We received a brief communication from the Lion with his initial reaction to the KGO firings; below is a short quote. He says he will have a full blog on this very soon. ED the IT guy.
Quote from The Lion:
"I will write something (very soon). This change makes no sense and means there will be no local talk in the fourth largest market in the country. Red Eye Radio, sucks and I listen to it from time to time. There is no there there. I'm not surprised by Owens. He has a contract they can't end, so he is sitting pretty. I was amazed at Karel's take on all of this, that its just part of the business etc. Those who are still on the air have to tow the company line. It would be career suicide not to do that, but it doesn't mean others of us can't comment and point out the real facts about community commitment etc."
Eagerly awaiting your extended take on this, Mr. Ward.
ReplyDeletewow...took the debacle over at kgo for me to find this blog...guess its true, there is always a silver lining to everything.
ReplyDeletethe end of an era...
should note that many of the comments on blogs and at sfgate, point to mr ward's removal from the airwaves as the starting point for the decline of kgo....but the station couldve been fixed...cumulus never had any intention of doing that...it isnt what they do...they gut.
you are right about karel...his comments were bizarre...but thats what happens when a far lefty tries to explain away capitalist thuggery. by the end, he almost sounded like howard beale after ned beatty got through with him....it was all, "give up...they dont care about you...you dont matter"
and it also seems that cumulus neglected to inform the advertisers about the drastic change...many are pretty pissed....at least 5 have pulled their accounts.
this is not normal.
and i too cant wait to read your extended take (although i would prefer to hear it)
anyway...happy i found you again...
I couldn't agree more Bernie and Karel is GLOATING OVER THIS! Maybe he thinks KGO will hire him full-time or some such nonsense. I turned him OFF the other night as I couldn't stand to listen to him any longer (Karel that is). What happened to Ray Taliaferro? No one has said a word about Ray and I for one am worried about him.
ReplyDeleteI eagerly await your opinions on this Bernie and take care my friend.
Thanks for the post Bernie... I like what you've said so far and I eagerly look forward to your next post
ReplyDeleteWatch this one-hour video by Glenn Greenwald so you will know what is going on our free country:
ReplyDeletehttp://wanttoknow.info/070707newparadigm
First of all you really can't blame Karel for his comments "on the air" as he has been fired KGO once and as he rightly pointed out, he has a mortgage to pay. However, you could tell by the tone of his voice that he was not at all supportive of what happened.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Bernie as far as Red Eye Radio, and it also annoys me when the syndicated programs try to "pretend" that they are actually from the local market. For example, in Portland on KXL the program began this with their little jingle... "Tower this is Red Eye Radio flight KXL 101 requesting clearance with information..." or something similar to that effect.
When I was listening to KGO the other day trying to figure out what is going on, the intro for redeye radio was the same theme however, it was focused more on the San Francisco tower.
Things I really hate about syndicated programming especially with talk shows, is that the whole point of talk shows is for the listeners to participate. It is really embarrassing when you call a station to talk to the host and find out that the program has been over for several hours.
Such is the case as redeye radio, when I was bouncing between KGO and our local station KXL, there was actually a one-hour delay in broadcasts.
And then in my opinion is one of the unique this is a KGO has was the lack of syndicated programming also, a little bit of the nostalgia, I have been listening to Ray ever since I started delivering newspapers in the morning at the age of 16. I'm now 55.
Cumulus just made KGO just like any other radio station and violated one of the major formulas for success in business which is when you have the same commodity as your competitors, you have to find a niche in the business. Soon KGO's advertisers and stockholders will actually feel the impact of this move.
Cumulus at some point will try to "rectify" the error of their ways by playing around with different formats and some people in management will also lose their jobs as well. I have seen it happen before.
By the way Bernie, Sundays have not really been the same without the Church of the Holy Doughnut.
I wonder if Ray Tal and the other hosts can just set up their own podcasts? I never thought about the deregulation aspect of this but it sounds like a correct analysis. Most people like me probably just figured it was about the internet and satellite radio taking over, that it was just progress. But obviously it is not progress, but regress.
ReplyDeletethere is a way that they can broadcast on the internet. I have a weekly talk show with incoming phone lines on blogtalkradio.com/krbn however it would be really great to have them on there but it would be hard to make a living at it.
ReplyDeleteRed Eye Radio is 1000% better than Ray. Ray was the left wing's michael savage.
ReplyDeleteThe most compelling hosts were John Rothmann and Dr. Bill. How Karel kept his job over them is beyond me.
It's a shame because I've been listening to KGO since 1991
Wasserman is a broken record..."if it weren't for the eco-nazi...blah, blah, blah" Good riddance to Uncle Grumpy. Ray was 100% left-wing, unadulterated and honest. No one despised GW Bush more than Ray. So what is there not to like? :)
DeleteThen you've got the decimation of KKGN, replacing Stephanie Miller with Glenn Beck? What the f*$&K?
Coast 2 Coast died when Art Bell left it to that right-wing schill Geroge Noory, the world's worst interviewer.
Hope you're OK , Bernie.
We miss you!
Jim S
I love Coast to CoastAM..Thank God for that show
ReplyDeletei thought bernie was still in the can?..Is you in or is you out bern?
ReplyDelete