Excuse me while I put on my rumormonger political/business/entertainment/tech blogger hat.
Like many of you, I’m less than excited about decidedly non-sports gabber Michael Savage filling the drive-time slot at “All Sports” XTRA 860 (KTRB). Though I don’t agree with his politics, it’s more the betrayal of the station’s format that irks me. Depending on what KTRB’s ratings goals for Savage are versus his syndication cost, we’ll see if this experiment lasts. Based on the unease that marked Rush Limbaugh’s stint on KNBR, it probably won’t end well. Either it will be a ratings winner, prompting an increase of talk, or a loser that forces some other rethinking of KTRB’s format. Meanwhile, A’s fans are once again caught in the middle.
Last week at AN, Nico chatted up broadcasting veep Ken Pries to figure out what the hell was happening in A’s radioland. What it appears to be is KTRB exercising control over the pre- and postgame programming. By limiting the amount of pre-game stuff and spending money on talent like former KNBR employee Chris Townsend, they’re protecting their investment in Savage. I like Townsend, he’s developed an edge over the years since he was “exiled” from the Bay Area.
This is where rumormongering comes in. KTRB has been changing programming on a semi-regular basis since they’ve switch to sports talk, and surely they’ve been looking for an opening to launch local programming. I wasn’t sure if that opening was really there until KNBR’s weeknight host Damon Bruce jumped from Sportsphone 680 to sister station KNBR 1050’s noon-4 slot. That’s a really big deal, as KNBR long ago chose to use syndicated and often tape-delayed programming to avoid competition with its local hosts on 680. Bruce, who has made no secret of his displeasure with being constantly preempted by Giants and Warriors games, won’t have many conflicts on 1050. I suspect that Bruce, knowing that KTRB has been looking for some kind of local programming anchor, may have talked about truly jumping ship to new show – probably the preferred drive-time slot – at 860. When KNBR found out, they scrambled to keep Bruce from moving, inevitably giving in to his demands for a better slot. Now Bruce can bash the Giants and Warriors as much as he likes (at least as long as he doesn’t call Dominican hitters brain-dead). In steps F.P. Santangelo to work Sportsphone, where he’ll work relatively cheap and as a Giants homer (though he acknowledges his time with the A’s as well). Perhaps KTRB had been banking on Bruce or someone else, or Savage was option 1 all along. To me it looks like KNBR felt it needed to preserve its hegemony over the market, and so far it has succeeded, leaving KTRB scrambling and the A’s and A’s fans in the lurch.
Of course, I have no factual basis for anything in the above paragraph. But it sounds like as plausible an explanation as anything else. Your thoughts?
newballpark.org 
There is a paucity of local talent. I listen to Colin Cowherd instead of Murph and Mac, I listen to anyone else in the world instead of Fitz and Brooks, FP ain’t great, Damon is OK, but really, who is KTRB going to get that will bring listeners? If 680 and 1050 are mostly local, then KTRB should set it self apart by going syndicated. Maybe they just need to go a notch higher on the syndication ladder than they have been.
It goes back further than just local talent. There’s a dearth of homegrown talent. Looking at the KNBR roster, there are two guys originally from the Bay Area: anti-sports Gary Radnich (not a dig, I like and listen to Radnich) and Ralph Barbieri, and they’re both over 50. Bob Fitzgerald is really a Chicago guy, as is Damon Bruce. Rod Brooks is from Houston. Tom Tolbert is from LA and is an Angels fan. It’s not like the more sports-crazy markets, where fans born and bred there become sports talk hosts.
KTRB is in a tough spot, because they can’t cleanly plug into an established network, whether it’s ESPN or Fox/Clear Channel, since KNBR already has them. I wonder if the only way for KTRB to really make it would be to completely sign themselves over the ESPN, like the stations in NY, LA, Chicago, and Dallas.
ESPN860 sounds good to me. Maybe it would also help them get a few more national Sunday night ESPN games – especially when/if the new yard is built.
I hope KTBR can step it up quick…I can’t stand to listen to KNBR anymore!…and now that it’s baseball season, all they’re gonna talk about is Tim Lincecum and the Giants…the day Sheets got signed they barely even acknowledged it
It’s really not fair…this is a shared market thus the media should be! We only have one real local sports station…this is why I actually can stand to watch Chronicle Live, because they actually do a decent job at acknowledging the A’s/Giants and Raiders/49er’s equally
What is Murph and Mac, its an ex-writer guy, teamed with a guy whose bounced around for years. Decent show, not great. But as LeAndre so wonderfully pointed out, its not easy to listen to that show if you;re not a Giants fan between March and October. Actually March and September, its the Giants. LOL
So, why cant KTRB just get one the many writers out there and give them a morning show, a early afternoon show, and a drive time show. Hell I’d give Matt Maioco a show, I would give Tim Kawakami a show, and I’d give Monte Poole a show, Nancy Gay too. Good luck finding guests KNBR.
I would let the difference be, KNBR’s homerism and speculation vs KTRB’s Information based programming. Put those blogs on the air. And they could talk East bay/West bay all day.
They could also try to get Mark Ibanez or Joe Fonzi from KTVU (Oakland based) to anchor and maybe team him with a writer or former jock (is Ricky available?).
The way Murph & Mac fluff the home team on that show is nauseating. It really does exemplify the suburban G-rated nature of the post-Candlestick Giants. It’s the soundtrack to a couple of 15-year olds in the back of mom’s SUV, talking about how cool “the Panda” is while they grow out their hair to look just like Lincecum.
LOL…well said
Yes, very well said. Not during football season though.
As long as were speculation rampantly, here’s a quote from a Michael Urban chat today: “At some point, the Giants are going to give up the right to San Jose. Mark my words. The San Jose A’s will exist within the next 5-10 years.”
This is the first reporting I’ve seen done since the commission gave (or didn’t) their report to Bud Selig and slipped very quietly into a media blackout.
Does Urban know something we don’t, or is he just joining us all on the rampant speculation front?