KCBS Rank and File Rancor; Staff Unrest Over Direction of Station; KRONvicts Tired of Pam Moore Uncertainty; But Improvement Overall; Damon Bruce False Bravado at 95.7 The Game; Audrey Asistio Gains Jolt at NBC Bay Area; The" Woman in Red" Excites at Mark Ibanez/KTVU Sendoff; Raj Mathai: San Jose "Ladies Man"; KTVU Inner Thought Process: "We're Vulnerable" --Especially at 10 PM; Monday 415 Media Extravaganza

THE RANK AND FILE at KCBS --the senior editors and news personnel who know where the bodies are buried (so to speak) are FED UP.

They work behind the scenes and understand full well how CRUMMY the station sounds and how that is affecting morale and making, what used to be a legacy station, the all-news outlet a JOKE and then some. They know the ratings are good but they're UNHAPPY with the way the constant on-air issues that plague the station are not being addressed.

At the top of their irritance? News Director, Jennifer Seelig and a senior programming boss, Don Bastida, who's responsible for traffic and sports personnel.

Technical glitches, anchor uncertainty, newsroom rancor, and an intense FRUSTRATION with management-staff relations currently hurt KCBS. The ratings don't matter, says a newsroom staffer to me, because KCBS is a monopoly and doesn't really have any competition in the Bay Area.

KCBS, says my spy, rests on its laurels and Seelig is viewed as an untouchable by staff and, most importantly, Audacy and its PC hierarchy.

But KCBS' senior worker bees, are still angry and plan some sort of internal gathering to sound off on how the station is being run and its lack of direction.

Good luck with that, guys.

*Audrey Asistio has barely been at NBC Bay Area (San Jose) for half a year, and is now viewed by management as a possible nightime, primetime anchor--great news for Audrey, but bad news for someone else: most likely, Janelle Wang.

*RUMBLINGS at KRON While everyone loves and respects veteran anchor, Pam Moore, the general feeling by the KRONvicts is Moore's seemingly eternal flirtation with leaving/retiring is making people angry. They want Moore to fess up and tell her buds that she's not "tired" --that's the perception--and that she wants to remain on the desk and continue working. Complicating matters: Moore is still hurting from a fall she suffered at KRON's studios almost a year ago. The fall caused her to miss over a month. She's much better but the pain in her shoulder persists.

*Speaking of KRON; the mass improvement in its anchor/reporter/web product is a hell of a lot better than in years past. The new GM isn't perfect by any means and certainly Nextstar is no day at the beach but the corporate KRON owner has upped the ante and made the newsroom more professional and nuanced. Which has translated into a far more compelling news product. KRON still has issues but we all do.

*Damon Bruce, the all-sports 95.7 FM (The Game) yacker (3-6PM) can make a big deal out of "signing a new three-year contract." Only Bruce's deal is NOT a personal services contract which essentially makes it worthless as a binding contract. Meaning Mr. Bruce can be AXED in a SF nano-second like everyone else.

By the way, Damon, crowing about someone else's firing (caught on-air by a hot mic Bruce thought was not) is bad karma especially when your own ratings SUCK.

*THAT WOMAN IN RED at the send-off on KTVU during Mark Ibanez's last sports report, I'm told, was one helluva busy woman, later on that night, if you know what I mean.

*Ibanez had a royal golden parachute delivered by FOX and its Oakland O and O--Ibanez got somewhere in the neighborhood of $100-$150K --for 43 years service--to told to retire and enjoy life in Napa. He also had a blow-out party later that (Thursday) night in Walnut Creek.

*Speaking of ladies man, NBC's San Jose "manchor", Raj Mathai

, has been working the various South Bay rooms and isn't afraid to show adoring female fans just how swell a guy he is, so to speak. It's fine on Raj's part but I'm not sure the wifey is thrilled.

*RAMPANT SPECULATION at KTVU behind the scenes: the general consensus is that almost everyone expects the ratings to plummet. They already have. The Feb. SWEEPS revealed a massive drop, especially at 10 PM where historically, KTVU built its dominance and possessed its mass-admired, legacy newscast. Now that two of its most prominent anchors (Frank Somerville/Ibanez) are gone, the feeling is that KTVU's numbers will wane. Julie Haener is still present but she is mulling her future. Bill Martin (yawn) has one foot out the door. Suddenly, 10 PM is vulnerable--a time slot Channel 2 has OWNED for decades--and could be prime picking for a Bay Area outlet (hello PIX?) that might want to invest in a new venture.

Stay tuned, as they say.