Owens and Bakos KGO Radio Power Play; Frank Somerville's $400K Salary At KTVU To Be Cut By Fox Slashers; KPIX Dysfunction; KRON Nears Moving To 900 Front; Monday Morning After

 MONDAY MORNING ROUND-UP

It's not so much that the wee-hours guy, David Weintraub, was shown the door at albatross KGO Radio, it's the way it went down.

Weintraub, who wasn't a major player in KGO's decaying talk set-up but was clearly better than average, was the victim of a professional hit with Ronn Owens and Rene Bakos the backstabbers.

According to sources close to the situation, Owens wanted Weintraub out. Weintraub used to be Owen's producer and had both personal and professional clashes with the gadget man.

This, despite the fact that Weintraub was well-liked by most KGO staffers and considered an up-and-comer in the talk department. In fact, as I reported last week, Weintraub was ready to take Karel's spot on the weekend until the departure of top suit Ron Escarsega, who despised Karel.

Owens won't admit any of this of course --he's too busy schmoozing and kissing up to KGO's current crumb, Randall Bloomquist, who is essentially running the carnival show right now until the next clown is hired.

*KGO, along with the other Cumulus-SF stations like KNBR, KFOG, KSFO, etc, is moving out of its 55 Hawthorne headquarters and across town to the 300 Broadway building--one of the most heavily-congested areas of the city where parking is a rumor and navigating the traffic is virtually impossible--even with a garage this January move will be brutal.

I'm in touch with the development company based in Emeryville on why Cumulus was booted from Hawthorne and if what I'm hearing can be confirmed, this will be a doozy to report. Stay tuned.

*Frank Somerville's $400K or so salary at KTVU is almost certain to be cut as FOX begins to slash and trash the station's big money earners. The days of high-paid anchors even in big-city markets is a thing of the past. Somerville, like other veteran news readers has little leverage come contract renewal time as other stations in the market, owned by NBC and Disney, also plan to cut salaries.

*To say there's dysfunction at KPIX over a variety of things is like saying there's fog every now and then at the Golden Gate Bridge. For one thing, the cavalcade of managers continues to befuddle the rank and file and create fiction between the GM, ND and news staffers. You'd be surprised too about the very prominent anchors at PIX who are part-timers. It surprised the hell out of me.

*KRON had a tour of its new address, (900 Front; a Nov. 16 date they move in), complete with high-def monitors, news set and new equipment. ND, Aaron Pero, directed the tour with a few station people. Nobody heard or saw any screaming and yelling from Pero but I'm betting he's just getting warmed up.

*If you were listening to the end of the Stanford-Oregon St. radio broadcast on Saturday afternoon on KNBR 1050, it was a good 10 minutes before PBP broadcaster, Scott Reiss, managed to give the score. Not only professionally irresponsible but major annoyance too considering Reiss kept referring to this "Stanford blowout"--really?, then how about a score, moron! Just once.

*If Heather Holmes is considered female anchor royalty then I'm George Clooney.

*Funny: The Rob Lowe DirecTV commercials.

*GAAAAMEONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

I can't get that crap out of my head.

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Monday 415 Media Questions and Answers

 Back from a weekend. Hate this stupid time change which always screws up everybody's ritual. Back to the storm desk and ready for your questions and answers.


Anything goes as long as it doesn't get personal.


Be nice and show a little edge.


We'll begin answering your queries a little after 9 AM PT but you can begin firing away immediately.


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America's Cup Media Meltdown; KPIX/KTVU Musings; KRON's Bennett Reality Check; Carolyn Tyler and KGO; Sinkovitz back at KRON makes Perfect Sense; Punch-Drunk Media Sunday

**The America's Cup trials begin on the 4th of July and about five people are excited. NBC, I'm sure, had grand visions of chamber-of-commerce video images of the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower with a tablespoon full of sailboats from around the world on the bay.

Now they'll get a bunch of millionaires yukking it up at Pier 23 and Larry Ellison sipping Dom with his 16 girlfriends. Polo Shirt alert!

**BART may or may not strike Monday at midnight. Good. At least it'll allow the local TV minions to offer alternatives to the relentless 5000 post-mortems from the Pride parade.

**Add BART labor question: given the fact that many people are talking off days this week with the holiday on Thursday, why would BART workers strike this week? Was a week later off the memo pad? The password is leverage.

**One of these days I'm going to announce to the world that a very, very big radio frequency that has legendary call letters will be scooped up by a Santa Cruz broadcast/business impresario who thinks I'm the next Howard Stern and I do approve of this message. (The plot does indeed thicken--wink, wink).

**It's not that the paranoia at KPIX is that unusual; that's a common deal at most big-market TV stations. It's that the star talent that the big cheeses think are stars are not their part of the team. That type of management doesn't lead to harmony in the building nor in the ratings. Take care of the people who bring in viewers and don't kowtow to your drinking buddies at the Old Ship.

**Speaking of which, KTVU, the station of the year, courtesy of some industry fishwrap, has gigantic morale issues, notably its sports dept. where too much gossip and hard feelings over who makes the most money.

**KRON Weather chick alert: Jacqueline Bennett, you're not Christina Loren nor even close to Evelyn Taft. You scowl a lot and look like a Fresno Walmart cosmetics clerk. Get a dose of humility and drink a pint of Guinness. It couldn't hurt.

**Speaking of KRON, I've come to the conclusion that just as a mini-tranquility had permeated the 1001 Van Ness building, a new round of shoutfests erupted among the news managers and news reporters and newsroom staff. They just can't stand peace and quiet.

**I don't have an obsession of Gary Radnich; it's just when he mentions me either directly, (rare), or indirectly, (more common), I will not sit idly by and let him get away with it. The prima donna that preaches not to mess with family has messed with me. The operative word is: hypocrite.

**Even if she won't admit it, I will: Carolyn Tyler should have a more prominent role at KGO-TV. She's an underrated news anchor and a damn good reporter. The fact that she doesn't look like Soledad O'Brien is why she's constantly being portrayed by a few insiders as "not a weeknight presence" is total bullshit. I said that, quote me.

**The fact that Michael Savage is worth $200 million, give or take a few million, has some Bay Area broadcast people and listeners, up in arms. Hey, it's only money.

**If KRON hired back Tom Sinkovitz, they'd immediately move the needle and have instantaneous buzz. Not only would he'd love to come back, he'd galvanize the place and bring in some much-needed energy to a place that could use it.

**Add KRON: NBC should have just bit its tongue and buy KRON from Young. It made too much sense on a lot of fronts thereby making it impossible to happen.

**Jessica Aquirre: I like you, Jess, just what's up with all the facial contortions? You're starting to scare the shit out of me.

**Brian Hackney used to be a quality news reader, a professional and a damn good weather and science anchor/reporter, and still is. But, yo Brian, you take yourself way too seriously. If you keep it up you're gonna make Allen Martin seem like Milt Kahn.

**The new Jannelle Wang: still hot, much better ad-libber and downright capable anchor holding her own with Raj Mathai.

**I love it: The local station PR people that can't stand me but continue to send me propaganda via my e-mail box. I'm just damn thrilled.

**This little blog is nearing the 6 Million page views after only five years in the cyber bar. Not bad considering the fact that everyone under the sun thought it was destined for the black hole early on. And oh, by the way, damn right I ask for donations. If KQED, a $300M operation that has daily pledge/donation breaks, then I damn well can and will ask for contributions. Sure, I don't have Masterpiece Theatre but then again, considering my body of work, plenty of drama. It takes time and money to bring you this wonderful tapestry so yeah, 5 bucks isn't gonna kill you.

**Follow me on Twitter and listen to me, Monday-Friday, from 1-4 PM PT on the KSCO/KOMY Radio talk show.