As a veteran staffer told me recently, "if we didn't have any bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all." Yes, and then some. And there's more. The RATINGS prove it. And things keep getting worse.
KCBS has either lost or seen a mass exodus from its all-news apparatus (740 AM, 106.9 FM)--some of it has been plain bad luck; some of it just plain lousy timing and lack of direction. It's apparent no one in charge knows what to do and/or has NO CLUE how to move forward. Either way, the ON-AIR product suffers and contributes to the overall MESS that is KCBS today.The result are awful enough; constant anchor shuffling; horrible on-air technical glitches seemingly evry day; loss of personnel; and yeah, terible luck too.
Sure, it hurts that Stan Bunger (especially) retired back in June; Steve Bitker, the sports anchor (to a lesser degree) tearing up the AM drive stability and so far, KCBS hasn't named a permanent new team. Holly Quan, one of the likely favorites has been working with various anchors, chief among them, Dan Mitchinson. It hasn't been all that smooth but it hasn't been all that bad either. Along with Mitchinson, PM drive anchor, Jeff Bell, has filled in.
Speaking of the afternoon, veteran anchor, Patti Reising, has suddenly left the station; Reising, I've been told by a station source, is dealing with a family emergency. Her absence has seen, once again, a new revolving door of anchors every day, the latest being Margie Shafer and Eric Thomas. Thomas, despite a less-then-stellar start at KCBS, has been used in virtually every time slot despite his mediocre performance. It seems KCBS is running out of bodies (literally) and therefore has to go to extremes to find someone, amyone, to work the news desk.
The weirdness of the morning and afternoon hasn't evaded mid day: Rebecca Corral has been dealing with a non-serious medical issue but it's prevented her from anchoring every day. Another parade of new fill-ins report every day and no one has a clue about Corral's future, including Corral herself. The source: "it's like 'whack-a-mole' here.'" Sounds about right, I can only imagine what listeners are thining, those that haven't left KCBS and found an alternative.
The latest BLOW to KCBS: veteran traffic anchor, Peter Schofield, is LEAVING. The erudite and comforting voice, has decided to leave his gig and take a non-broadcasting position (unknown); Schofield will be exiting in early Seotember. Although Schofield was never a full-time reporter, he was KCBS'#1 traffic fill-in and a consistent listener favorite. "A huge loss," an industry official told me. KCBS never offered Schofield a regular fulltime gig (even though Kim Wonderley made him her frequent fill-in) and may have contributed to Schofield's leaving. Either way, he'll be gone in less then a month.
Personnel, lack of direction, the constant audio glitches, have contributed to a scene of CHAOS. But yeah, there's MORE. KCBS has delivered a BARRAGE, an assault on the senses of endless COMMERCIALS, every moment, every time of the day, morning, noon and night. Ads are overwhelming and are played after almost all reporting. More than half of any given hour, especially daytime, are filled with commercials. So many in fact, listeners have LEFT in droves. Again, look at the ratings (or in KCBS' case, LACK of ratings)
KCBS NEEDS TO FIX this immediately. Its ND, Jennifer Seelig, has been given lots of rope but her AUDACY bosses are not so happy. KCBS has a virtual monopoly in the terrestrial radio news biz in the Bay Area; it's a good thing too because they'd be in even worse shape if not for the case. That said, they better CHANGE course quick otherwise they'll soon become The Titanic, circa 2021.
One thing that will stay the same and never change is my presence at KCBS. Rest assured.
ReplyDeleteFelch. Peter Felch.
You are great on kcbs, Peter. Can't miss radio.
DeleteCouldn't agree more Rich. What a f&^%$#g mess KCBS is! Pretty said it has sunk this low.
ReplyDeletesorry "sad"
DeleteI don't really care much who the anchors are as long as the reports and writing are giving me local news that informs me better than KQED FM or any other radio source (Bloomberg radio on the weekends with Jarrett is decent). Their COVID coverage is very good with interviews with Dr. Wachter at UCSF and othes, the Ask An Expert series was detailed and to the point. Keith Manconi's weekend In Depth is a good substitute for having to listen to KQED Forum for an hour even though new host Alexis Madrigal, a writer for The Atlantic, is showing skills. With their coverage of the food scene and local business, I often hear stories first with them even though I scan local new sites several times a day. AM radio seems to be a very hard business these days and talking about anchor personalities just doesn't help me.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of other supplemental sources of local that don't seem to be talked about at all - Oaklandside (with Darwin BondGraham who got a Polk Award for investigative journalism), detailed coverage of the SF street scene from YouTuber Jermaine Ellis, Patch, Berkeleyside, Some might laugh at these sources but a lot could be learned from how the online services present things.
You left out "The Rat". He likes to input his personal feelings regarding issues in baseball, trump, politcs, etc. Hey Ken, I don't listen to kcbs for your personal views. Stick to sports and stay in Marin.
ReplyDeleteBring back Jon Bristow.
ReplyDelete