KPIX/KBCW 'Nightbeat' is History; The Worst TV News Experiment Ever; Bay Area Viewers are Whole Again; 'Game Offf' ; Update

 You can breathe again: The worst TV News experiment in the history of the universe has come to an end.

Mercifully.

UPDATE: At lease, that's what she's alluding to, here.

KPIX 's sister KBCW has done away with "Nightbeat", the 10 PM newscast that 6 or 7 people have been watching. When it's officially done, no one knows. Some variation will continue to flaunt the airwaves but it be devoid of NB's awfulness. Thank God.

NB's host, Veronica De La Cruz, according to my 5 spy, has told people that the show "sorry to say" is no more.

Yo, Veronica: The show was a disaster. I said it numerous times. Your own staff said the show sucked from the very beginning.

Everyone loves innovation and technique, but this crap? Are you kidding me?

From its very inception the show had no chance --the bozo brains at PIX thought the social media crowd would look at a news program that catered to its liking, only problem is the content was putrid and the newscast was chock full of gimmicks that never measured with viewers.

You can't shove a plate full of chipped beef in front of people and expect it to be a porterhouse steak.

The Bay Area TV News community is now a better place. The healing process has begun. Nightbeat is done, and better yet, so is this.

GAME OFFF!

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KPIX's 'Night Beat' Is In Dire Straits; Nobody's Watching; Don't Expect Bernie Ward On KGO Radio Anytime Soon; Michael Krasny and Angie Coiro; Fire and Ice; KRON Tech Glitches at 900 Front; Tuesday Rundown

 "Night Beat" is in trouble --how bad is anyone's guess but bad enough that rumors have circulated the building that KPIX's attempt, (via its KBCW sister station), to attract an audience for it's 10 PM youth-oriented news show has been an abject failure and is soon to be doomed.

Best case scenario? 90 days. Worst-case? The show could be a goner by the end of the year. That's nine days, I know.

The reason: nobody's watching. Moreover, few, if any of KPIX's coveted demo that was its prime target is watching Night Beat. Furthermore, when those few people watch, they tend to take a look and click their remote.

When Night Beat debuted back in July, KPIX had a plan; albeit sketchy and terribly hard to attain, but a plan nonetheless. More of an experiment actually--but it was simple enough: develop a tech-oriented, soft-news, airy alternative to the traditional newscast and gear it toward a younger audience. Internally, KPIX knew it would have NO chance to compete with KTVU's dominant "10 o'clock News" that is currently the ratings king in that time period.

But KPIX went forward with a blueprint: attract a loyal, if small, audience to build on and acquire a core millennial-oriented demo; the 20-30-something tech types on their laptops and smartphones --precisely the demo that is ON THEIR phone!, checking texts, facebooking, twittering, Instagramming  --do you sense a problem here? The type of people that are doing anything BUT watching their TV at the moment--great research boys and girls!

Worse yet, PIX brought out talented, but clearly not seasoned, Veronica De La Cruz to work the new show, (in addition to co-anchoring the 6 PM News). De La Cruz, at first glance, looks more splash than dash; that said, her captaining of the Night Beat has been fraught with technical issues, out-of-place gimmicks, yelling "GAME ON" to open the sports segment is plain silly and sophomoric. The weather "quiz" is cheesy --and the frequent "TRENDING" and reliance on Facebook and Twitter has been a disaster. No.One.Is.Watching.

Night Beat has had six months to generate an audience but nothing has transpired. Ultimately, KPIX could have brought forth Masterpiece Theatre and if not enough people watched, that would have been blown up too. Unfortunately, Night Beat is no Masterpiece Theatre but it might as well be blown up because nobody's watching. And with that, the show is in dire straits.

*Don't invite KQED Forum host, Michael Krasny and KGO Weekend 10 AM -1PM talkie, Angie Coiro to dinner.

*Bernie Ward, just released from Lompoc will NEVER appear on KGO Radio, either as a host or as a guest. That's my guess.

*The amount of technical glitches that has plagued KRON since its move to 900 Front has ignited rumors about sabotage and the like--from where? Imagine.

*If KOIT gets a huge lift in the ratings from playing 24/7 Christmas music there's something wussy about that, sorry, sincerely, 415 Media Scrooge.

*Let's make it plain and simple: YES, those who PAY a modest amount and SUBSCRIBE to this site help make it possible for me to get some much-needed $ to pay ME, who is 100% responsible for its content, its production, its selling. We have limited advertising and so, yes, without money, 415 Media is lost in translation --I didn't do this with priority A making money but I can't and won't LOSE money either. So, yes, please, if you come here and enjoy this 24/7 then I'd appreciate a donation or subscription --to pay for a service? What a concept!

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Public Doesn't Like The New, Lousy SFGate; KPIX's Night Beat Is In Trouble; De La Cruz: Tainted Brand; KTVU's Villalon Steady As They Come; Ibanez To KGO Rumors Heat Up; Tuesday Quick Starter

 TUESDAY QUICK NOTES STARTER

*If the Chronicle isn't aware by now that their new-look SFGate website is lousy, then Hearst execs are dumber than I thought.

Seems not only can you not navigate the site but when you go there, your pc freezes.

Nice work, Hearst.

*Nobody won't come out and say it and it's only been on for barely three months, but KPIX's experiment at 10 PM, the dreadful, "Night Beat" is in trouble. My insiders at 855 Battery tell me word is that already there's grumbling that the show needs a "major overhaul--maybe a re-tinkering." Yeah, TRENDING!, the grand experiment is an utter failure. No shit, Sherlock. GAME OFF!

*Veronica De La Cruz: Tainted brand. Your "performance" on Monday night was beyond embarrassing. The fake banter with sports boy, Dennis O'Donnell, looked like a Bakersfield talent show.

*Birds of a feather: O'Donnell and Vern Glenn: KRONvicts during the Dan Rosenheim ND era --both of whom worked with Radnich. So, now...you know.

*Speaking of KRON, moving date to the ABC 900 Front building: just before Thanksgiving. Parking passes included.

*The rumors intensify: KTVU's Sports guru, Mark Ibanez will go over to Channel 7 in March when his contract is up. Ibanez won't talk about it but the uncertainty over at 2 combined with impending cuts may have a lot to do with it.

*What's on the horizon at KTVU and FOX, (about to commence an economic-cleansing ), is probably due to hit almost all the other players in the market. KGO is owned by Disney and the mouse company is said to be mulling cuts at its O and O's, ditto CBS at PIX and NBC/Universal at KNTV.

*Debra Villalon at KTVU: Vastly underrated. 33 years in the biz. Bay Area-bred. Damn good street reporter. I like her.

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KPIX Night Beat Is Still 'Turrible'

 NIGHT BEAT:

*Take cutesy selfies that draw attention away from shitty newscast.

*Sing 'GAAAAAME ON!" and mock your own shitty newscast.

*Concede to 415 Media rant about the shameless "Facebook" and "Twitter" references by 86ing them , (sorry, but the show still sucks).

*Veronica De La Cruz: I respected the hell out of you considering your pithy news background but what the hell are you doing on a POS show like this?

*Tie Update: So, the weather guy is tie-less but the sports guy is wearing a tie. So much for sticking to the script. (It looks weird, make up your mind).

Ken Bastida: Serious newsmen do NOT take selfies. Be careful.

Dennis O'Donnell: Keep your eyes off VDLC.

RATINGS: As Charles Barkley would say, "turrible!"

GAME OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!

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GAME ON! The Most Influential Anchor At KPIX; VDLC And Power At 855 Battery; New Kid On The Block Rules; TRENDING



 "GAAAAAME ON!"

Veronica De La Cruz has built up quite a bit of cachet over at KPIX.

She's apparently taken over the newsroom and dare cross her, she'll handle it, maybe you too. Power is a bitch at 855 Battery.

TRENDING!

This much is certain: she's undeniably thee most influential anchor in the building. They didn't invest over a million dollars to bring her out, (salary, expenses, plus generous chit list), to rearrange the furniture.

They expect numbers and ratings. Everything else is pure coincidental, right? TRENDING!

PIX staffer: "She acts sorta like a dominatrix!" Well isn't that special!

Rich Lieberman and 415 Media are not responsible for comments made by others on this website.

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After Six Weeks, KPIX 'Nightbeat' Is Lost In Space And the Butt Of All Jokes Inside 855 Battery; 'GAME OFF!'

 Barely six weeks after its long-anticipated debut, KPIX's youth-oriented, (that's the intent at least), experiment, "Nightbeat" is attracting very few viewers and has become the butt of jokes among some of its own staffers. One need only watch it to discover why.

As I wrote here early on, PIX wasn't planning on going after KTVU's "10 O'clock News" viewership--concentrating instead on attracting a younger, tech-oriented demo that might be interested in watching an airy, lighter newscast dominated with quicker stories geared toward their liking. Nice concept, extremely poor execution. "Nightbeat" is an acquired taste: like herring in coffee. I really wanted to like this experiment and have tried long and hard to give it a chance but the look, sound and appearance of the show leaves me shaking my head in disbelief, like are they kidding? No they're not.

Veronica De La Cruz, the newbie star reader PIX brought out from NY to anchor this mess, (along with the conventional 6 PM newscast), continues to look diminished here in this vehicle. Bad enough the program is awful, worse yet, it marginalizes VDLC and she comes off looking clueless and superficial. For starters, the "TRENDING" graphics and over-reliance on gimmicks such as the weatherman and sports guys without ties is forced and contrived. Even geek millennials can smell a rat when they see one. Nightbeat's patronizing pillage to Gen Y is a sorry excuse of farcical minutiae with sophomoric "bits" and dumbing down of the news. Moreover, the idiotic and loud, "GAME ON!" shout each night uttered by De La Cruz to introduce the sports segment looks more like a "Saturday Night Live" skit. Why not just a snappy, "hey, Dennis, tell us what's going on in sports tonight?" No, that would have been too normal and acceptable --go with a stupid gimmick that has staffers texting in-house jokes to one another, that indeed is TRENDING!


Worse yet, the split-screen close-up of both O'Donnell and VDLC back and forth looks awful and awkward. Absurd, really. Who was the genius that came up with this beauty? Calling all interns.

Nightbeat is both condescending and foolish. Remarkably stupid too. It's perfectly fine to cater to a younger demo by offering Twitter and Facebook "updates" but when it's the centerpiece of your program and when the subject matter frequently is unabashed trivial garbage, what's the point? Here's PIX trying to offer an alternative newscast that has to rely on superficial crap --in essence mocking the very audience it's trying to cater to--why not just come out and say, "Hey, you kids are a bunch of fucking morons!" At least that would be honest.


Furthermore, and quite frankly, utterly befuddling, why would KPIX constantly utilize the Facebook/Twitter card? Wouldn't that be defeating the purpose? The Facebookers and Twitter crowd are more than likely NOT watching a local TV newscast--maybe the blueprint would have been better off by merely concocting a fresh, good, compact, simple news program, remember that age-old relic? GAME OFF!

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Meanwhile, On The KBCW 'NightBeat': GAME ON! --Not Really

 GAME ON!? Not Really.

Still dreadful.

Still deeply crappy.

Still woefully executed and produced.

Still silly and totally out of the loop.

TRENDING:

*Major staff upheaval

*EP complains show has no direction

*Already management thinking of complete re-structure

*In-house jokes, chatter leads to speculation about future.

*Sports segment take from staffer: "This is a joke!"

 *VDLC: Image/rep takes a beating.

*Developing...

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KPIX/KBCW 10 PM 'NightBeat' Is Pretty Crappy; The Full 30-Minute Review; Tuesday Opener

The FIRST TIME I watched KPIX' CW 10 PM newser, 'NightBeat' I was so put off, I began laughing and turned if off after a few minutes.


After careful consideration I decided to watch an ENTIRE 30 minutes. Without interruption. My thought was that it would be unfair to cast a reliable opinion so soon after its debut. You don't review a new restaurant after two days, so I waited a week.


'Nightbeat' is McDrek. Yuck.


Sure, awesome dude, that Nightbeat on purpose tries to dumb down its limited youthful audience it is trying to endear itself to but for one time, I hope they're on Facebook and Twitter completely safe from the abyss known as being On The NightBeat.


If this is PIX's attempt at trying something new then either we're all screwed or local TV News is incapable of putting out a marginal newscast that has some residue of believability and quality. NightBeat has neither. NightBeat is farcical. NightBeat is chock full of gimmicks and insincere and vast nothingness; a bloated 30 minutes of contrived, forced and insipid attempts at being fresh and new. Gag me, Newness


Perhaps the biggest negative of this lousy show is that it not only makes KPIX look bad, but worse, makes newcomer, Veronica De La Cruz, look even worser. Why? Because De La Cruz is forced into doing and saying things that look and sound, well, forced. The false banter between sports and weather guys is putrid. It's not so much awful for its intent; we get it, again, they're trying to be different and that's OK, but this back and forth has all the warmth of a IHOP opening. It DOES NOT WORK.


The beginning of NightBeat amounts to jamming 10-15 quick stories down our throat with snippets of MOS interviews about dating trends; fast headlines, updates and urban minutiae --the concept is fine but the execution is horrid. It looks like it was put together in a hallway outside the PIX cafeteria in five minutes. The visual clichés are too much to stomach. It reeks of a false premise that fast is good. If only FAST was good and in THIS instance it's terrible. There's no there there.


Furthermore, unintentionally, it belittles the product, and more to the point, the circus leader, De La Cruz. I like VDLC and think she's trying hard but her ad-libs and attempt at on-the-spot don't work, more ominously and for the show's future, (if there is any), her "ba-bump-bump" quips reek shallow and hollow. Why she utters them at all, assuming this IS ad-libbed and she's not being prepped by the show's producers, is mind-boggling. Even the best anchors need time to get to know the market before injecting out-of-place, out-of-mind comedic snips into the show--this is perhaps the WORST element of NightBeat. That and the requisite moron MOS interviews with some yuppies in Pleasanton about their dating life or the other zippy terrible fast-paced gimmicks PIX has placed on our screen to be new and innovative. Oh my God. Are millennials that dumb and numb?


Monday Night was fraught with awfulness. Dennis O'Donnell, tie-less, (we're trying to be hip, dude), looked positively dorky gazing into the camera trying his best to form visual en fuego with De La Cruz but his visual mugging looked more like a Bakersfield audition for Last Comic Standing.


Paul Deannu is a pretty damn good weatherman--just enough of a personality to have gained acceptance here, but his wimpy weather contest with Veronica at the end was so bad it was almost comical. My gut tells me it was not his idea but the staff and it really does him nor the fragile image of NightBeat no good; it's OK, by this time of the evening, the NightBeat had already sunk, I was waiting for the orchestra to play Titanic tunes.


Nobody begrudges CBS-SF for its work, its attempt to create creativity. It's all fine and dandy but if THIS is the best you got, girls and boys, then you all need some serious creative therapy. A junior high journalism class would laugh at this. Get real. Stop the forced visual gulag and get back to the basics. The current painting is a colossal clusterfuck of mega-proportions.


I'm sticking to playing video games and cruising the Internet.


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NightBeat or 'Nightmare'? Early Spin Grim on KPIX 10 PM CW Newscast

*It's only been three days, but "seems like a year."


*KPIX staffer: "We have a lot of work to do."


*"Too many gimmicks", laments another.


*Nightbeat is too early to write off and PIX, good or bad, will eventually tweak it.


And it does need tweaking by God.


Enough, for instance, of two-minute slicks--stick to basics and don't be so cute. And please, mucho softo on the social media minutia --KISS: Keep it short and simple.


Veronica: Less urgency, more relaxed, just an opinion ...


*Developing...


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Note: Rich Lieberman and 415 Media are not responsible for opinions or comments made by others on this website.

KRON's Catherine Heenan Bay Area's Most Underrated TV News Anchor; Giant's Brass Peeved By Announcers Excess Absences; PIX 10 PM News Show Debuts Tonight; Drakes Bay Oyster Saturation Coverage; Monday Opener

 It's almost as if we take her for granted--and, come to think of it we do: Catherine Heenan, the veteran KRON anchor who has been at 1001 Van Ness since seemingly the beginning of time, is the most underrated anchor in the Bay Area TV News scene.


Heenan just shows up to work and does her job, effortlessly, gracefully, no matter the extraordinary circumstances that exist at the unpredictable environment called the KRON studios.


We've acknowledged that element recently.


Heenan is especially effective and no-nonsense on screen as she prepares for a personal milestone: she will turn 60 this October, usually a minefield for women TV news anchors. Not the case for Heenan whose presence on the SF TV airwaves goes back to the days of Evan White, Pete Wilson, and Bob Jimenez.


What I most admire about Heenan is that she's never changed. She's always been the same which in the news business is your greatest compliment. While some other anchors subliminally try to inject phony nuances into their presentation, Heenan has always been Heenan which is just right. And to KRON's benefit too we appreciate seeing her work particularly if there's a legitimate breaking news story--when her ad-libbing helps and when her news acumen is in full force, thank God.


NOTES From the Weekend--


*The Giants executive broadcast brass won't say so publically but many were none-to-happy over Mike Krukow missing Sunday's game in Miami where the team was playing the Marlins. Turns out Krukow missed a flight from Reno. He's scheduled to be back on the air Monday night in Philly where the Giants play the Phillies.


EXTRA Note: Have you too noticed, lately, the amount of absences from the team's broadcasters? It began in early July with Duane Kuiper who missed a week's worth of broadcasts due to an illness--not Kuiper's fault, but the Giant's front office felt Kuiper could have returned much sooner. He missed nearly seven games.


Soon after, both Jon Miller and Dave Flemming also missed games--Flemming, due to illness and Miller, who took some time off as he's done in recent years. No issues there due to the length of the baseball season, everyone needs a break, but combined with all the others absences, Giant's broadcasts have seen notable cracks in the routine and a few team officials are a bit annoyed.


*KPIX unveils its youth-oriented Bay Area Night Beat on its CW sister station tonight--this could either be truly ground-breaking or a monumental joke. PIX wants to try to gain some younger viewers with a newscast that's supposed to look unconventional --they'll be the usual news conduits like weather and sports but heavy emphasis on "social media" entities like Twitter and Facebook. I can only imagine the possibilities: "We'll get back to the scene of the fire at 4th and Market momentarily but we see once again, Justin Bieber trending heavily on Twitter..." Don't laugh and dismiss --that's the early speculation from the 855 Battery boys.


*This whole Drakes Bay Oyster Company story is beginning to reach to the depth of enough already! Granted, the idea of the Feds trying to dislodge the famous eatery and its oyster farm is important enough to warrant the attention of Bay Area media but there comes a point where saturation coverage has entered in to the equation--we've reached that here and then some.


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KPIX/KBCW Set To Launch New 10 PM Show Monday; De La Cruz To Anchor Solo; New Newscast Tries To Attract Younger Demo

After a months-long delay, KPIX is set to launch its much-anticipated 10 PM newscast this Monday on its sister CW station, KBCW. It will be titled: Bay Area Night Beat. (Creative).


Finally.


We've been waiting.


The show, as we noted here, will focus on attracting a younger audience. Therefore, expect a lot of what's trending on Twitter and Facebook updates.


PIX knows it can't beat KTVU with its ratings-leading, "10 O'clock News", but that's not its intention.


PIX is attempting to attract a percentage of viewers; younger, (A18-49), mobile; those that have smartphones and live by the web.


The irony: those in that segment are likely not watching local TV News.


The show will be anchored by Veronica De La Cruz.


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KPIX Launches New Newscast on Duopoly KBCW; 10 PM Show Will Go After Younger Audience; Monday Night Debut

KPIX's duopoly station, KBCW, (KPIX sister outlet on the CW Network), launches a new newscast on Monday Night at 10 PM. The program will be anchored by Veronica De La Cruz, who also co-anchors KPIX 6 PM newscast. 

De La Cruz has been anchoring only the 6 PM news this week as station officials have been dialing down the set and finalizing programming chits on the new show.


PIX has a simple strategy with this new venture: they acknowledge KTVU is still king at that time slot with its signature, ratings-dominant "Ten O'clock News".  They're not going to challenge 2 for overall viewers --simply impossible.


What they are trying to do is to capture a younger audience; the 18-49 demo coveted by advertisers as a prime buying entity. How successful, (or not), the venture becomes is anyone's guess but PIX is devoting a lot of manpower and analytics to the newscast, with more stories catered to the younger crowd, a quicker, shorter pace with an emphasis on health, sports, pop culture and the like. I'm guessing you're going to see a lot of music videos and entertainment features. Lite faire with some heady mixture-- something interesting to grab 10 seconds from an Amy in Pleasanton or Jack in Mill Valley.


Of course the usual top news of the day, breaking news, and sports and weather will be a part of the program but both the look and feel of the show will be readily different from the other "traditional" newscasts.


Experiments like this do not create winners overnight and I'm sure the powers-that-be over at 855 Battery are aware of that. Word is that this is not a short-term project and that KPIX is in it for the long haul. They'll be helped by the CW Network's younger audience as a lead-in and hope, with an emerging presence like De La Cruz that their 10 PM missive can ultimately carve a small, but loyal and younger viewership --or at least a whole of lot folks not glued to the Internet watching a Netflix offering.


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