RICH LIEBERMAN 415 MEDIA
TV, Radio, Internet...dishing dirt since 2001
Friday, December 2, 2011KGO Radio: The day the 'IT' hit the fan; Bloodbath at 900 Front; The Inside story
It was Wednesday night at KGO Radio. The last day of the month. Nothing unusual except for the fact that the news director, Paul Hosley, and some other management folks were in the building, late in the evening.
A few staffers were alarmed, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But why would all these suits be in the offices late on Wednesday night? That's unusual, but maybe it isn't. It was.
THURSDAY: Dec. 1 arrived. D-Day at KGO. Rumors began swirling around the offices, from programming to the sales dept. to the newsroom. Stories made the rounds. Nobody knew for sure except for a few Cumulus HR hands and a certain morning talk-show host who loves his mattress account.
Calls were made to on-air folks. The boom was in place and what had been rumored for months was about to become fact. They were all figuring out a way to do it in a civilized manner? Oh right, and Sarah Palin's doing Jeopardy next week.
Gene Burns, John Rothmann, Ray Taliaferro, and Gil Gross were officially fired around 3 PM Thursday. An HR woman, (dressed in black, no less) escorted all to their cubicles to allow them to "get their personal belongings." Shock permeated the back offices where some of the hosts and programming people meet and talk. Anxiety? You betcha.
A source told me, (and it's confirmed), that Burns, who's been in fragile health the past few years, was literally holding on to a desk and had to be helped up a few times. Tears were on the faces of not just those getting "you're fired" alerts, but news staffers and producers. It, according to one person there, looked like the scene from the ending of the movie, "Fatal Attraction." (All they needed was the stewed rabbit).
Hosely had the honors of being the guy who was instructed to inform all that they were gone. Probably from the offices of Bill Bungeroth, (SF Cumulus Market Mgr, via Atlanta, where the Cumulus heads report to Lew Dickey). It was both quick, brutal, and to the point. The usual line of "we thank you, but we're going in a different direction mantra" was laid out and then finally, "get out", Merry Christmas, and give us your security key", something like that.
It finally dawned on someone that the afternoon news was about to commence. It was hard to do a show, says one veteran. The tone of all the voices told the story. Even the Metro geeks were supposedly in shock, (at least those that still have a job.)
At 6: 53 when news formally does a tease with the 7-10 host, (Burns), there was no tease; same at 6: 22 when a more extended tease occurs. Of course by then, the word had got out, (here), that the abyss had taken place.
Que to 7: 05 PM. Gene Burns opened the show without the slightest bit of emotion--not an iota of what had just gone down only hours earlier. Oh wait, the geniuses at Cumulus decided to run, get this, taped, pre-recorded programs. That's right. TAPED programs, and not even edited. Time checks were out of whack. Even callers weren't edited out. "November" references were most evident. Tacky, tacky Cumulus.
It got worse. Both John Rothmann and Ray Taliaferro canned "shows" from October and November were lifted from the archives and re-run. (Without any disclaimer that the shows were pre-recorded, in direct violation of FCC by-laws, but hell, does the FCC matter anymore? Do they ever act in the interests of the people who really OWN the airwaves--thank you, Mr. Reagan).
The charade lasted until the morning news. Then his highness, the Voice of Reason, was ready to spin the "elephant in the room." Ronn Owens is the most insincere, disingenuous, phony guy on the planet. He's really, thanks to a reader, "The voice of 'treason." Everything I expected Owens to say, he said. He did really talk out of both sides of his mouth. And then the epitome of chutzpah: "We're going to talk about 'cell phones in the car', but we're also going to get to the 'elephant in the room.'" (Owens loves to use that phrase).
Ronn opened his hour by showing false shock. It was prepared. It was planned. It was most transparently non-transparent. He said KGO had been losing listeners and that the new owners decided to make a change. He felt "shocked" and "saddened" that his "friends" were losing their jobs, "BUT...I can't wait for the 'new KGO' because I think we're going to be great!" (I swear to God he really said that.)
He then had the audacity to mention to callers that they could begin calling and "talk about texting and cell phones in the car", (we have a topic, folks, that I know you want to talk when my ship was just taken down by Cumulus), but, Owens continued, "I know some of you want to talk about what went down here and so, let's devote 20 minutes to calls about this..." (So refreshing.)
Making matters worse, (and unintentionally funny), Owens had his 20-something producer, come into the studios and try to embellish. It was farcical. It was beyond reproach. It sounded like the executioner pretending to tell the condemned inmate that he was on his way to Fairyland.
Ronn was sorry, very sorry, for his "friends" demise, (before the holidays, no less), but that business was business. "I'm fortunate that I'm still here and I have a job to do." How poignant, Lowenstein.
Instead of just merely acknowledging what had transpired, and telling people what they already knew, Owens tried the contrived card. He failed miserably, but you know, that mattress account and comped cruise are vital elements to the voice of reason.
Owens makes a lot of money for the company and himself.. Yeah, it's not his fault that those that got fired had their life's turned upside down on Thursday. But there's a way to do things and there's a way not to. Owens has no grasp in that department. He's been off the radar for years and although he maintains a decent showing for the company, his ridiculous act, (and it was an act), on Friday was utterly comical. A complete sham. (Since when is it sensitive to play "firing" music bumpers out of commercials? Owens and his producer decided that would play well. Not.)
Indeed, KGO Radio, once the envy of the Bay Area, the industry giant that rightly garnered national acclaim was losing listeners. Lots. Ratings had declined. The new PPM, (people meter rating system which replaced the diary method), had indicated that KGO was "terrestrial radio"-central. And conversely, prime-picking for the Citadels and Cumulus' of the world to buy low and recreate. The hell with tradition and tweaking, we're gonna blow this sucker up and start anew. To hell with the listeners. Screw the 49 year-old guy in Walnut Creek who makes six figures and listens to podcasts even-- we're going to tear this place apart. Listeners? Who are they?
And so, KGO is re branding and going "all-news". Wonderful. How snappy. And KCBS is laughing. At least for now.
Nobody really knows what the future lies in store. There are supposedly "new people" on the horizon at 900 Front. Peter Finch has been corralled from KFOG. (Dandy). Kim Foster will anchor an expanded noon news. Expect a lot, A LOT, of mostly innocuous, soft news content occasionally interrupted by protests on Market Street or, god forbid, an airline crash at SFO or a PG&E explosion in San Bruno. Then the "team-coverage" guys and girls will make their splash. When earthquakes take place, expect the news anchors to go hard and heavy on callers, ("Yep, I felt it!) It's easy, it's fast, it's content, and yes, it's CHEAP, (the official code word in the Cumulus handbook).
Most of all it fits in with the broadcasting equivalent of the Walmart model. Get the most out of your company while at the same time maintaining the bottom line. Screw your employees, even the most loyal and let them eat cake. This is a business all, and get this, Yeah, it's a business all right, but at what cost? Right now is not a good time to tinker with people on the edge at 900 Front. There's depression there and that's the people who still have jobs.
People's livelihoods are at stake. Rothmann and Taliaferro, and Gross too probably are not going to starve to death. Some will land jobs elsewhere. It's the little guys and gals, the producers, the traffic folks, the news writers, the digital peeps that are the most vulnerable. Trickey Lew Dickey works his magic here the best. (Right before Christmas, remember that).
And you, the public? Like you really think they care? "Listeners be damned", that's what these guys say in the backroom. They are, in essence, mercenaries. They're no different really, from the Wall St crooks like Madoff, only they didn't steal as much as Madoff did and weren't caught.
They play with our life's. They like to take away some of our own little guilty treasures. We have creature comforts and habits that we take for granted and they, the Cumulus' and Citadels of the world, remind us that we are beholden to them. THEY own the airwaves and to heck with you. You, sir, madam, are merely one of the masses.
So yes, I feel for those of you who have now lost a friend at night. A person you may have grown accustomed to listening to on a regular basis and suddenly, like out of no where, that friend has been executed, figuratively speaking.
We're in a new world, but you kind of knew that already, right? All I can say is, DO SOMETHING. Let them know. Let them be aware that you're not just going to roll over and consume their spare parts. They laugh at you. They take you for granted. So fight. Sure, e-mail, FCC and all. Hell, Occupy KGO!
I have been deluged with notes, e-mail and phone calls. People want to know what they can do. They are angry. Real angry. They feel as if they've been betrayed and indeed, they have been. I have heard of a protest rally outside the KGO offices and over across town at KNBR too, (55 Hawthorne, where KGO Radio is headed come March).
That probably won't make an iota of difference, but it couldn't hurt either. Long ago, when deregulation was foreign, the "public interest" counted; the FCC had the balls to actually gauge the welfare of the people, directly affected by commercial TV and radio. No more. We're in a different world, where corporate profit and greed rule the day and the public be damned. Some of us are, yeah, mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!
The only thing I can say at this point is that its not 1980 anymore. Goodbye KGO, it was great knowing you.
*Follow me on Twitter
*Look for me in December on MSNBC
*I'll be a guest today at 3: 30 on KSRO/Santa Rosa.
I was riveted to that station when the San Bruno pipeline exploded. Most night shifts, I would switch between KGO and KQED, which hosted NPR. Having a local public radio station made the stories and commentary more relevant. 
