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Sending Greg Jarrett back to San Fran

B

blowtorch50k

Guest
From Chicago, a regular listener of WGN-AM. While Jarrett is actually doing pretty good ratings wise, since he began hosting the morning show here, I wish I could actually say that his show is worth listening to. I'm a 25 year old guy who prefers the news/talk format - or something fun. I happen to find Jarrett to be brutally boring - his choice of human interest topics do nothing for me, and when he finally does get into serious news/talk, he absolutely refuses to give an opinion on anything - whether it is the State of the Union Address, his stance on health care, etc. He has guests on, but none of the talk is real riveting, and he comes across as a guy who honestly wants to be objective, which unless you are a newscast, makes for a very boring TALK SHOW host.

He seems like a nice guy, but the people who work with him who post on media insider Robert Feder's blog (at vocalo.org) say the guy is arrogant and pompous. Not everyone will be liked, I understand that, but the predictions that he would be seen as an outsider to Chicago are holding true. He hardly has any feel for Chicago - he doesn't even live here, he travels back to his home on weekends.

I'm disappointed because from his resume, he has seen a lot around the world as a journalist, and I was seriously hoping that because he has seen a lot of things, he would have some valuable insight and be able to offer some real solid opinions on things. I was hoping he'd be an alternate to the hard right or left extreme commentators. Unfortunately, a hard right or left personality would be a lot more exciting than Greg Jarrett.
 
Interesting.

So you are a Chicago guy.... posting about the Chicago broadcasts.... but you choose to post in the San Francisco forum.

Whatever.
 
Not sure what the Goat's problem is with Blowtorch's post; it doesn't seem at all out of place here and I personally found it an interesting read. Probably the Goat had something really relevant and insightful to add to the conversation, but ultimately couldn't because Blowtorch ate up all the available column inches here.

Whatever, indeed.
 
I'm interested in the feedback of San Fran listeners who are familiar with Jarrett - was he well liked there, if my descriptions of his vanilla flavored show in Chicago is similar to how his San Fran show was, etc.
 
What's going on in Chicago must be management-directed. I know him and it's not in his nature to watch from the sidelines.......even tho that's what most people want from their newscasters.
Sure seems like Chicago and Illinois have a political identity crisis at the moment. Probably not much upside to taking sides.
 
blowtorch50k said:
I'm interested in the feedback of San Fran listeners who are familiar with Jarrett - was he well liked there, if my descriptions of his vanilla flavored show in Chicago is similar to how his San Fran show was, etc.
Click to expand...

He was a news guy in SF. Not sure whether he did any talk shows here. If he did, they may well have been as boring as you hear there.
 
weav said:
blowtorch50k said:
I'm interested in the feedback of San Fran listeners who are familiar with Jarrett - was he well liked there, if my descriptions of his vanilla flavored show in Chicago is similar to how his San Fran show was, etc.
Click to expand...

He was a news guy in SF. Not sure whether he did any talk shows here. If he did, they may well have been as boring as you hear there.
Click to expand...

I don't remember ever hearing Greg Jarrett do a talk show here on KGO. If he did, it was purely as a last minute fill-in. I liked him fine, but I will say that his style as a news anchor and reporter was rather "old school" - never on the pompous side, but rather stentorian. Of course, having a deep voice like Greg's adds to that impression. I'd compare his anchor style to either Ted Wygant on KGO or not unlike Doug Limerick, nationally.

I have no idea what he likes to talk about on his Chicago program, but I could see how younger listeners could find him a little stuffy.
 
blowtorch50k said:
He seems like a nice guy, but the people who work with him who post on media insider Robert Feder's blog (at vocalo.org) say the guy is arrogant and pompous. Not everyone will be liked, I understand that, but the predictions that he would be seen as an outsider to Chicago are holding true. He hardly has any feel for Chicago - he doesn't even live here, he travels back to his home on weekends.
Click to expand...

He did the same while at KGO. His only interests seem to be flying and talking about how he was an "embedded journalist" during the Gulf War. I never much liked him on KGO because he seemed mainly to be an announcer, not a reporter. He never much connected with San Francisco (please always spell it out in full!), probably because his heart is in Portland and he'd fly up there every chance he got. Whenever a news story would come up that involved flying somehow, he'd figure out a way to bring his interest in flying into the story. Unfortunately, that seems to be just about the extent of his knowledge.
 
I always thought Greg Jarrett was a solid radio guy...But not really dynamic enough to lead his own show. Ultimately, the ratings (and costs) rule. Until those things become problems, he'll stay where he is.
 
WGN-AM is primarily a talk station. We have an all news station down the dial (CBS's News/Radio WBBM-AM). The morning show on WGN is already in an awkward state, because it seems like WGN wants to compete against WBBM - not by being an actual news cast, but by having traffic and weather every 10 minutes, constant business reports and farm updates. Jarrett seems more like he is playing traffic cop between traffic, news, business, and sports updates. When he does get time to talk, he seems to give the bare bone facts, then either let his particular guest talk, or he takes calls (rare).

Seems like a nice guy, so it's hard to hate him. But he has mentioned about his airport adventures over the weekend, so it does seem he is commuting back to his home on weekends - not a real good way to get accustomed to Chicago and become a part of it, which is what Chicago listeners primarily want, especially in such a coveted morning slot on a prestigious station (at least that is what we are lead to believe here).
 
Mr. Torch said, "which is what Chicago listeners primarily want.."

And you know this, HOW?

Jarrett has good pipes, and a few producers. His ratings are quite good - improved over Spike and John.

WGN is in good hands. It will be fine. Too many crabby people on here.

PS I'm 60.
 
Lkeller said:
weav said:
blowtorch50k said:
I'm interested in the feedback of San Fran listeners who are familiar with Jarrett - was he well liked there, if my descriptions of his vanilla flavored show in Chicago is similar to how his San Fran show was, etc.
Click to expand...

He was a news guy in SF. Not sure whether he did any talk shows here. If he did, they may well have been as boring as you hear there.
Click to expand...

I don't remember ever hearing Greg Jarrett do a talk show here on KGO. If he did, it was purely as a last minute fill-in. I liked him fine, but I will say that his style as a news anchor and reporter was rather "old school" - never on the pompous side, but rather stentorian. Of course, having a deep voice like Greg's adds to that impression. I'd compare his anchor style to either Ted Wygant on KGO or not unlike Doug Limerick, nationally.

I have no idea what he likes to talk about on his Chicago program, but I could see how younger listeners could find him a little stuffy.
Click to expand...

Gregg Jarrett was never a Talk guy on KGO-AM. He did the afternoon news on KGO-AM with Rosie Allen. I remember Gregg Jarrett doing news updates and teasers during the late Pete Wilson's Talk Show that aired on KGO from 2pm to 4pm from 2000 to 2007.
 
Prais said:
Jarrett has good pipes, and a few producers. His ratings are quite good - improved over Spike and John.

WGN is in good hands. It will be fine. Too many crabby people on here.
Click to expand...

WGN is obviously a big, well oiled machine. If Jarrett is doing anything that the station (which seems to know it's listeners) thinks is sub-par, I have to assume there is a debriefing after the broadcast to decide how the next day will be done superbly. (In a less prestigious station, that would be called a butt-chewing.)
 
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