Deb Monroe, News Director, is leaving KGO Radio. Her last day is June 19th. Good news for Monroe: she's leaving the 810 AM albatross, albeit Downtown SF. Bad news? She's headed for an ND job at the Salinas CBS-TV affiliate. She starts in July.We said Tuesday that Monroe effectively lost the newsroom and ultimately, probably, sealed her fate. Her management style was beginning to rub some the wrong way and it was just a matter of time before she and upper suits decided to cut the cord.
Monroe didn't help her cause playing favorites in the newsroom --particularly with younger, part-time staffers and reporters who had considerably less juice in and around the offices.
To be clear, her reign as ND is not the only reason KGO is failing miserably, but for a station trying desperately to become the "Bay Area's News Station", she didn't have the professional gusto to pull it off and her ways and means among the rank and file were beginning to wear thin. Clearly, Monroe was not the person to lead the troops.
MORE RUMORS:
*We're hearing that the afternoon news (3-7 PM) is going kaput any day now and that some sort of "hybrid" program consisting of news and talk --in essence, what KGO is trying to do at 7- 10 PM with the Dreck Show, an out and out failure to be precise.
*There is considerable frustration inside the newsroom (which is another reason Monroe is gone); sort of one side versus the other. Whoever takes this gig must immediately gain the confidence of the veterans otherwise a full size revolt could be in the offing. Yes, it's that bad on Battery Street.
*This is not a rumor: A longtime staffer texted me upon learning of Monroe's leaving: "Ding Dong, the witch is dead." Ouch.
*Follow me on Twitter
