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Radio Waves (Nov. 16 Edition) -- Must Read!

My o my, this David Kaye sure has it in for BF-T.
I suggest Kaye give us a sample of what he'd put in a 750-100 word column where the deadline is 11 days before pub date.

I think the only other worthy radio guy in print is Brad Kava but he's stuck in the Examiner, aka the Black Hole of news.
 
tripton99 said:
My o my, this David Kaye sure has it in for BF-T.
I suggest Kaye give us a sample of what he'd put in a 750-100 word column where the deadline is 11 days before pub date.

I think the only other worthy radio guy in print is Brad Kava but he's stuck in the Examiner, aka the Black Hole of news.
Click to expand...

In another thread a month or two ago, I responded to David by going on sfgate.com, and checking the previous ten BFT columns. The majority (about 60%) were about new events in local radio - tne new Radio Hall of Fame inductees, Dave Morey retiring from KFOG, Les Crane's death, etc. If an old-time radio guy like Crane dies, is it a new event or just looking backward? The death is obviously a current story. I guess it's looking back if you talk about his career - but isn't that what you're supposed to do in that kind of article?

So it really isn't true that Ben's column is only radio nostalgia.

The charge is false in this case too - he's talking about the KFRC's flip to simulcasting KCBS. That's current news - or as current as it gets for him with the 11 day delay. I guess Ben spent a little time waxing nostalgic about Top 40 radio back in the day, but we all do a fair amount of that on this board - David Kaye included.
 
UNFAIR:
To dismissively label Ben Fong Torres bi-weekly columns in the Chron as mere nostalgia is like seeing the Golden Gate bridge as nothing but a structure. I know art may be hard to find words for, but you could at least try.

Instead of dismissively chucking it away as simple sentimentality, why not examine the texturing from which each section is constructed. Fong-Torres clearly relishes his vast local broadcast subject and his reporting is informed by decades of experience, affinithy, courage and his first steps into broadcasting -- namely good old fashioned digging.

Ben Fong-Torres believed in and was writing about pop music, rock & roll, and its performers since BEFORE the publication of the first Rolling Stone Magazine, the rock magazine authority of which he later became editor. His blazing conviction never wavered from these early beginnings when the subject of hit music and its makers generally had zero validity among commercial publishers.

He'll never blow his own horn, but I'll gladly tout him as one of our true American treasures, radiating from right here in San Francisco.

EXTRA FONG-TPRRES TRIVIA:
Not a bad jock either. He can talk up the begining of Gene McDaniels' great oldie, "Hundred Pounds Of Clay," NAILING the intro time, NEVER talking over Gene's talented singing. ...And his impression of Elvis is way better than yours. (And mine. When I try it I sound like Keith Urban on two dozen Valium.)
 
One pretty much needs to give Ben Fong Torres his due. After all, he is a legend. As a side, when I hear of BFT, I can't help but think of the movie, "Almost Famous," one of my all time favorites.
 
tripton99 said:
My o my, this David Kaye sure has it in for BF-T.
Click to expand...

Not at all. I've made a lot of money from him over the years.

I suggest Kaye give us a sample of what he'd put in a 750-100 word column where the deadline is 11 days before pub date.
Click to expand...

First, BF-T is a professional writer who cut his teeth on Rolling Stone and the demanding Jann Wenner. He could certainly write a column twice a month and not have it nearly always be a nostalgia trip. What's more, he always seems to bring himself into it as a KSAN DJ. He didn't DJ at the old KSAN for very long, and was certainly not in the group that is identified as the "old KSAN", meaning the Tom Donahue days.

There are 75 or so radio stations in the Bay Area. There are DJs people wake up to and talkshow hosts people listen to TODAY. There are stations doing interesting things. Anybody ever hear about Philosophy Talk on KALW, the only philosophy talkshow anywhere? Or how about the only locally-produced live audience variety show, "West Coast Live" -- when has he ever written about that?

BF-T instead talks mostly about stuff that happened 30 years ago. BF-T is a bore. It's not a personal attack, it's an observation about his writing.
 
Lkeller said:
In another thread a month or two ago, I responded to David by going on sfgate.com, and checking the previous ten BFT columns. The majority (about 60%) were about new events in local radio - tne new Radio Hall of Fame inductees, Dave Morey retiring from KFOG, Les Crane's death, etc. If an old-time radio guy like Crane dies, is it a new event or just looking backward? The death is obviously a current story.
Click to expand...

It's old, not new. Les Crane has been out of radio for decades. He's been Mavis Beacon, the typing lady, not Les Crane the talkshow host. Likewise Radio Hall of Fame. That's a story about oldsters, most of whom are retired from radio a good 10 to 20 years. And Dave Morey retiring. That's sort of current, but it reflects on what was, not what is.
 
DavidKaye said:
Lkeller said:
In another thread a month or two ago, I responded to David by going on sfgate.com, and checking the previous ten BFT columns. The majority (about 60%) were about new events in local radio - tne new Radio Hall of Fame inductees, Dave Morey retiring from KFOG, Les Crane's death, etc. If an old-time radio guy like Crane dies, is it a new event or just looking backward? The death is obviously a current story.
Click to expand...

It's old, not new. Les Crane has been out of radio for decades. He's been Mavis Beacon, the typing lady, not Les Crane the talkshow host. Likewise Radio Hall of Fame. That's a story about oldsters, most of whom are retired from radio a good 10 to 20 years. And Dave Morey retiring. That's sort of current, but it reflects on what was, not what is.
Click to expand...

I guess you don't want to give Ben a break, David - and that's OK with me, and probably with him, too. He's an established journalist/author and doesn't need me defending him.

But c'mon - Les Crane was very prominent in Bay Area radio, then became a very prominent syndicated TV talk host for a few short years in the late 60s. He then had a successful career as a software developer. The guy's death is news. In Ben's place, would you have ignored the story because Crane's fame was in the past? Would you have said "Les Crane died last week. He used to do radio and TV, but we're not going to talk about because he didn't do anything lately."

Or would you talk about Crane's accomplishments as Ben did?

As for Dave Morey's retirement - why is that old? Because he's old? Shouldn't an article about Morey's retirement mention his history on KFOG and elsewhere?
 
Lkeller said:
But c'mon - Les Crane was very prominent in Bay Area radio, then became a very prominent syndicated TV talk host for a few short years in the late 60s. He then had a successful career as a software developer. The guy's death is news. In Ben's place, would you have ignored the story because Crane's fame was in the past? Would you have said "Les Crane died last week. He used to do radio and TV, but we're not going to talk about because he didn't do anything lately."

Or would you talk about Crane's accomplishments as Ben did?

As for Dave Morey's retirement - why is that old? Because he's old? Shouldn't an article about Morey's retirement mention his history on KFOG and elsewhere?
Click to expand...

If Ben Fong-Torres is going to write a column about a dying medium, fine. There is no better way than to write about what was instead of what is. But it happens that while Bay Area radio is badly injured, it is not dying quite yet. There are still some incredible local shows. I've mentioned a couple, but add to that Len Tillem's legal advice show, Mark Naftalin's Blues Power Hour, Dr. Dean Edell's show, Fernando & Greg in the morning on KNGY, America's Back 40 on KPFA, etc.

There are tons of good stories out there. Syndication for instance. How many people realize that 5 nationally syndicated radio shows come from the Bay Area? How did they start? Is the audience different outside the Bay Area than in here? How is it that Ron Barr's popular Sports Byline USA has been on the air for 20 years on hundreds of stations, and yet has never had a successful Bay Area affiliate? And yet in other towns it's the toast of sports enthusiasts.

Or Dr Dean. How does his show work? How did he get into the biz, and why did he leave the city to live in he middle of nowhere and uplink his portion of the show, while Heather sits in SF screening his calls? This is fascinating stuff. They talk as if they're in the same room but they don't see each other for weeks at a time.

Or Len Tillem. Why did he get into doing talk and burning the candle at both ends with a fulltime law office and 4 associates? Talk about the mechanics of his show. Why does he always open with "Why are you calling a lawyer?"

Or West Coast Live, as I mentioned before. Here's a local live variety show nationally syndicated coming from the Ferry Building or Fort Mason with fun interviews, chatter, really good live music, hosted by one of the quirkiest hosts in radio, Sedge Thomson. The guy is apt to take a serious interview with an author and turn it on its head. It wouldn't be out of character to ask a Harvard history professor about his favorite fish.

Or how about the success that is Energy 92.7. They said (even we said) that a dance music station couldn't work, but even with its small signal and two decades of losses under other owners, KNGY is making it. And it has an openly gay staff and supports gay causes. There are at least three stories there.

The list goes on and on about current things happening. Notice that nothing I'm mentioning dwells on the past, but only what is currently going on. And what I'm mentioning are story ideas that I believe have not been done by anybody in the press.

Now can you see why I hate BF-T's column so much?
 
Excuse me DavidKaye but it appears to me that you have come up with a lot of good things that should or could be written about when it comes to the subject of bay area radio. So why don't you get off the dime and get busy and start writing already? So why pick on BFT's column? If you think you can do a better job doing it then have at it. Nobodys stopping you from doing so. My my my my my! Duh!
 
RadioStarOne said:
Excuse me DavidKaye but it appears to me that you have come up with a lot of good things that should or could be written about when it comes to the subject of bay area radio. So why don't you get off the dime and get busy and start writing already? So why pick on BFT's column? If you think you can do a better job doing it then have at it. Nobodys stopping you from doing so. My my my my my! Duh!
Click to expand...

Because I'm not going to write a column for $0. I can write and I've been paid to write. I don't write columns for nothing. For this reason I don't blog.

I've proposed radio and entertainment columns in the past to ANG, the Chronicle, and the Examiner and have been turned down. They just don't want radio columns or columns that are not TV-oriented. The first radio column I proposed to write was in 1968 when I was just a kid but an avid listener, to the Daily Review in Hayward, then to the Oakland Tribune. I was turned down both times, even though it was the height of radio's second life. Editors didn't see it that way. They saw radio as commercials and junk.

BF-T gets away with writing a radio column because he has a 4-decade long reputation as a writer. They'll let him do just about anything because he's the best-known writer they have. I'm not sure why Brad Kava has a column, but obviously the Mercury News considered him expendable some time back. He's probably making near $0 writing for the Examiner because Anschutz does not pay very well (which is why the Examiner's staff is mostly J-school grads).

So, BF-T is the default radio writer. He has the field to himself.
 
So I saw the KFRC jock picture and sure enough there was Chris Edwards. I never heard his show, what shift did he have and was it the "Time Machine"?. He certainly looks lovely enough to join us here on "Energy".
 
DyingMedium said:
David Kaye, the best radio wanna-be money can't buy. ;)
Click to expand...

I worked 10 years in radio and TV over a span of 20 years. Radio is in my blood, but I don't work for $0 or for clerk-typist wages. In fact, I made more money as a clerk-typist than I made at a couple stations.
 
So BF-T's next deadline is this coming Wednesday, for the November 30 issue of the Pink.
What stories would Kaye expect to see in the Nov. 30 column and how would he write them without any past references for perspective? It is incumbent on DK to not wax nostalgic, to not add any historical perspective to any story and yet find stories worth reading in a mass-marketed newspaper.
Perhaps a new tower bulb on the top of the KPFA transmitter tower? Perhaps the completion of the unisex restroom at Clear Channel's studios? Perhaps a new method of back-hair mowing by Michael Savage? A profile on Karel dealing only with his future in radio?

How 'bout a sneak peak at that column right here on the SF board?
 
Or call the psychic friends hotline and have them look 11 days into the future. That way the column will be fresh with the hottest news going on in bay area radio. Maybe write about Entercom flipping KBLX to Top 40 on Nov 28!
 
1069_KIFR said:
Or call the psychic friends hotline and have them look 11 days into the future. That way the column will be fresh with the hottest news going on in bay area radio. Maybe write about Entercom flipping KBLX to Top 40 on Nov 28!
Click to expand...


Hey, KIFR...would that finally be the All New Q-102...uh...point 9? ;D
 
tripton99 said:
What stories would Kaye expect to see in the Nov. 30 column and how would he write them without any past references for perspective?
Click to expand...

I've just given a bunch of examples of good stories that don't involve any nostalgia or past references for perspective.

Now, if someone here is willing to pay me, say $350 a column (judging by one of the Chron's rates for freelance writers -- but I'm not saying that's what they pay BF-T) then I'll be happy to write the column that I would expect BF-T should write, and I'll interview sources, get quotes, etc. Just make the check payable to David Kaye and wait 2 weeks for me to work it into my schedule and I'll have a column for you. I'm serious.
 
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