*Mark Willard, the ex-KNBR sports talker, will go "The Game" (95.7 FM) and probably join its PM drive show --with no-ratings Damon Bruce and Bay Area media retread, Ray Ratto. It's not a done deal yet but when you have a flailing radio station that is mired in 0.4 ratings you keep trying and trying, I guess. The beauty contest numbers are not what the ad guys buy on but still, The Game has no game. And adding Willard will make no differnce but he's a local guy and that still counts, say the ad people.
*If I were KNBR, I'd put Adam Copeland on at night. Copeland isn't great but he's wasted at 5 AM. Plus, working night, he could play more golf with his friend, Murph.
*KGO Radio ISN'T paying their hosts to do an eight-minute podcast. The hosts are not so thrilled. More importantly, the UNION isn't either.
*Two years ago, Willard said it was his "dream job" to host a KNBR night show. Two years later, he's DONE at knibber. Obviously, Willard had a wet dream.
*KTVU people CANNOT STAND Amber Eikel, the INEXPERIENCED ND who is over her head. Way, way over her head. KTVU also has a GM that nobody has seen or heard from. Plus she's habitually late to the latest Somerville drama. I didn't mention the assistant ND, Simone, because what I heard about her? The Firm has BIG PROBLEMS in Oakland.
*KTVU ADD: Yo Amber and Chris Nohr (HR boss) --when you begin ORDERING staff NOT to talk to me, they then TALK MORE. You've created a HOSTILE work environment --you have ratings that are good but when there's a blip, The Firm will find you and eat you alive. QUIT threatening your workers.
*KTVU ADD2: Nohr is so pissed off she just asked Fox for another security camera in the parking lot.
*Tom Vacar will leave KTVU when he's good and ready, circa 2099.
*CBS needs its Bay Area O and O, (KPIX) to perform better. It needs a headliner, a STAR. A lightening bolt. NOBODY at PIX is a candidate. Frank Somerville is damaged goods, sure, but he has a following. He would MOVE THE NEEDLE. And he's Bay Area roots up the ying-yang. CBS will take all of that into account.
*Ominous dept.: Dennis O'Donnell.
*KCBS is advertising in the trades for a morning anchor so the Holly Quan-Dan Mitchinson experiment is officially a DUD.
*Who would have thunk? Damon Bruce, America's father.
*Greg Papa, the Bay Area host who inexplicably giggles and REPEATS his talking points --what a gem.
*The 49ers TRIPLED the RATINGS game (over the Giants) --again, the Bay Area is a FOOTBALL (NFL) zone with baseball striking out, sorry Larry Baer.
*SPORTS-TALK RADIO in the Bay Area is loaded with DRECK. It's filled with amateurs who don't know how to talk sports so they try to be funny and it doesn't work. Talented people know how to talk, have a simple conversation and treat their audience with RESPECT. They don't use artificial sound and manufactured bullshit to make a point or offer an educated take. You get what you pay for.
*Program directors at Cumulus: middle-aged white guys who went to Western Kentucky and married their HS sweetheart and now cheat on them and move to San Francisco.
*New Marinite: Matt Lauer. Yeah, that Matt Lauer.
*Eric Thomas must have pictures.
> *KTVU ADD2: Nohr is so pissed off she
ReplyDelete> just asked Fox for another security
> camera in the parking lot.
What on earth for?! So they can see people getting to their cars???
If KTVU weren't Auschwitz, it would have a better reputation and wouldn't need all the cameras. The adversarial approach to employees relations was outmoded in the 1960s. Time for Fox to catch up to the 20th century. After all, their name *used* to be 20th Century Fox, right?
I worked at ktvu until earlier this year. It is true that the number of cameras in and around the parking lot is astronomical. My guess is Nohr is adding another to get coverage in some blind spots. They would regularly watch to see who was outside talking to who. Everyone knew where the blind spots were but to avoid taking any chances, many (including prominent anchors) would often go (in separate cars) to the parking lot of the apartment complex next door so as to be outside of ktvu camera range. Apparently there were some legendary gossip sessions had in that parking lot.
DeleteGolly gee, do you think maybe cameras in the parking lot might not be to spank you for gossiping, but to protect the property and the employees in a violent neighborhood....maybe, huh?
DeleteRigghhhhtttttttt
DeletePAC-12 Network is on Xfinity. If you don't want to add wires to your place you can get an Xfinity streaming package a month at a time. Perhaps the the Bears season will be short.
ReplyDeleteOne of the only ways to get the PAC-12 Network is to get xfinity cable, which sucks. You can get it via streaming options, too. The Pac-12 and DirecTV have been at odds for many years. I switched from DTV to xfinity when those boobs at AT&T were threatening to cut CBS from its channel lineup a few years ago over payments. It's a shame you're under the control of morons when it comes to TV access.
ReplyDeleteNever had a problem with Comcast. They even wired my house for me.Replacing old cable wire. PAC-12 is HD 823.
DeleteNegotiate your contract and receive a substantial decrease in monthly payment. They would rather keep long time customers than lose them.
Works for me. I agree about the Bear's season unfortunately.
Does Matt have a button on the side of his nightstand to lock the bedroom doors?
ReplyDeleteIf Somerville ends up at PIX, people will watch to see if he stumbles again. So much for news... the transition to reality TV will be complete. But I don't think that's the "needle" CBS wants to move, at all. Frank at PIX is a total non-starter and magical thinking.
ReplyDeleteThey'll find someone from elsewhere who wants to live in the Bay Area and is willing to pay that cost of living. It'll be someone young, someone who will stick around (musical chairs is ratings costly). It won't be McSweeney; Bay Area roots won't matter.
And then in a couple of years the CBS suits will wonder why it still didn't work. Bastida will be more appreciated and missed. Liz will eventually graduate (escape) to LA.
But hey, maybe it'll be Paul Deanno after all. Remember where you heard it first.
You wrote a couple of weeks ago KNBR was looking for an evening host. Hope Willard is getting a ton of dough from the game. If it is the afternoon drive that is a bizarre troika. It won’t help that sagging station.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Otis III about Willard more likely winding up taking the evening show vacated by Covay. Preferably solo. As for the comments about KNBR and 95.7 abandoning callers, this is not a local phenomenon, nor is it just sports talk. Talk stations in general have gone to this approach, the thought being that callers can be unprepared or repeat points over and over, and generally aren't easy to listen to. So they've replaced callers with these 2 or 3 person shows so they can bounce things off each other instead. I much prefer when they take callers, which is one reason I liked Willard's show on KNBR. Whatever role he takes going forward I hope will include continuing to take calls from listeners.
DeleteA lot of stations stopped taking callers in order to cut costs of paying good call screeners. Stations in Canada and on satellite radio have great call screeners and they take a lot of callers. It's much more entertaining. The same 2-3 guys saying the same 2-3 things on the same 2-3 topics is boring AF.
DeleteAs the last black man in America who likes baseball, Adam Copeland checks all the boxes to host Giants postgame. Willard is a phony - his on air Mr Positivity persona does not match who he was with Tony Bruno and is nothing like other KNBR hosts describe - not surprised he's jumping around. I'm sure Ratto will love listening to him waste the second half of every interview with a foody question.
ReplyDeleteWow. I did not know that Adam Copeland was black. Thanks for the info.
DeleteAdam Copeland , the son of Brian Copeland, is less black than his daddy. HIs mother is white.
DeleteCallers, by and large, drive sports talk radio. For some idiotic reason, KNBR and 95.7 have abandoned callers. Bruce was at the top of his game at 1050, noon-3pm. He covered a wide range and interacted with callers. Today, it's 3 guys fighting for airtime, manufacturing false dichotomy, about the same 3 topics. Podcasts are kicking their ass.
ReplyDeleteWe all know Papa sucks. Why you keep beating that dead horse is a riddle, but it's your blog and you clearly have the time to waste on him.
I agree, I'm not sure why both stations have abandoned callers as well. Some of it might be because of podcasts and how that might be the new way for sports media now, so sports talk radio stations might try to mimic what podcasts are doing, where they the sports topics for the day to discuss and then have the guests that are going to be on the shows for the day. I do give credit to Bonta and Butcher Boy for getting callers involved. The night show does a good job of getting callers involved as well.
DeleteI agree on Damon. I like his show now, but his Noon-3 PM show on 1050 back in the day probably might've been his best work so far, maybe even over what he did on Sportsphone, and when he first was on 95.7 and Gianna was working with him as she did the sports updates for his show.
DeleteDamon had a lot of memorable shows when he was on 1050, and like you said he covered a wide range of topics. It wasn't just all Niners, Warriors, and Giants. He even tried to give San Jose State football some pub and it worked for a while until Mike McIntyre was let go as their head coach. Damon talked A's and had A's guests on. Damon was all over the Jerry Sandusky scandal. I think he covered that story moreso than any of the other shows on KNBR and even over national shows at that time.
Damon's show was appointment radio back then and I always made sure to catch as much of his show as I could in those days. I would even try to catch the podcast version of what I missed of the show.
I did like how he used to dedicate the first hour of his show in those days, to the callers. He had a good and loyal group of callers that would call in at least 2 or 3 times a week.
As far as his show today, I like it, but at the same time, I agree that it is 3 guys fighting for airtime. That's the only problem with a 3-person show. I think it's better when you have 2 people. When you have 3 people, one person is always going to be left out, or they might not have enough time to make their point/argument. It's still Damon's show, but Kolsky has strong opinions, and even though Ratto hates everything, Damon and Kolsky kind of in a way have to live with his schtick and respect his sports knowledge because of how long he's been covering sports.
Greg Papa is better with his work on NBC Sports Bay Area and calling Niner games, than on his show with Lund. I used to like Greg Papa's show when he was on with Bonta. Greg Papa and Lund were better when they were paired up on 95.7, but their show is just not the same anymore.
DeleteGreg Papa talks 5 minutes straight without taking a breath, and as Rich talks about quite a bit, Papa and Lund giggle a lot. I'm sure they're having fun working together again, but in a more sophisticated sports talk media world today, shows like Papa and Lund might not cut it anymore like it used to.
Speaking of Damon, I forgot to post this earlier but, have you noticed that he hasn't done the Tuesday Trifecta as much recently? I know they try to leave time for their guests or to go over certain topics again, but the Tuesday Trifecta was a staple of Damon's show going back to his Sportsphone days, and earlier on, he used to do at least a couple of segments on the Tuesday Trifecta. It's sad when he has to skip it some Tuesdays. I hope they're not going to make him get rid of the segment.
DeleteAlso, one more thing about Damon's show currently, I don't get why they replay interviews from bigger time guests like the Michael Irvin or Peter King interview, in the 5 PM hour. If you can rewind the shows on the Audacy App and if you can listen to the podcast of the show on the 95.7 website later on, what's the point of replaying an interview they did in the 2 or 3 PM hour, in the 5 PM hour?
I know it's for people that may have missed it earlier, but they can just catch it on their own time. I hope they don't do that because they may have ran out of material and replaying an interviews kills time or knocks out a segment or two, and Ratto gets to leave early if they replay the interview at the end of the show.
Greg papa doesnt respect callers opinions, he's openly mocked them in the past,that's why he never takes calls..
DeleteOtis, 95.7 replays interviews because they're only about 15 minute segments. They've repeated content since their inception. I remember driving to a softball game at 4:00 and hearing Townsend tell some story about a Pearl Jam concert. On the way home at 6:30, he literally told the same story.
DeleteIf you develop callers, with good screeners, you can end up cultivating a nice group of solid callers like Damon used to have with Butcher, neighbor Dave, etc... Either way, 95.7 has been around for over a decade and their ratings are actually worse now. Why? A combination of abandoning callers, repeating content, and podcasts talking about specific teams/topics that local radio ignores.
@10:26- Thanks for the heads up on that and it does make sense.
DeleteYeah, I remember when 95.7 used to do that. I remember when Brandon Tierney and Eric Davis used to do the afternoon drive show and the stuff they talked about the last 2 hrs of the show, was basically what they talked about and repeated after the first two hours. It was like, didn't I hear this before? LOL.
Even though I like 95.7, I agree that it has gotten worse in some ways. They beat some of the same topics to the ground. It felt like in the past they had more variety and hosts that they could build around.
Today, they have hosts they can build around, but there are some hosts where you're like, why are they still around (Ratto and Steinmetz come to mind)? I think if they would've kept some of the hosts from the past that were either let go or left (Fortenbaugh, Townsend, Greg Papa, Eric Davis, Lorenzo Neal, Ryan Covay, Zachariah to some extent), and mixed them with some of the hosts they currently have (Damon Bruce, Bonta, Butcher Boy, Guru, Dan Dibley), 95.7 would for sure be a much better station.
Sorry Rich, but I'm not sure how Willard would work with Damon and Ratto. You have to have thick skin to work with Ratto. I'm not saying Willard doesn't have that, but I'm not sure if that trio would work. What would happen to Kolsky? I would keep the Damon, Ratto, and Kolsky afternoon drive show on 95.7 the same for now, even though I'm not big on Ratto as I like most people feel he's too negative. Even Kolsky and Damon at times seem annoyed with Ratto's schtick. He kills their excitement/enthusiasm sometimes and it can ruin a segment. Ratto hates everything. Overall despite all of that and Kolsky missing time consistently, they all have chemistry and work well together. They have to go with this afternoon drive time show now, despite what the ratings may or may not say. This show is working.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see where they place Willard. I think he will probably replace Covay (who was unfortunately just let go by 95.7) at night, even though during basketball season, the night show on 95.7 is rarely on and/or the night show on 95.7 is pre-empted because of Warrior games, unless Willard will be part of the Warriors radio postgame show on 95.7 for this season like Covay and Dickinson were for past 2 Warriors seasons. We'll see.
With all of that being said, and I keep going back to this but, 95.7 has to have some consistency with their shows and weekday lineups. I do like that they shake things up when needed or when a new host comes over, but at the same time, and I may be contradicting myself here but, you hate to see good shows and pairings broken up because a new host came to the station.
Ryan Covay is leaving THE GAME. Willard is showing up at THE GAME.
ReplyDeletePretty simple math if you ask me.
Unfortunately not. Willard and Dibley 9am - noon. Ugh. Can't handle Dibs.
DeleteSo ryan covay is the only guy to get fired by both of these stations so far?..where do you go from there,maybe he will resurface as nikki medoro's next sidekick
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about that and I was like, dang, how do you get fired from both stations? Ryan Covay I thought was pretty good. Not sure what he did wrong but as we've seen before with 95.7, guys get let go that shouldn't have gotten let go.
DeleteI would've let go of Ratto or Steinmetz instead. Yes, they are both fixtures on their shows respectively, and they have been covering Bay Area sports for years, but the more you listen to the both of them the more you think man, a younger host with more fire should take their spot. I mean, are people seriously tuning into their shows to just listen to Matt Steinmetz and Ray Ratto?
Steinmetz and Ratto could have more value in other roles on the station, but sometimes they can be a tough listen by themselves on a weekday show.
Based on Covay's social media, it sounds like he's kinda done with the radio business.
Delete@Greg B- Yeah, on Facebook he basically told his life's story working in radio on KNBR and 95.7 and posted some pictures. Almost was similar to a retirement post people make when they retire.
DeleteHopefully Covay is not done with the radio business, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is for now. Sounds like he does other work during the day so I guess he will have more time for those jobs.
Think for a moment if he were "good" he'd be doing a radio show not posting on social media how awesome he is the fct is he never had a show that mattered in the ratings
DeleteDamon bruce was good as another comment mentioned, when he first joined 95.7 The Lame. I'd say the stations decline began almost as soon as it began with the constantly changing lineup of shows, reshuffling hosts, and then finally deciding to pretend oakland sports don't exist killed off a good portion of the remaining fans they had left. Damons lost his way a while back. Just seems uninspired and angry.
ReplyDeleteAbandoning callers also never made sense to me, and the few times they do take calls the hosts act as if its some horrible chore thats beneath them and they cut the caller off after 30 seconds.
Kolski is nauseating. Sounds like he should be teaching social justice courses at the local community college.
Morning show is a bunch of screaming buffoons who are probably really cool if your below the age of 25.
Ratto is the one person on the station who isn't a complete blow hard.
There really isn't anything this station has done well.
Kolsky is a D bag. Big time SJW. Slapd*ck Jack Wipe
DeleteI think Covay actually left, 2 1/2 years in. His show was pre empted a lot and I am sure low pay. Probably leaving radio for good. Good choice. He just got married and bought a house. Lots of overhead. He's gonna need a real job. Good luck Covay. Went thru KNBR AND 95.7 in short order.
ReplyDeleteRyan Covay is lucky to have stolen money for years. What a jabroni!
ReplyDeleteHave KPIX learned nothing from the high maintenance VDLC mess ? They'd be crazy to hire unpredictable old Frank (with his collars too tight and bizarrely holding a pen in his hand).
ReplyDeleteFeel badly for ,in his twilight years, Ratto having to endure the cringeworthy Bruce; not familiar with Willard, but he couldn't be worse than all hat,no cattle Bruce. Steinmetz and company is the only entertaining show on station.
ReplyDeleteHave never worked anywhere where people liked their management less than at KTVU. It's very sad really. This place used to be so great.
ReplyDelete> This place used to be so great.
DeleteIt was (I worked there then), and the man completely responsible for all of it was killed by an alleged drunk driver recently and the station barely covered it.
They know who the real greats are, and they're determined to bury their accomplishments as much as possible. Reminds me of the Egyptian pharaohs who desecrated the monuments to their predecessors who were more popular and abler. The same thing goes on at KTVU, The House That Fred Built.
Is Dan Dibley still around? I remember him when he was on KNBR, voice bugged me then he left for the other sports station.
ReplyDeleteHe rode Raddy’s coattails for a long time. I used to see him around Montclair. Where’s he now? Perhaps Rich can find out.
DeleteKen from KPIX to KTVU. Ken Choi!!!
ReplyDeleteI notice it's ALL women in charge at KTVU .... Hmmmmmmm is that part of the problem????
ReplyDeleteYES. (Largely the problem with KNTV too.)
Deletehmmm you mean all those women manage a station with great ratings?
DeleteThey inherited the ratings and have not seen gains across ANY hour since arriving. The staff has been gutted. The newest hires are lackluster (and that's a kind assessment). The most recent hires: Greg Lee, Evan Sarnofsky (who? Exactly.). Actually, no women have been hired in a very long time. There are no up and coming stars. Just a whole lotta impending retirements and a very weak bench.
DeleteSo the ratings are still great and it's the fault of women managers. Got it!!
DeleteRe: KGO's 8 minute podcasts.
ReplyDeleteI doubt many listeners will bother with those 8 minute podcasts anyway. KGO's hosts have already had plenty of time to provide good programming (which most of the live & local hosts do), and so there's no need for a listener to bother with downloading a podcast for another 8 minutes of the same. Listeners who are KGO inclined will just tune in on their radio the next day if they want more. In other words, the issue is a nothing burger, the 8 minutes podcasts will soon be but a distant memory. The archival podcasts of the broadcast shows come in handy, and those should continue.
If a television station wants its news types not to spread inside gossip to you, gossip which harms them and fuels ridiculous protests with "racism" complaints, they can tell their employees not to give you gossip. Did you want your sources to get fired?
ReplyDeletere: 10/7 2:13, who said "basically told his life's story working in radio on KNBR and 95.7 and posted some pictures. Almost was similar to a retirement post people make when they retire. "
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't noticed, the radio business is dying. As people exit, we get what amounts to a slow-motion wake. Between iHeart and Cumulus alone of the last 5 years, the number of people actively employed at radio stations has HALVED. If this guy has opportunities elsewhere, he should follow them.