*KTVU is now so bad, staff actually can't wait to ESCAPE the buiulding. It's a PERFECT STORM, for all the WRONG reasons: the majority of the staff (including on-air folks) have ZERO CONFIDENCE in the management at KTVU, all the while not exactly enamoured of SUSPENDED lead anchor, Frank Somerville. Whil they have very little sympathy for Somerville, they also CAN'T STAND Amber Eikel (ND) and HR countess, Chris Nohr --sure, Fox2 has decent ratings for the time being, but they are barely operating while a ticking time bomb ticks along in Oakland. Any day now, the explosion will TEAR APART Channel 2 and "The Firm" will have to start over. The natives have NO FAITH.
*So, KTVU bosses, Eikel and Nohr, instead of THREATENING staff behind the scenes not to talk to me, try to simply rally the troops and offer hope and confidence. Care a little. Buy lunch, get out 20 bucks and pay for some Starbucks and muffins. Sure, it's fake, they'll still HATE YOU and despise you but at least it'll show you care. Wait a minute, it's not worth it. You have no chance. Save The Firm the 20 and buy Heather some nail polish.
*Speaking of Somerville, his contract is actually UP on January 28th, not in March. He will NOT be back, trust me, and his friends and advisers are now telling him to look in the rear-view mirror and he's taking their advice. It's just a matter of WHERE Frank is headed, not when he comes back to KTVU--Fox is making good on their internal missive to make him (Frank) TWIST IN THE WIND.
*It wasn't just KTVU that ACTED STUPID and showed INCOMPETENCE during the AR4 STORM; among the low-lights:
KPIX could have (and should have) gone IMMEDIATELY to NEWS following the Raiders game but dorks they are, instead went to a Vern Glenn-Lorenzo Neal post-game sports wrap-up (that was BORING and INSENSITIVE) considering massive FLOODS, accidents, wind alerts and genral mayhem afflicted ALL the Bay Area. A TOTAL BIZARRO from the MORONS that run PIX and they wonder why they have NO RATINGS!
*KCBS, the rag-tag alleged all-news radio station, get this, ran a pre-recorded "Face the natiom" and its own "In-Depth" show Sunday night during the STORM INTENSITY; I guess KCBS has given up hope and is now competing for for the ALL-JOKE news leader. What a TOTAL FARCE 740 AM is. A complete unmitigated DISASTER!
*KGO Radio was NO WHERE to be found on Sunday during thr height of the storm-- that's no surprise as KGO has ABANDONED weekend news even when there's a DIRE event like a storm of the magnitude of Sunday's DOWNPOUR. KGO continues to CRATER, to become the USELESS house of disrepair. How SAD. I guess it would have been a crime if Lee Hammer had called Rothmann (John) or a weather guy to INFORM the audience of the storm's path, but Hammer is too busy audio fondling Chris Merrill.
*MORE MUNDANE MONDAY:
The KNBR 49ers Post-Game Show: Three guys that REPEAT various tag lines and offer NOTHING. "Like you said" (Lund); "I WILL say this" (Krueger), and a guy, ex-jock, Dennis Brown who says, "football" every other senrence.
*At Circle7 on Sunday (KGO-TV), reporters and anchors GUSHING and acting as if they were auditioning for the high-school glee club as they reported from some of the storm locales--including the all-star, Looooooose Pena.
*My God, KRON, even with their various infomercials and ad goop, managed to do a fairly average job on Sunday, which given the other's MUSH, deserves a plug.
*JR Stone: his head is BIGGER on KGO than it is on KRON, the marval of science.
*Kars for kids KRAP on KCBS every two minutes during "storm desk" reporting: oh please, just SHUT UP!
*FINALLY, still NOT A WORD on MIA Sports Pixer, Dennis O'Donnell but good PIX, allow rampant speculation to spread: great policy.
KPIX had both of their weathermen on the evening news shows (5pm and 6pm), explaining the storm and predicting developments. I'm not crazy about either guy's personality but they are highly competent -- and they're not Mary Lee!
ReplyDeleteKrueger wanted me to put in a good word for him with Jack Swanson at KCBS…I said no way!!
ReplyDeleteThe Game's signal transmission is an embarrassment. Every other word is breaking up. Does anyone there know how amateurish it sounds?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was just me.
DeleteThe breaking up of the sound on 95.7 is bad. They really have to get this fixed quick. I know all the shows heavily promote listening on the Audacy app instead, but at the same time, you can't have the station breaking up like that on the radio.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard it, I thought the hosts were working from home and had a bad/spotty home internet connection, as was the case sometimes when all the hosts were doing their shows from home last year during the pandemic. When I realized it wasn't that, I then thought maybe I needed to replace the batteries in my radio. LOL.
It wasn't until someone called in last week on Damon's show asking about this, was when I found out that this is a station problem. Damon said they were working on it, but that was like on Friday I think it was. This really isn't good and it is an embarrassment, especially if you're listening to the radio in your car.
Bay Area Radio and TV stations should have floated out the Russian River to the ocean. What a mess our bay area stations are.
ReplyDeleteRich, stop writing about has beens TV and radio stations in The Bay Area, they're all losers and have been for several decades. All media in this once famous market went bye-bye after Herb Caen died.
ReplyDeleteAt 5:24 am -
ReplyDeleteI agree that Paul Heggen, the chief meteorologist at KPIX is bland and somewhat robotic, but Darren Peck (along with Sandya Patel at Circle 7) are the only knowledgeable, capable, polished and professional weather people left in the Bay Area. Bill Martin has lost it (mailing it in).
Darren Peck’s delivery is not only concise, but he’s able to bring quite a bit of meteorological terminology into his reports while retaining relateability. No easy feat. Frankly, he should be KPIX’s lead weather guy instead of Heggen.
Peck emotes too much for me. He goes on too long. Sometimes I walk out of the room until he's done. Bring back Roberta.
DeleteDarren Peck??? PUKE!!!
DeleteHi Darren. Quit writing about yourself on here.
Delete> he should be KPIX’s lead weather guy
Delete> instead of Heggen.
Agreed. Don't know if it's true, but according to some sources, including I believe Rich, he would have been chosen as the top cheese at KPIX but he's difficult to work with. It surprises me that they've let that stop them; they never did before.
But I agree with your assessment. I always feel like I learned something after I listen to Darren Peck. Just watching him and Heggen tag-team it during the storm illustrated how much better Peck is. His parts of the report were always interesting. Heggen is just another talking head. Also agree about blabbering, absent-minded Bill Martin. He reminds me of your slightyl eccentric uncle over at Thanksgiving: "Where's I put my teeth? Did I leave them in the car? Are they at home? How I am going to eat the turkey? —Oh, here they are! They were right in my mouth all along!"
I was in my car and needed a traffic report heading south on 280. Only time I listen to kcbs is in car. Around 958am I couldn't get a the station, it was static for several minutes. I was on 280 in Redwood City. While reception isn't always great on 280 I never had issues getting KCBS until today and a couple of times in past few weeks?? Wasn't raining, no tornado or hurricane. To have dead air during traffic which is what many of us need when commuting is wrong and incompetent! Rich, does KCBS not pay their bills? Is no one at the radio station? It's embarrassing!
ReplyDeleteI just use Google maps traffic... you can try Waze also.
DeleteJohn rothman always likes to remind people he is on "standby" on the weekend since they canceled his Saturday show..otherwise, hes selling his c crane radios and Nixon biographies out of the trunk of his car to pass time on the weekends
ReplyDelete"What storm of the century?" said he local TV news.
ReplyDeleteI like both Heggen and Peck. My dog appreciates Heggen's "Dog Walking Forecast!"
ReplyDeleteThey. All. Suck. No money for staff to do the right things. Would rather take in $$ from infomercials for hand held battery operated hair cutting devices. Or ways to exercise while sitting at your desk. It's a joke. It's going to get worse. Where's all the money going that the networks and TV stations are raking in from prescription drug commercials? They. All. Suck.
ReplyDeleteRothmann was just mentioning Hitler on his show.
ReplyDeleteYou know, with Hitler, the more I learn about that guy, the more I don't care for him.
That Hitler line was funnier the first time I heard it..When Norm MacDonald said. But nice try.
DeleteDarren Peck delivers the weather like he's talking to 7 year olds. This is the bay area, one of the most educated places on the planet. I literally can't sit thru his forecast because it feels like the presentation I saw in school when I was in 2nd grade. I'm a grown ass man. Sorry but, not for me.
ReplyDeleteYes!! The guy is a real douche. Very well said!
DeleteRich, do you have sources at KPIX that know who will be replacing the retiring Ken Bastida?
ReplyDeleteI think the guy Matt Nahigan has been running the station for 3-4 years now. WHat has changed? Damon Bruce is their flagship show and lets be honest he's really not that good! What has changed on that station in a big way since it began? Morning show is amateur hour. The new guy sounds like he's trying way too hard. I think I'm the only one who likes Guru because he reminds me of Ralph in a way as a total unhinged fan but at least it's real. I kinda like Dibley but he also seems like he's not comfortable. It's a really bad station overall and I don't even turn it on anymore. KNBR isn't great but it feels like a professional radio station in the 21st century. The hosts are all comfortable. Every on the game is uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteRich talks about KGO being "nowhere to be found on Sunday" as if putting someone live on the radio would even matter? Did the storm lack coverage? Were you unable to find information about? What if someone was on the air, what is that person going to do? KGO doesn't have a news staff reporting anywhere so what's the point? "Look outside...I think it's really raining out there. AND WINDY!"
ReplyDeleteYou need to stop bringing up what KGO ISN'T because it's NOT A NEWS STATION. IT HASN'T BEEN FOR YEARS!
It's a nothing station. Why are you listening?
Brent Cannon to replace Frank Somerville???
ReplyDeleteIMO KRON-4 did the best job on reporting the storm by far. The other tv stations seemed not interested at all if it cut into their regular programming. KRON interrupted its regular programming and kept the storm reporting front and center, continuously from 5 pm to 10 pm. My only quibble is the KRON anchors who wouldn't give their expert weather lady enough time to elaborate on what was pending in the South Bay. Instead they kept focusing on stories about which roads in contra costa county had been closed, somebody who moved their car so a tree wouldn't fall on it, stuff like that. I hope they learn from this and remember the mantra "first things first".
ReplyDeleteKGO radio on the weekends? ... lol ..
ReplyDelete