Friday, November 5, 2021

KPIX Hires Ryan Yamamoto, Seattle Reader, to Replace Ken Bastida

KPIX has finioshed its quasi-search to HIRE a Seattle news reader--Ryan Yamamoto is the new PM news anchor, presumably, to REPLACE Ken Bastida, who retired from the CBS-SF anchor desk last month.

I know Yamamoto worked in Hawaii and is now coming to the Bay Area as a morning news anchor in Seattle. Never seen his work. He has local roots and attended SF State.

I HOPE this guy has some chops. I'm also hoping he's not a PC choice although I'm skeptical. If he has a blase personality and is vanilla, I won't be surprised because that's what you get today. The money isn't as good as it used to be and the new people have all the interest of an Albany strip mall.

Yes, I'm cynical. You all should be too.

38 comments:

  1. Yeah, I'm cynical too.

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  2. At least it's a Japanese hire and not another .

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    1. 1:05 PM, exactly my thought.

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    2. Uneducated people.

      How many races do you think there are? There is only one race, the human race. How can one be racist? Do you hate the human race? What are we talking about? Nationalities? Mexican and Italian? Kenyan and Irish? These are nationalities. Not races. Are we talking about ethnicities? Asians and Africans? North Americans and South Americans? These are ethnicities. Not races. If you do not know what you are talking about, stop talking about it. You sound stupid with racist this and racist that. Race card this and race card that.

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    3. @12:31, you whack-a-doos with your faux outrage have no clue what you’re talking about. But you do you and trip over yourself as you play politically correct, mental gymnastics with yourself while the rest of us live our lives and laugh at people like you. :)

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    4. 4:14 sounds like a moron trying to sound hip and cool. I bet they're the one's that have their pronoun in their profile. lol.

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    5. @4:14 had to use Google to look up how to spell gymnastics.

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  3. He worked in the Sacramento market for 17 years (Chs. 3 and 10), so he's probably competent but bland. Not a needle mover. He graduated from SF State.

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  4. Something of a homecoming for Ryan.

    So he'll give a nice on-air nod to Bastida (e.g. "I could never replace him").

    Then he'll come into his own at KPIX, the way Deanno did (before they blew it and lost him to Chicago - and don't they wish he was still here to easily slide in as Ken's replacement).

    We all know that ethnicity is a big part of the market analysis. KPIX has been way behind the others in Asian anchors (VDLC was intended to fill that void). It's somewhat fitting for a Yamamoto to arrive in the house of Tokuda. He'll do ok, if they promote him right.

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    1. EXACTLY! KPIX totally blew it with Paul - he would have been a perfect key anchor. He had the look and voice!

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  5. As others have suggested, KPIX is trying to ensure that their hiring and staffing matches the demographics of the area, hence the hiring of this Asian. What I’d be curious to know is of the population who actually watch local news, what percent are white, Hispanic, black, and asian? Even though there are a ton of Asians here, if they are a relatively small chunk of local news viewers, stations should hire on air talent that most resembles their viewership. If it’s mostly white, then stop with the asian obsession and hire whites.

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    1. Asians watch local news.
      It's called channel 26 KTSF

      This is just a cheap new hire.
      No gray hair = cheap pay.
      People will say whats this ?
      Then flip to KRON 4

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    2. There are bags of rocks with better judgment than you

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  6. Ryan, Yokoso Koun (Welcome & Good Luck)

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  7. As a fellow SF State alumn, i wonder if he also wants his money back for that so called education. More like political indoctrination than education. I literally had a professor spend an hour exolaining that the 2007 market crash was an intentional act by rich white people seeking revenge on non-white home owners. Sorry to get iff topic but seeing SF State anywhere gets me going. Rant over....for now

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    1. You couldn't get into a good school and that's SF State's fault? At least they let you in.

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  8. Another Kenny Choi, in the making??? How long until he's a Street reporter???

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  9. He was "ok" here on KOMO in Seattle - but very bland (sorry).
    PS: Please dont send Frank our way

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    1. Frank Dill? Frank Melacourt??

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    2. Frank ‘300 gaffes per newscast’ Mallikook?

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  10. This hiring of anchors who fit a particular racial profile has always baffled me. How do they get away with it? Isn't it against the law to choose to hire someone based on their race? Or is it only a problem if you purposely choose to hire a white person?

    I would love to be fly on the wall when the station management sits around a big table reviewing applications. Are they open and blatant about their race preferences? Or is it on the "down low" with a lot of winking and nodding. Maybe they put a letter "C" in the upper corner of the application (where "C" stands for Caucasian), like you-know-who did...only "C" meant something else.

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    1. Old timers will remember, there was a place, south of Market, that put together VHS compilations from all the local news broadcasts in the country, categorized, yes, by gender and race and even hair color (like blonde - see Fox). "Give me something in a black male weatherman."

      And of COURSE race is a factor, whether or not openly admitted. It's demographics. Some might call it "representing the underserved" or "diversity".

      Hell, I remember when Wanda Ramey was the only one on air who wasn't a white guy.

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  11. Another copycat putting Asian reporters on the main news cast. NBC11 Janelle Wang, KGO Kristen and Dion, KTVU Claudine Wong and now, KPIX Kenny Choi look alike. Bad choice, bad choice.

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  12. I didn't get to see the hair of the other candidates, but it looks like they made a solid choice.

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  13. Well, he has won a couple of Emmys.

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    1. As has Rosemary Orozco. Emmy’s are just a popularity contest among on air talent. Having an Emmy is not a testament to one’s journalistic acumen but more how many asses they’ve kissed.

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    2. Emmy’s are a dime a dozen, like a kindergartner getting a gold star sticker for counting to ten. I’ll pay attention when he has a Pulitzer or Edward R. Murrow on his shelf. Until then he’s just another boring token hire.

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  14. Hiring anchors simply to appeal to a certain racial or ethnic demographic seems insulting to the group that they are pandering to. It’s as though Orientals will not take into account anything other than race in determining which news to watch. What makes it even more silly is that with the exception of ktvu, all other stations in the Bay Area have Oriental anchors. So assuming that they aren’t literally flipping between newscasts to simply to see all the Oriental anchors, they must be using some other factors to determine which news to watch. Zero in on what those factors are rather than thinking viewers are so stupid and simple-minded.

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  15. Listen folks, that "We are all One" BS from the 60's is just that: BS. And it just gets getting worse...

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  16. I'm so tired of these stations hiring Asians just because they feel it's politically correct thing to do. If this Yamamoto person is the best available person they could find to read off a screen, then fine. But as many suspect, this feels like another 'check the box' type of hire. And don't even get me started on Dion Lim and how she makes her living as the journalistic equivalent of an ambulance chaser, foaming at mouth waiting to cover the latest attack on asian as though race is the only reason why those people are attacked.

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    1. But... but... it IS the only reason. I'm curious, what other reason do you think it is? Or are you one of those pathetic morons who thinks Asians - oh, excuse me, "those people" - should be attacked for Covid? Dion is sincere, and correct, in her alarm and indignation, and admirable for highlighting the bigoted ugliness. Did this get you started enough?

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    2. I tend to agree with 8:50pm.
      1:10AM, Facts only please. You indicate that race IS the reason that Asians are attacked. Sadly your impassioned comment is lacking any factual basis. Because you have not interviewed all perpetrators of said crime, you have no clue that all of Asians are attacked simply because of their ancestral homeland. But, let's assume for a moment that your statement is correct. Following your logic, it would be fair to say that all attacks on Hispanics are because of their ancestral homeland. And all attacks on Caucasians are committed for the same reason. In that case clearly you would support local a white journalist who wanted to spend their days searching for and reporting about attacks on white people. You can't have it both ways and claim ownership of victimization. And while you're at it, look up the Availability Heuristic. I know those are big words for you, but you can do it.

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    3. No, the reason Asians are attacked is they are easy targets and rarely fight back, because they are not violent thugs like the people who attack them. It almost sounds like you're blaming them for their plight. It's not Covid (at least most of the time). It's "Oh, I can rob this dude and get away with it."

      And you are a racist. And I don't accuse people of that at the drop of a hat.

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    4. "You indicate that race IS the reason that Asians are attacked. Sadly your impassioned comment is lacking any factual basis. Because you have not interviewed all perpetrators of said crime..."

      As if they would definitely and indisputably tell the truth?

      Bruno Hauptmann said he didn't kidnap the Lindbergh baby either. So we should have let him go after interviewing him?

      Idiot.

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  17. Ryan is happy to depart KOMO 4, with their Sinclair/Republican agenda. Most other on-air staff will leave once their contracts are up.

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  18. I bet he will be as bland as Kenny Choi.

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  19. I have been a fan for you from day. I have stopped my donations a few years back. Please just state to the what you know and do not add "he's not a PC choice". You can state that if you information to back up your claim.

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