Citadel to begin major changes in major markets...

[chuckydoll]

Re: Melanie Morgan Out At 560/KSFO

Citadel says it's because her contract wasn't renewed. Maybe it's because of her involvement with pro-war outfit Move America Forward.

So far the only Bay Area outlet to report her sacking has been ABC7/KGO-TV (a former corporate cousin). Even the Bay Area newspapers have yet to run the story.

She ... understands that it's radio and you're there to entertain.

As KSFO is a right-wing talk station Morgan was there to act as a brownshirt, not unlike Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly.

Look to the East Bay: Because the city of Berkeley wants the US Marine Corps out, Move America Forward is doing a McCarthy-style crusade against that city.

Somebody around here would be smart to grab her quickly ... but who's got the money these days?

Not Clear Channel and not CBS -- they're in cutdown mode too.

 

[LKellerIII]

"But there is a liberal conceit I keep hearing that right wing talk hosts are only doing it for 'the show' and don't really believe what they're saying. "Liberal conceit? Really? That anything like the liberal media? Be careful about labeling..."

Hey, I am a liberal, but - I hope - someone who thinks for myself and doesn't blindly adhere to any particular political agenda. I'm liberal on most things, moderate on a few, and conservative on one or two issues. So maybe I'm labeling, as you say, but I've always noticed a few conceits particular to both sides of the spectrum.

Some conservatives like to label liberals and even moderates as anti-American, or even treasonous for disagreeing with the conservative line... like with the Iraq War for instance, especially early on. When I was a kid, liberals were labeled "communists"or "pinkos" (almost communist).

On the other end of the spectrum, some liberals like to feel intellectually superior, and label intelligent conservatives as fake closet liberals just playing right-wing for the money and fame. I've heard the same thing said about Rush Limbaugh. But I've never heard a conservative accuse Randi Rhodes or Ray Taliaferro of being a fake liberal.

Just an observation.

 

[DyingMedium]

Someone really said that about Limbaugh? LOL...Now that's one dude who I always thought was a true conservative...In fact, used to love his show before he started believing his own press.

In the early 90s, I don't think there was anyone as entertaining and funny as Rush was...

 

[chuckydoll]

More on Melanie Morgan getting sacked

The SF Chronicle finally ran the story today -- their 2nd most read as I post this.

As typical of the Liberal Media the Chronicle was soft on her worldview and heavy on the hype. The Citadel troubles were buried at the bottom when they should have been mentioned near the top.

 

[smedge2006]

On the other end of the spectrum, some liberals like to feel intellectually superior, and label intelligent conservatives as fake closet liberals just playing right-wing for the money and fame. I've heard the same thing said about Rush Limbaugh. But I've never heard a conservative accuse Randi Rhodes or Ray Taliaferro of being a fake liberal.

Perhaps because there's no evidence that either was. On the other hand, there's plenty of evidence that several career conservative hosts, including Mike Siegel, Al Rantel and Steve Kane, were once liberals -- not just in private, but "on the air", until they had their "Saul on the road to Damascus" moment (probably when they figured out they could make more money playing a conservative). Others were forced to change their political positions at gunpoint by the p.d. of their particular employer at the time.

 

[ContactLenz]

The Morgan's, Malkin's, and Limbaugh's ain't no William F. Buckley.

Though he was historically wrong on Integration and WWII, he had respect for the other side and didn't hold politics personal.

He could disagree without being disagreeable...though I guess that kind of style and discussion wouldn't push ratings in todays media.

Morgan was a "Johnny come lately"...those always seem to be the ones who shout more, the converts, when those who have held their beliefs for a long time tend to be confident in them without pushing them on down anothers throat.

But what the hell do I know?

 

[DavidKaye]

Also, don't think anyone criticized her for leaving Metro...Hell, I give her props for that!

I brought up leaving Metro because for much of her time on the KSFO morning show she was an employee of Metro, not of KSFO, though it appeared that she was working for KSFO. Had she remained with them, she might still have a job. Tom Benner (Officer Vic) is still working for Metro and notice that he's still on the air.

 

[LKellerIII]

"...there's plenty of evidence that several career conservative hosts, including Mike Siegel, Al Rantel and Steve Kane, were once liberals -- not just in private, but 'on the air', until they had their 'Saul on the road to Damascus' moment (probably when they figured out they could make more money playing a conservative)."

Well, at least in my observation, people in general do have a tendency to get more conservative as they get older and more affluent. I'm not familiar with Rantel or Kane, but I'm willing to believe that the majority of these guys are sincere conservatives. Have some done it just for the money? Probably.

Another example of a sincere conversion, I think - was Jim Eason. I've heard he was a liberal in the 60s when he started at KGO. By the time I moved here in the mid 70s and heard his show, he was extremely conservative. But I'm sure there was no directive from Mickey Luckoff to become right wing, and Eason was already getting a big paycheck - he didn't get a raise for going right. His conversion was a good decade before Limbaugh and the big explosion in popularity of right-wing radio.

And when ABC moved Eason from KGO to the then-new right-wing KSFO, he was reportedly angry - probably because he was afraid he was being moved from the majors to the bush leagues (no pun intended). By the way, Eason was reportedly the one who coined the name "Savage Wiener" for Michael Savage, who he reportedly despised for non-political reasons

"Others were forced to change their political positions at gunpoint by the p.d. of their particular employer at the time."

Another justification for gun control?

 

[tripton99]

I can testify that Eason was a flaming liberal until the '70s. I think some of the change came when he was putting his kids in SF public schools and learned how atrocious the system was, even then. He soon moved out of SF to a lovely home south of town with much better schools.

But in those early years almost all talk radio was liberal. There were few exceptions, but I remember Pat Michaels on KNEW, who, I think was that kind of phony conservative who was always making faces and giggling off-mike as he spewed his mild hate.

 

[DavidKaye]

I can testify that Eason was a flaming liberal until the '70s. I think some of the change came when he was putting his kids in SF public schools and learned how atrocious the system was, even then. He soon moved out of SF to a lovely home south of town with much better schools.

San Francisco has long been trashed for its allegedly inferior schools. This is not the case, though there indeed some schools which are pretty bad. I call attention to Lowell High, a school where well over 90% of students go on to college, about 60% with scholarships. Lowell is one of the very highest rated high schools academically in the entire USA. It's a San Francisco public school.

 

[RicoGregg]

But in those early years almost all talk radio was liberal. There were few exceptions, but I remember Pat Michaels on KNEW, who, I think was that kind of phony conservative who was always making faces and giggling off-mike as he spewed his mild hate.

If you think that was something, you should have seen Pat Michaels as a GM in SoCal during the 80s. Words I heard said about him included "pompous, arrogant, two-faced, pretentious, pig-headed, phony," and "megalomaniacal."

When station ownership fired him in 1988, one of the stations he was managing was informed at 9am that he was gone. By 10am, the place looked like V-E Day & V-J Day combined had taken place.

At last report, he was living in the Palm Springs area, and occasionally writing for one of the desert newspapers.

 

[LKellerIII]

Tripton said: "...in those early years almost all talk radio was liberal..."

You should probably preface that with "In the Bay Area..." In Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s, both TV and radio were filled with right-wing commentators. Talk radio was probably more balanced than TV, but the most popular hosts with the big ratings - people like Joe Pyne and Ray Briehm were conservative.

David Kaye said: "San Francisco has long been trashed for its allegedly inferior schools. This is not the case, though there indeed some schools which are pretty bad. I call attention to Lowell High, a school where well over 90% of students go on to college, about 60% with scholarships. Lowell is one of the very highest rated high schools academically in the entire USA. It's a San Francisco public school."

I can attest to that. My 3 kids have all attended SF public schools from Kindergarten thru 12th grade, and they've all been good except one high school...which looked good on paper but turned out to be a mess. But I always made sure to check out all the choices, and request the good schools. If you let the District choose your kid's assigned school, chances are you'll get a bad one.

 

[newsperson]

David Kaye said:

I brought up leaving Metro because for much of her time on the KSFO morning show she was an employee of Metro, not of KSFO, though it appeared that she was working for KSFO. Had she remained with them, she might still have a job. Tom Benner (Officer Vic) is still working for Metro and notice that he's still on the air.

Newsperson responds:

Last year a Bay Area newspaper stated that Melaine Morgan was an employee of a "traffic company" to avoid the conflit of having a husband and wife working together for Disney. Just because it was in newspaper does not mean it's true.

As far as still having a job if she remained at Metro doesn't make sense. There have been so many changes in all levels of management there and Melaine went to bigger and better things. Metro is a good place to work becase it gives you the opportunity to be on more than one station. On the other hand it is not the ownership or (present)management that makes it a good place to work, it is the work itself and yes there are some very good people working there who are not managers.

One woman I know bats her eyes and charmes the male manager and gets the shifts she wants. However her personality also clashed with the female manager and she almost lost her job but she was able to charm her too.

A newsperson (not me) who delivered the news on KSFO with a real personality resigned on moral grounds of the company conduct. (I do not know what the specific issue was.)

The first woman I mention got into a disagreement with a younger man co-worker. She offered to "take it outside" to resolve it and he was very upset but did not go outside with her. She still has more hours and a better employment agreement with the company the he. I don't know what the exact argument was.

Even with all these stories there is much work that gets done at Metro. Sometimes one has to do as many as 12 traffic reports and hour. It truly is a "reports factory". Plus most of the staff workers are not hostile with each other.

I respect the work that is offered at Metro except for Melaine it seems that she wil develop other viable alternatives.

On the KGO front (as in 900 Front St.) the fact Bernie Ward lost his job for other reasons may have saved someone else's. So is the chopping over?

As far as Melanie is concerned would you agree that it is much better for her to look forward for new opportunties rather than backward (Metro) ?

Newsperson