The Mayor of Claycord is reporting that East Bay-based KGO Radio news reporter Greg Edmonds has been laid off, and so has longtime news anchor Greg Jarrett.The Mayor quotes a message from KGO General Manager Mickey Luckoff that the station had to lay off five very valued employees. Luckoff says "the economy, the advertising world, the radio industry, and this corporation are experiencing one of the most severe times in our respective lifetimes." Luckoff calls these lay-offs "one of the most difficult tasks I've had to deal with in my 37-plus years at this company."
With regard to Edmonds, Luckoff says, he has "been a fine contributor to our tradtionally award-winning news efforts. It will be very difficult to listen to KGO news without the excellent efforts Greg provided."
I'll second that. Back when I was a daily newspaper reporter, I'd occasionally run into Greg at big news stories happening in Contra Costa County. He was incredibly hard-working and professional and also a kind, decent man. He never swooped in with any display or ego or sense of entitlement that I often witnessed from TV news reporters. He was collegial and willing to help out, including new reporters.
I tried to go to the KGO Radio website to find Greg's bio, because I know he's been at KGO for a long time. On the "Personalities" page that probably once displayed his photo and bio, it says "DJ not found."
Meanwhile, the Mayor adds: "If you work in Bay Area radio, you gotta be worried about your job right now, because when KGO starts laying people off, you know it's the beginning of the end, not only for local radio, but for all radio."
2 comments:
I also like Greg Edmonds, listened to him for years. Maybe I'll stop listening to KGO
All that talk about KGO being "family" during its crises over Bernie Ward and Pete Wilson. If it's such family, then why doesn't some of the talent, like Ronn Owens and Gil Gross, take pay cuts to keep people in their jobs.
Post a Comment