Tech glitches, dead air, wrong sounders played and frequent overall bizarro. Just a disgraceful embarrassment.
Sunday morning offered another in a series of utter incompetence on the all-news albatross but this time, a mere lack of news judgement entered into the domain.
The crash resulted in the closure of all lanes and caused several cars and trucks to stall and sit in traffic for almost two hours--from around 4: 30 AM until 6 early Sunday morning, all traffic was halted.
In the backup, KCBS's Eric Thomas, who called in to the station to report the mess and obviously say he'd be late.
KCBS was running a taped (for the third time in the morning!) "CBS Weekend Round-Up" program--anchor Peter Finch broke into the show live around 5 to provide details. But then KCBS inexplicably went back to the CBS program and didn't offer any more details on the incident on the maze.
You'd have thought Thomas would have given a live report from the scene as to the traffic backup and any pertinent news but I guess Thomas was incapable. The shutdown didn't clear for another good hour or so.
Again.
You know what else received scant coverage on Bay Area radio? A guy cut off a woman’s head in the Peninsula. Incredible that this isn’t the lead story on all channels and stations - in fact, nationwide.
ReplyDeleteDid this heinous crime occur...at a topless bar?
DeleteIs a bit odd, isn't it. It's almost as if there are elements to this story that might embarrass large swaths of the pc crowd...
DeleteThe story has been widely covered locally and nationally.
DeleteYes, it is odd 2:21, unless you realize that the pc crowd wants to make sure that you don't find out that the perpetrator was in the country illegally on an overstay visa. He should have been sent packing years ago.
DeleteThanks, 4:10, I suspected as much. Oh, and 4:01? No, it most decidedly has NOT been covered widely, neither locally, which is most unprofessional, nor nationally.
DeleteI've seen plenty of coverage, though none of it mentioned anything about the perp's citizenship situation.
DeleteSo if the suspect had been a citizen, he wouldn't have allegedly beheaded his girlfriend? Did you think brutality was limited only to non-citizens?
DeleteI've come to the conclusion that KCBS sucks. Some days it is very painful to listen to. And they promote that they are the bay area news station. Unfortunately there is no other all news radio stations around. Sad situation.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the foul-up, Rich. Eric was still holding Pitta’s lantern, that’s why he was late. I’ll have a talk with him.
ReplyDeletePeter Felch
KCBS
In another life, I drove a big rig for a major grocery chain whose trucks were on the road 24/7. In an area where there are many easy ways to get around traffic problems, I could adjust my routing and avoid delay. But not during their recorded programming on the weekend early mornings and nights. At a time when they were touting their coverage, I came up with my own tagline: "News and traffic except when you need it!!!"
ReplyDeleteI used to drive all over the Bay Area on business almost ever day. KCBS was of great value in avoiding traffic messes. Nowadays you have to use Waze.
DeleteAs a traffic reporter for another traffic service.. yes, Sunday was a Sig-Alert nightmare. I did multiple extra reports on said incident for another major market station. We had another major crash in Fairfield that caused an unusual back-up for a Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteKCBS is a sad joke. They have the only game in town. They wouldn't know how to butter toast if you gave them the knife, the butter and the toast. If you have a smart phone or GPS in your car, then you can get traffic information by plotting out the route to your location. Who needs Mrs. Kevin The Rat giving you updates or having Carolyn Burns stumble her way through a report.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always felt that KNX in LA (“our sister station”) eclipsed KCBS badly with more professional talent, better programming, etc., but I was in LA on Sunday morning heading to the airport to return to SFO and during my hour drive KNX devoted the ENTIRE HOUR to two yahoos who apparently present themselves as an investment program but who used their entire time flogging “90-minute-seminars!” they are pressing all over SoCal to introduce listeners to investing.
ReplyDeleteTheir enthusiasm was fake, their hard sell pitch was grossly transparent, and CBS should be embarrassed that they present such nonsense as if it were a program, not a commercial. KCBS was a welcome relief, as they made SOME effort by 11:00 to present “news, weather and traffic”.
The infomercials make Cumulus big bucks. I used to run the morning news on the weekends on KGO. When they cancelled our show in favor of infomercials I was told. "Yeah, your numbers are fine, but the company can make four times as much from the infomercials as it could selling out the entire inventory (Ad availabilities.) So, its really not about the actual ratings and creating programming that will build audience, it's about scraping the most out of the signal as they can, until the final bankruptcy.
DeleteHorrible everyday. They had some stupid story about beavers building dams that help fight fires plus stop global warming. I heard it three times. Then they brought on some expert on covid booster shots. That was on twice in 2 hours. It is a total joke. If they were not the only game in town I would never listen to them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I need traffic info, I simply call 5-1-1
ReplyDeletethanks for information
ReplyDelete6:36, I certainly haven’t heard “plenty of coverage” of the Bay Area beheading on Bay Area radio. I remember that KGO gave wall to wall coverage of Kyle Rittenhouse - even though his shootings took place thousands of miles away. But has any KGO host devoted even one segment to the beheading in their own back yard? Not that I’ve heard.
ReplyDeleteKGO doesn't do news ..it does talk...9:00 am
DeleteI finally caught a KCBS weather report by (LT, CA National Guard) Jessica Burch and it was clear, concise, and overall, just fine. It sounded even better on the 106.9FM version of KCBS, which I tuned to immediately after noticing it on 740AM. I find the FM version has better fidelity vs. the AM version of the station (AM version seems to have more range, however). Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYea, she is getting much better. Slower in her talking with more information, I am getting very impressed now.
ReplyDeleteThinking of Gil Haar reminded me that back then KCBS could not have given a live update on a Sunday morning at 4:30 AM, because they were OFF THE AIR. I overslept for a fishing trip out of Pillar Point once, because my clock radio was tuned to KCBS,. (Buzzer was too noisy.)
ReplyDeleteKNX news radio in LA is far superior to KCBS news radio in Bay Area. Also, KFI talk radio in LA is way better than KGO talk radio in Bay Area. Some doctoral student should do a dissertation on why these Bay Area stations suck compared to their counterparts in SoCal.
ReplyDelete