It's Chaos at Ratings Free Fall KCBS. Here's Why.

THERE'S CHAOS AT KCBS...

is I can't remember a time when so many bad things took place at KCBS, the all-news AM (740 and 106.9 FM) Bay Area radio outlet. Just as soon as you think it can't get any worse, it gets worse.

KCBS is in RATINGS FREE FALL Maybe someone in charge (if there is someone who actually IN CHARGE) should pay attention and mind the store because if they don't, the number of people who listen to KCBS will disapear and try a new source. It's already taking place and it will take a while before even the loyalists come back.. For starters, KCBS is a DISASTER in thr morning. The AM drive has been in DECLINE for months now and it has little to do with Stan Bunger's retirement in June. Before Stan split, KCBS's numbers were eroding. Now the ratings have slipped to a point where Bunger's leave is no excuse. Sloppy transition and TERRIBLE planning? You bet. Who's in charge? No one, apparently.

There's been a Jeopardy-like parade of fill-in auditions in the morning-drive (5-10 AM) and that's been a complete dud. Although, as I indicated, this has been a disaster zone for months. The fill-in barrage has only intensified the carnage. Revolving anchors do not help matter, they make it worse. And it shows. KCBS needs to make a quick decision: Dan Mitchinson was an early favorite but he's not a #1 guy. I was wrong. Mitchinson is good and solid but he doesn't have the name or the chops to command AM drive. Holly Quan is weak as it is and needs all the help she can get. Jeff Bell would be better but Bell sounds bored and his voice is grating. Maybe that's shy he's doing the afternoon. Either way, the most important time slot: AM is mired in a crater bigger than the Pacific Ocean.

Then we move to the next catastrophe: MID-DAY. I have NO IDEA who anchors from 10- 3PM. I thought Rebecca Corral was reading the news but Corral is either taking yet another day off or is on a medical leave. Either way, there's a whack-a-mole anchor game taking place. Either Corral is fit to serve or Jen Seeling, the ND has to act and get someone on permanently or else she's not doing her job. The mid-day revolving-door theatre sounds like crap. Time slot doo-doo and malfeasance are one thing. There's other things too. Patti Reising needs to lighten up in the afternoon (3-7 PM) Reising sounds mean and if that sounds harsh, so be it. I asked a KCBS contact and they agreed. Reising isn't helped by the already-mentioned Jeff Bell. I don't know what's on Bell's radar but excitment and optimism aren't a choice.

KCBS has another HUGE issue. In addition to the pop-up personnel, there's the issue of TECHNICAL GLITCHES. Oh my! What a DISASTER! Seelig still hasn't FIXED this EMBARRASSMENT. How can she IGNORE this daily tragedy? Most people would get walking papers if this plague weren't handled. Seelig seems to have been given a pass. No wonder the listeners are LEAVING IN DROVES. Every day, every hour, the wrong music is played. Traffic sounders for sports and sports jingles for traffic. Oops. Yeah, OOPS THERE IT IS. And wrong stuff is normal now.

Then there's the issue of COMMERCIALS. AM Radio, terrestrial radio is FREE but they need advertising to live. Everyone gets that. But KCBS has gone overboard on its ads assault. Between traffic and sports (yawn) updates, there's very little actual news reporting on KCBS. There is, however, a DAILY ONSLAUGHT of ADS, more than half the hour is full of ads. Every two minutes. And they go on and on and on...into the night and day and on and on they go. Listeners are LEAVING? Of course they are. If KCBS were to put ads in four separate clusters, then the ad assault wouldn't be as horrible as it is now. When you have to constantly listen to ads every other minute, even in the middle of the night, you turn the radio off and switch to KQED or KGO, or maybe you kll yourself. I don't know, neither does free fall KCBS.

When listeners sense a whole lot of issues and commotion, they leave. They have no faith. Mistakes happen. in life and in general. People are only human. But you eventually FIX mistakes and you ADAPT. At KCBS they didn't get the memo. Which is why everyone is bailing. Somebody at KCBS and their Audacy parents need to read the room.