There's a method to the madness: by hiring more part-timers, it saves the company money, lots of money. Damn the talent, to hell with hiring good people, in essence, just get enough bodies on the premises to fill vacancies.
Which is why KCBS still hasn't hired a fulltime replacement for Stan Bunger; which is why there's multiple fill-in anchors and reporters every day; whcih is why they haven't hired a fulltime nightime news anchor and overnight anchor.
When you're a monopoly, you can cheat the process.
KCBS sources tell me morale is as LOW as ever. The only people who work at KCBS now work there because they need the money and/or have an inflated ego and still want to be on the air.
A rank and file KCBSer was blunt about the new part-timers: "we sort of regard them as scabs."
Why so? Because, again, part-time workers don't get full-time benefits. Part-timers are paid hourly. They are body-fillers is what they are which is why you have the scab reference.
If the house is on fire, you don't go out shopping for furniture? Nothing left to do at this point, except go get some hot dogs and marshmallows.
ReplyDeleteGive Medoro the chair that Ray T soiled himself in over the years. She won’t notice the difference.
DeleteWithout a doubt she will contribute to the walrus waste. KCBS. King of the dung heap, saying; " Look at me, look at me!" While swatting away flies and basking in its incompetence and total failure as a news station.
DeleteOne soiled from one direction, the other from another.
DeleteI find it interesting that KCBS advertises that they are the Number One News Station in the Bay Area. That's because there is no other news radio station around here. I've been listening to KCBS for over 40+ years and this is the worst it has ever been. What a sad situation! I wish there was another radio news station because I would be switching the dial.
ReplyDeleteThe part-times should still be under the SAG/AFTRA contract. They would get healthcare if they meet the benefit threshold. If they are hiring people and they are not being brought on as union employees, then the union should file a lawsuit for breaking the contract. Even KQED, which is notorious for hiring part-time on call people still has to pay them union scale and benefits.
ReplyDeleteHire me, I can blather as good as the next person. I will need to work from home, receive full medical, dental, and vision, a $401k plan, and 6 months of vacation per year.
ReplyDeleteNo thanks Veronica De La Cruz. = ) LOL
DeleteOh god. Not Nikki. She must have pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, KCBS rockets to the top in most recent March Nielson ratings with a 8.0 rating. Just shows what little good radio remains in the SF marketplace.
ReplyDeleteRockets to the top? What other station is there for what they do?
DeleteGood God... NO!!!!! Nikki Medoro is the worst! Is she going to report the news while telling listeners about her kids?
ReplyDeleteNext they'll bring in Chimp Franklin. "Live and local"...from San Diego.
DeleteIt's understandable the long time KCBS employees might feel a little jealous of the new employees, especially those formally employed at a semi-competitor. Part-time/full-time makes no difference to the listener; that's an internal matter. Whatever works. If someone is a good broadcaster, they're a good broadcaster. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth in other words. I expect the personnel storm will quickly blow over. On the optimistic side, the new folks may have some good ideas how to improve KCBS, especially their seemingly perplexing and abundant technical problems. I have already noticed some improvement; e.g. fewer instances of the host putting a guest on the air, only to find the guest's cell phone sound quality is unusable. Pat Thurston is a definite plus. I think Nikki M will be a plus also. Some technical problems remain however. This morning one of the reporters had some sort of loud, hissing, chatterbox background audio that was bleeding through into her broadcast. Unprofessional, & distracting for the listener.
ReplyDeleteNikki Midoro was god awful at KGO, but suddenly has acquired talent, 3:41?
Delete“ Part-time/full-time makes no difference to the listener; that's an internal matter.”
DeleteYeah. There’s breaking news. Full-timer: We have to do this, this, and that. Part-timer: Where do they keep the microphones?
Was not a fan of Nikki's morning show, rarely listened. I liked her better when she was on with Chip Franklin, even Rich had positive comments on Chip and Niki together. However, on KSBC she will not be a talk show host, but an anchor, so she might be better at that. Give her a chance.
DeleteIt’s astonishing how cheap local radio stations have gotten. You used to get a liveable wage at local stations but AFTRA is now toothless and the deal they made with KCBS for salaries and benefits is a joke. KCBS can now get away with offering the same kind of $$ today that local stations paid back in the early 1990s. KCBS does not care about quality. That was obvious when they put minor league announcers such as Joe Hughes on the air while having the perpetually clueless Jen Seelig running the news department.
ReplyDeletePoint of information: A SCAB is a union member who crosses a picket line, or undermines their union.
ReplyDeleteA RAT is a person who will work without a union contract and will try to undermine the union.
Non-union workers in a union environment generally undermine union negotiated wages and conditions.
Union members know the challenge: show the non-union folks where they are missing out, ie Wages, Benefits, Conditions, Security, Rights.
Anyone working without a union contract should have their head examined.
“ Anyone working without a union contract should have their head examined.”
DeleteTo afford to have their head examined they have to work. Oh, and to feed their families, too.
Everyone who went thru the 1999 ABC-TV Lockout knows that the unions are useless...except to collect dues.
DeleteNABET/CWA was gutless and lost years of goodwill.
Unions don't care about the worker, they care about collecting and mis-spending YOUR money.
Whats up with KPIX? Reed and Mary on at 6am?? I like both, are they permenant?? I hope so.
ReplyDeleteWas that Thurston breaking format last night when she spoke with John Rothman for 10 minutes when he detailed the political ramifications of the Fox settlement? She also referred to an interview with David Katz in the previous hour. It's nice to have these little conversations just to break the tedium of KCBS' format of headlines and teasers...
ReplyDeleteyeah, next it will be balance of nature
DeleteGonna have to agree with you 100%. I have been listening to KCBS for 30+ years. Never been this bad. So much dead air, incompetent news readers, etc... It's bad.
ReplyDeleteDoesn’t AB5 severely limit the use of contract workers who don’t get benefits? Does it not apply to radio newsreaders?
ReplyDeleteCan we set up a go fund me to send Carlos Ramirez over to KCBS one way, please, pretty please?
ReplyDeleteSeems like Nikki Medoro has "go away" heat. Years of what she did with Chimp Franklin will do that to a person.
ReplyDeleteRE: Nikki Medoro. Prior to her time at KGO she was an anchor and reporter at KFBK in Sacramento, and I think she also had a similar role at KGO before moving to the realm of talk show sidekick/host. Reporting/anchoring is a bit different than sidekick/host. Not sure it’s fair to hold her poor hosting skills against her when she’s got a different role at KCBS.
ReplyDeleteI have appreciated KCBS for so many years. Hearing familiar voices and names, and knowing I have a source for information when I am driving. I like hearing the names and voices of former KGO personalities; so sad that the real KGO went away. I lived in Washington DC for a year and never found a good replacement for KCBS. Glad to be back in the Bay Area and once again able to hear KCBS. I hope they can pay and benefit the workers fairly and still stay on air!
ReplyDelete