Rick Barry Latest To Depart Sports Leader

The Contra Costa Times reported late Monday evening that afternoon co-host Rick Barry is the latest — and, to date, the biggest name — to be jettisoned by Sports Leader KNBR/680.

"It was a lot of different things. He had other things that he was looking at," KNBR VP/GM Tony Salvadore told Times reporter Joe Stiglich. "Rick has plenty of other things going on. He has a lot of irons in the fire."

"It was really a mutual-type of thing," Barry (photo, right) told Stiglich. "I was always concerned that when you get new ownership, you never know what's going to happen. I was told they were thinking of doing something with my contract. I was looking for some other things to do. We said it was time to say goodbye."

Barry, referred to lovingly as "The Hall Of Famer" by KNBR morning star Gary Radnich, had co-hosted the afternoon show on The Sports Leader for the past five years with Rod Brooks. A possible replacement for Barry, former Giants voice Ted Robinson, did fill-in work on the station's "Razor & Mr. T" show last week, sitting in for the vacationing Tom Tolbert alongside Ralph Barbieri.

Speaking of Robinson, he'll continue as lead radio play-by-play voice of the Stanford Cardinal football broadcasts on KNBR/1050 (KTCT) this Fall, working once again with the evergreen Bob Murphy. The university expects to announce a new station for its men's basketball radiocasts shortly...

And since this is turning into an All Sports edition, I'll mention that the wonderful (outstanding, great, beloved) Sharks TV color commentator Drew Remenda has departed, albeit reluctantly, from the Bay Area to return home to Saskatoon, but not before taking Tom Tolbert's spot on KNBR during week of July 31 through August 4 on the Razor & Mr. T show. Drew, who has endeared himself to local hockey fans over the past few years, may be in line for a spot on the CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada," and can still be heard weekday afternoons doing his excellent show on CKOM/650, Saskatoon via the Internet. Stay classy, Saskatoon...

More sports? Hmmm, let's see ... Well, one year after skewering the lackluster San Francisco Giants — and getting bounced from KNBR for doing what they paid him to do — Larry Krueger has hit it big in Sacramento, according to the Sacramento Bee. "The Krueg and Townie Show" on Sacramento's KHTK/1140 (Saturdays, 1-5 p.m.), which Krueger co-hosts with fellow KNBR alum Chris Townsend "is as good a program as you'll find, with hosts who enlighten listeners without boring them to the point of road rage with too much sports drama. The only problem is a good one. There isn't enough of the show," according to the Bee...

Okay, have we run out of KNBR-related items yet? No such luck — Bruce MacGowan, another Sports Leader refugee, is contributing an occasional history column to the Marin I-J in addition to spot work on Oakland A's pregames, while Rod Brooks, the still-employed half of the former "Rick & Rod Show" on KNBR, will be the sideline reporter on 49ers gamecasts on KNBR/680/1050/107.7, etc., and the Niners Radio Network this season (and no, he won't be working the sidelines on Raiders' broadcasts as I erroneously reported earlier to endless howls of laughter and derision. You people actually read this thing?)...

This year's inductees into the national Radio Hall of Fame have been announced, and as predicted here previously, Bill King failed to attract wide support and was not among those selected for enshrinement. Newsmen Douglas Edwards and Christopher Glenn of CBS, ABC Radio president John Hare, and jocks William B. Williams and Scott Shannon made this year's list of honorees...

Please note that the following item is entirely unrelated to sports, with my apologies: Free FM 106.9 (KIFR) has rearranged the deck chairs once more, pushing Scott and Casey (Scott Hasick and Casey Bartholomew) overboard to make room for Tom Leykis in the afternoon slot. Leykis had been tape-delayed previously. What the heck ever happened to "live and local," guys? At the very least you could bring in former locals JV and Elvis ("The Doghouse"), who've now hit it big in the Big Apple on the NYC version of Free FM. Just a thought, and it wouldn't hurt to give it a try...

AllAccess reported last Friday (August 11) that Peter Thiele will be the new operations manager at Salem Communications' KFAX/1100 and KNTS/1220 duo here in the Bay Area. Thiele had been program director at conservative talker WORD/Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., and was PD and an on-air host at conservative talker KVNN/Huntsville, Ala.

Radio Dots & Dashes (August 1 Edition)

In the wake of the ill-conceived rollout of the Free FM format on 106.9 in San Francisco, CBS Radio continues to rework its patchwork programming schedule by importing the syndicated Opie & Anthony show for weekdays in the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. slot.

Having already replaced the failed David Lee Roth experiment in several eastern markets, Opie & Anthony have helped CBS begin to rebuild its ratings, which crashed following Howard Stern's departure at the end of last year.

The entry of Opie & Anthony into the Bay Area gives the show clearance on seven of the top ten markets in the nation. On Free FM 106.9, the show displaces Radio Chick Leslie Gold, who bounces to the 1 to 3 p.m. position...

Last week, the KYCY/KYOUradio website began displaying this message:

"CHANGE

It's in the air...
Remember, nothing stays the same forever. Change is inevitable. Stay tuned.

And as always, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to check us out.

Stephen Page
Station Manager
KYOURADIO®
...OPEN SOURCE RADIO®"

I immediately joined the speculation that a change to the station's all-podcasting format on 1550 AM could be imminent — okay, I've been speculating that for a year — but it turned out that the only change was the launch of a new website design...

Or was it?

At the same time that the new KYOUradio.com site was unveiled, CBS/SF also fired up a new, separate baseball-themed website for the station at 1550KYCY.com. Is it unusual for a station to have two websites? Yeah, maybe. On the other hand, is it unusual for a station to no longer mention its dial position on its website? Maybe it's just an oversight, but try to find "1550" anywhere on KYOUradio.com...

If you haven't had a chance to pick up "Becoming Almost Famous," the latest collection of articles and profiles by Ben Fong-Torres, please do so now. You'll love it for many reasons, but if you're "just a radio fan," you'll particularly enjoy "The Night Rock'n'Roll Woke Nobody" and "My Hour In The Top 40 Hot Seat." Go buy it. Now. I'll wait here until you get back...

Upcoming this weekend: Raiders coach-turned-broadcaster John Madden gets inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Today, voting closes for another nominee, Bill King, who is up for induction into the Radio Hall of Fame. Because of the Chicago-centric tendencies of the "national" Radio HOF, my gut feeling is that his chances of getting in this year are extremely slim, despite overwhelming local sentiment. Case in point: Chicago-based Paul Harvey is in the Radio Hall of Fame. That makes sense. But why are his wife and son also in there when there are a hundred more deserving radio legends who should be enshrined.

(Want a few? Don't get me started: Dr. Don Rose, The Real Don Steele, Ira Blue, Don Sherwood, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins ... I could go on for days and days and days.)

...The next phase in Citadel's takeover of ABC radio's stations (including KGO and KSFO here) is on the horizon as the Radio Disney network and group of stations are being shuffled into the Disney/ABC Television Group ... KLIV/1590 news anchor/news director George Sampson is featured in a Los Gatos Observer profile ... The legendary astrologer Darrell Martinie, 63, died of cancer on July 26 in Massachusetts. As The Cosmic Muffin, he was heard on radio stations across the country, including KSAN during its Jive 95 era, and earned the title of official astrologer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1993. He closed his broadcasts with the notable tagline: "It is a wise person who rules the stars, a fool who is ruled by them. Over and out."