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KGO Horse Race

TheWhiteMenace said:
I at first thought Christine would be a good fill for the slot, but now I'm against it. The other night she had a guest on who spent the entire hour lambasting and attacking Bill Wattenburg as she did nothing to stop him, or at least stop using his name. It seemed unfair, and incredibly unprofessional.
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I agree about that it is non-professional to talk about fellow talkshow hosts. I did not hear the show, but in the couple years I did talkradio I was taught that you simply do not dis your colleagues. It's simply bad form, like dissing your mother in front of your father.

One would think that there are more interesting things to talk about anyhow.
 
RadioStarOne said:
There is only one choice for KGO management to make for the timeslot and that is John Rothman! The Only Choice!
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Given a fulltime slot, John Rothmann is in danger of becoming an insufferable bore. For one, you just know the cheesy friendliness is a put-on. Could you really take that on a nightly open-ended stint?

Secondly, his topics are stale ("Who are you going to vote for in the election?") unless he has a guest, and when he has a guest it's usually a washed-up TV star from the 1950s he admires or an author of a book about someone who lived before many/most of us were born, who doesn't have much relevance to us but is interesting to Rothmann because he can pull out his personal anecdotes about Nixon.

And he's always putting on those windbags named "Blessed" and "HB" or whatever her initials, people who have nothing to say, no personal experience in the topic at hand, and are calling just because Rothmann will take their call and make nicey nice with them.
 
ChiefOperator said:
I vote for Christine Craft.
She always has an interesting show about local (and some national) issues that have serious implications for all of us--not just the same blah, blah, about national politics. She can also hold her own in any debate.
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In short doses there are few people as good as she is, and you can quote me on that. In longer doses she falls back on a rotation of tired topics. I'm surprised I haven't heard her bring up her lawsuit against Metromedia in at least a year. How many times has she done the moths, cell phones, animals, and nukes?

I'm hoping that if she gets the slot she'll broaden her range of topics, then everything will be good and I won't have to worry about Karel getting the slot.
 
Although Karel can be outragous sometimes in his opinions and stances - he is entertaining, often funny, and he does have a distinct personality - to say the least he is interesting to listen to - based on that, I vote for Karel!!


:D ::) ;)
 
so when wattenberg bashes everyone including me for suggesting that other scientists disagree with him re: the sabotage issues involving spent fuel rods..(it would just cause a bad sunburn)I'm supposed to be a meek pussycat??not gonna happen...I don't talk about my landmark litigation ...unless someone else mentions it(ie. the exhibit at the Museum of broadcast history ..wash dc., chicaco etc. title vii litigation)..When was the last time I talked about compassionatetreatment of animals as a topic David?????..I also have talked much more about obama/Clinton....a potential bombing of Iran, political activism, and if you are sick of moth talk now...just wait .....you are going to be reaallllllly sick of it..cuz it's not going to stop on this station and I hope..many others.
 
RE: BILL WATTENBERG....DURING MY TIME IN SF I USED TO SIT IN FOR HIM.
 
TAKE 2.....I GOT CUT OFF......WHEN SITTING IN FOR BILL ONE SATURDAY NIGHT I TOOK A POSITION OPPOSITE OF HIS..I FORGET THE SUBJECT....NEXT WEEK SOMEONE CALLED HIM AND COMPLAINED ABOUT WHAT I SAID....AND HE REPLIED..."LET'S NOT BE CRITICAL OF SOME OTHER OPINION"...I NEVER FORGOT THAT.

BILL WAS ALWAYS VERY NICE TO ME. WE CAN DISAGREE AND STILL RESPECT EACH OTHER.

JERRY GORDON KNUU LAS VEGAS

[email protected]
 
Nobody is sucking up to Wattenburg. I think he's a ******, personally.

KGO has been the pinnacle of what talk radio should be and possesses some of the most professional hosts I've ever heard. It is the exception to what most radio stations have become today.

However, when host 'X' spends an hour bashing, or allows a guest to attack host 'Y', which is exactly what happened, host X's credibility drops fast, as does that of the station. It's my opinion, again, but I think many would agree.

I have never heard Wattenburg mention anyone by name. He says his little, '40 hours a week of the other opinion on this station...' rant. Whatever. It sounds lame as well and I don't condone that either, but at least it's less of a personal assault against a coworker.


...and the topic could be Underwater Basket Weaving, for all I care...

I have a Geology professor that doesn't believe in plate tectonics...he's viewed as a nut-case....
 
MORE ON BILL W...

IT SEEMS "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND" BUT NOT EVERYONE LOVES BILL.

HIS FOLLOWING IS LEGION THOUGH, ONE SATURDAY NIGHT AFTER A FOOTBALL GAME ON THE STATION I WAS THERE WAS BILL CAME ON AT MIDNITE SAYING HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS TO START A SHOW A FTER A GAME AND AS HE WAS SAYING IT THE PHONES LIT UP AND HE WAS OFF AND RUNNING. IT SEEMS ALL HE HAS TO DO IS SAY..I'M HERE. I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE ELSE DO THAT, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF AN EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH.

I'M NOT SUCKING UP TO BILL...I'M JUST RELATING MY EXPERIENCE.


JERRY GORDON KNUU LAS VEGAS

[email protected]
 
I NEED TO PROOF READ MORE CAREFULLY2ND GRAF SHOULD READ ..I WAS THERE _-WHEN- BILL ETC/
 
I have been listening to KGO since 1994 and find that it is becoming more and more boring lately. When Bernie Ward was around, we could hear lot of interesting discussions, but now that he's gone, we have a whole bunch of pretenders trying to take over his time-slot.

So here are the contenders for the 10pm-1am slot and my opinion of each of them :

Karel - Talks too much, shuts out callers, even when they agree with him! Looks like he really loves to hear his own voice! Another irritating thing about him is that he starts talking about some serious topic with a guest and then makes some stupid and frivolous comment that he thinks is comic relief, but which might be regarded as an insult to the guest.

Christine Craft - Can get very monotonous even if she is given one weekly slot. What can she do with 5 slots every week? Over the past few weeks, her topics have been mostly about how Hillary is kicking Obama's butt. Or else it will be about that light-brown moth or yellowish-green moth or whatever.

David Lazarus - Doesn't have a good :"radio voice", IMO. I think he is better as a writer than as a radio talk show host. I have read some very good business-related articles from him on the SF Chron. And just like Karel or Craft, I don't think Lazarus has what it takes to sustain listener interest 5 days a week.

John Rothman - Is liberal and should therefore be a good replacement for Ward. But, he is always rooting for Israel regardless of whatever happens in the Middle-East. Was wrong on the Iraq war and admits it, but his arguments regarding Iran are exactly the same that he made regarding Iraq. I am sure he will get very stale within a few weeks. As it is, he has some 9 hours or so during the weekend and that is OK since it is during the early morning hours. If he gets too boring, one can always turn the radio off and go back to sleep!

Bill Wattenburg - I have had enough of his "eco-freak" and "bureaucratic bunghole" nonsense. These days, his programs are rarely about science (if you don't count his incessant beating of the drums for more and more nuclear plants). The most obnoxious of the lot. I simply can't stand him for 2 nights a week, let alone 5 nights a week. Recently, when I was scanning channels, I heard him referring to Cindy Sheehan as "the unofficial foreign secretary of bin Laden" or something like that. Truly despicable.

Overall, I think they should simply cycle the 10p-1am slot among 2 or 3 of these people. None of them really deserves a full-time slot at KGO.
And maybe it's just me, but KGO (except for Gene Burns) has become very pedestrian lately. Gil Gross, Jim Gabert, Greg Jarrett... not only do they sound the same, even their names sound the same :)
 
And if you poll 100,000 other KGO listeners, you'll get 100,000 other ideas on how to deal with the 10pm-1am slot. I have my own opinions like anyone else, but I have to admit that Mickey Luckoff has more often than not made good desicions when it comes to this sort of thing. The most recent example is giving the afternoon slot to Gil Gross after Pete Wilson's untimely passing; that decision was not made until after much thought and analysis. He's doing the same thing now, and while I have my own thoughts on who should take that slot, I trust that whoever does will do well.

Who knows, maybe Mickey will surprise all of us- maybe he'll bring John and Ken up from LA. That'll keep KGO from being 'pedestrian'. ;D
 
Mickey tried JOhn and Ken on KSFO in the late 90's--it didn't work out

A couple of bizzaro votes: Lee Rodgers (never happen but he was better in his kgo days); Michael Krasney (preceded Ward in that slot, went to kqed and never looked back); Dan Noyes (pretty smart guy); Jim Hightower (not sure how his act would play in SF, they tried him as a weekend syndicated show many moons ago); Randi Rhodes (a thousand times more interesting than any of current candidates); Ray Taliaferro (he's been phoning it in for years but when he is on he is quite good). Gene Rusco (was outstanding when he did fill-in work in the early 90's).

Also, regarding the hosts dissing each other--will never forget when they put Michael Savage's cube next to Ronn Owens. Lasted about a month. Hilarious. Savage also once tried to sue Geoff Metcalf while they were on the same station because Geoff had written him an angry memo about stealing his guest from the Republican National Convention in San Diego. Savage also attempted to get a restraining order against a certain production director and threatened to call security on a sales guy. It should be noted that Savage and Wattenburg are very close.
 
"Also, regarding the hosts dissing each other--will never forget when they put Michael Savage's cube next to Ronn Owens. Lasted about a month. Hilarious. Savage also once tried to sue Geoff Metcalf while they were on the same station because Geoff had written him an angry memo about stealing his guest from the Republican National Convention in San Diego. Savage also attempted to get a restraining order against a certain production director and threatened to call security on a sales guy. It should be noted that Savage and Wattenburg are very close."

Savage was never popular with his ABC brethren. Though they shared the same political philosophy, Jim Eason despised him. I think it was Eason who coined the name "Savage Weiner" and actually used it on air a couple of times.

Jim dissed Ronn Owens pretty regularly too, though in a much gentler way, calling him "Ron with two Ns" and making fun of Owen's self-consciously moderate politics.
 
funny that...me being so allegedly"monotonous"...when I was on the same station as Randi Rhodes(the bleeping w-word)..I kicked her butt in the ratings.
 
Simple solution to the problem: Put Gill Gross on 10 to 1. Put Jim Eason back on 2 to 4 P.M. Problem solved. I won't hold my breath though. Better Yet, put on an unknown talent from out there somewhere, or hire a young unspoiled buck that will truely appreciate the slot and bring a real breath of fresh air to the station! Any Ideas out there? Gene Rusco is a great idea also.
 
I think KAREL! should get the spot, he shaves his legs and Christine Craft does not. (Good grooming is important in business.)
 
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