At KCBS, the running joke is STAN BUNGER's new label: The "UTO"--or "Unidentified Talking Object"--Bunger's silly, ego-driven REFUSAL to ID himself as he takes to the air at 5: 30 every weekday morning. It's a good 30 MINUTES of air time where Bunger talking away (minus commercials) WITHOUT his name. ND, JENNIFER SEELIG, doesn't dare tell Bunger to stop the idiocy because Bunger's EGO would explode. Meanwhile, KCBS staffers are embarrassed by this DUMB situation. Perhaps they (staffers) could "ask the experts" what to do.

*MORE AND MORE RESPECT: KGO-TV's STAR ANCHOR, DION LIM, who has single-handidly, become a FORCE in REPORTING the continued violence directed at ASIAN AMERICANS here in the Bay Area. Lim has taken the initiative to be OUT FRONT, without any assist from ABC7 News brass. Her EXCLU videos of attacks and one-on-one interviews have become RIVETING TV NEWS journalism.

*SPEAKING OF KCBS: a TOTAL JOKE last (Sunday) night (AGAIN)-- the entire 10 PM CBS NEWS top-hour broadcast was AMBUSHED by traffic anchor, JOE HUGHES, whose traffic report BLED all over the CBS audio and made for unintentional LAUGHTER. It was gruesome and terrible-sounding unless you happended to hear it live as I DID. Someone SCREWED UP and unfortunately for KCBS, THIS is a re-occuring matter. And it always seems to happen on ERIC THOMAS' time slot.

*SEEMS TO ME this whole new re-branding of RADIO.COM stations to AUDACY (a play on Oddessy) is more about style then it is about SUBSTANCE. I guess some guy in a suit thought it would be cool if a branch of terrestrial radio to formally embraxe the PODCAST world and hope the millennial crowd would take their smart phones off and give a listen. Good luck with that.

*CUMULUS wants it SF AIR T ALENT (mostly at KNBR) to come back into the studio by middle JULY; the UNION (SAG-AFTRA) is about to tell the Clouds "not so fast" which is probably the beginning of a new COVID health/privacy issue. The lawyers are happy.

*IF --and it's a BIG "if"--GREG PAPA was given a TIP and/or SECRET INFO by ex49ERS coach, ROBERT SALEH, the new NY JETS coach, that the Jets were not gonna take the NINERS assumed QB PICK at #3 of the upcoming NFL draft, and Papa DID NOT tell his listeners, then Papa's cred (and KNBR's too) is officially GONNO. (Duh)

13 comments:

  1. I worked with Dennis at two different stations. I always thought he "mushed" his words frequently, even as far back as 20 years ago. However, I've not lived in the Bay Area for a couple years now and so I've not kept up with the newscasts. Therefore, I do not know if it's more pronounced now than it was before. Hope he's okay, but the condition of his speech isn't something new to me. Maybe it's nothing except advancing years making an existing quirk worse.

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    1. Don't rule out the possibility that it's a dental problem. A recent implant? A crown that's too sharp and keeps nailing his tongue as he speaks? Maybe he's overcompensating in the way he forms his words so he doesn't have a "biting his tongue" incident on live TV? If the problem's of that nature, that's something his dentist should be able to correct.

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    2. 11:13,

      The possibility that it is related to a dental problem has been mentioned (perhaps by you) in several previous posts, and that sounds plausible. I've watched O'Donnell for years, and the speech problems started becoming pronounced 2-3 year ago. O'Donnell's on-air tone has definitely remained upbeat.

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  2. You have to be careful when you get 411 that's under the table (such as what Bobby Saleh possibly told Poopy Pants). Plans can change...

    KCBS on the weekends (actually all the time) has become a joke. I decided to listen to Eric Thomas on Easter Sunday for a few minutes and the technical glitches sounded like KCBS was taking a feed from a Broadcasting 101 class at SF State. Actually, the broadcasting class would've done better.

    And KCBS should be under AUDACITY -- as in they have the AUDACITY to present this product to listeners.

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  3. DOD sounds just like the Soccer Moms who take their kids Ritalin.

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  4. I was going to donate $1,000 to Rich this past weekend but he kept censoring my comment. 3 times. And it's something he has mentioned multiple times in the past!

    Oh well. Maybe next time.

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    1. I'll bet you don't even have $25, let alone $1000.

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    2. @6:03 Your mother has at least $300. That's the going rate for 1 hour.

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    3. AnonymousApril 5, 2021 at 12:24 PM,
      AnonymousApril 5, 2021 at 6:03 PM

      It took you 2 days to think of that?

      Delete
  5. This is the latest crew from KGO 7, Dion on Asian rights news story, Kamasi on BLM rights news story and Reggie Aqui on Gay Rights. Atleast, they kick out Ming Sze on the Asian stories.

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  6. Dion is the only Bay Area broadcaster who hold's Chesa's feet to the fire. She scores major points for that.

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  7. Dion has even been featured nationally!!

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  8. Audacy, Entercom, iHeart, Clear Channel. The Radio Stations change Corporate Names as often as the SF Giants Ball Park!!!

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