KFI’s John and Ken thrive on an angry public and wield power by stirring their loyal listeners — 1 million weekly — to action. But their stances and beliefs are more varied than many might suspect.

COLUMN ONE

By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times
January 6, 2012

Four hours a day, five days a week, John and Ken swoop from substantive to sophomoric faster than you can change the station.

They are conservative, campaigning against what they deride as the “Illegal Alien Dream Act.”

They are liberal, hosting an in-depth conversation about income inequality with Occupy Los Angeles protesters.

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By Joe Piasecki, Los Angeles Times
December 5, 2011

A Sacramento Superior Court judge has ruled that the California Assembly must disclose budget records of individual lawmakers, handing a victory to newspapers that filed a lawsuit accusing legislators of flouting the state’s open records laws.

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011 – 01:30 p.m.

The Sun / Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspapers has convicted the four defendants in the case surrounding the $120 million Colonies settlement.

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San Bernardino Voter

Sunday, November 13, 2011 – 12:15 a.m.

The reelection of San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman, as predicted, isn’t sitting well with local newspapers.

Newspapers who backed a block of candidates aligned with San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris.

The Press-Enterprise was the first to express its displeasure with the election outcome by way of an anticipated editorial published Sunday morning.

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Wednesday, November 9, 2011 – 06:15 a.m.

Yep, you really gotta hand it to those newspaper editorial boards!

The oracles at the Sun and Press-Enterprise newspapers told voters to dump San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman and City Council Member Wendy McCammack.

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Thursday, October 13, 2011 – 09:50 a.m.

Both San Bernardino City Attorney Jim Penman and City Council Member Wendy McCammack received a big leg up in their respective reelection bids this week.

They each did not receive the endorsement of The Sun editorial board.

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10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, September 29, 2011

BY DAVID DANELSKI
STAFF WRITER
ddanelski@pe.com

A judge ruled Thursday that the San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association must reimburse The Press-Enterprise for attorney fees incurred during a dispute over public pension records the agency sought to withhold.

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The popular KFI radio hosts gave out the cellphone number of an immigrant rights activist, prompting hate-filled calls. Minority and immigrant rights groups say they will boycott advertisers if the show isn’t taken off the air.

John Kobylt, left, and Ken Chiampou host an afternoon show on Los Angeles’ KFI-AM (640). On Sept. 1, they gave out the cellphone number of an immigrants’ rights activist, who then received many angry calls. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

By Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times
September 30, 2011

Long-time immigrant rights activist Jorge-Mario Cabrera is used to being called to task for his views. But when radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou recently gave out his cellphone number on the air in a campaign against the California Dream Act, he found himself unprepared for the barrage of hate-filled phone calls that followed.

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Created: 09/19/2011 04:03:42 PM PDT

A Page A1 story, “Raid spans I.E.,” on Sept. 16 contained an error. The nonprofit National Community Renaissance, or National CORE, was founded by Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum. He served as the nonprofit’s longtime chairman, but resigned in March 2010 and no longer is affiliated with the company.

Monday, September 19, 2011
By Ed Mendel

SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County retirement board voted last week to release retiree names and their pension amounts, becoming the latest loser in seven separate superior court decisions since 2009 upheld by three different appeals courts.

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Issa

By PE Politics
August 26, 2011 7:10 AM

Under pressure from Inland Rep. Darrell Issa, The New York Times this morning issued another correction to the unflattering front-page story the newspaper published last week about the wealthy lawmaker’s business dealings.

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Friday, August 26, 2011 – 07:40 a.m.

When I read one of the stories in Friday’s edition of The Sun newspaper I had to roll my eyes.

One of the main stories in the paper thin publication was three democrat mayors endorsing a democrat tribal chairman for county supervisor.

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By Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times
August 7, 2011

Reporting from Sacramento—- A run-of-the-mill spat between two lawmakers has escalated into a referendum on government secrecy, exposing the lengths to which the Legislature will go to hide details about how it conducts the people’s business.

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By Paul M. Mahoney
Posted: 08/04/2011 06:23:06 PM PDT

I live in Los Angeles County and am not involved as a participant in any way in the Colonies litigation.

This is in response to your editorial “Appalling portrait of leadership,” July 27. Usually, the newspaper maintains high journalistic integrity, but that editorial did not measure up. It is almost as if the newspaper, with that editorial and prior expos type articles about the Colonies settlement, is attempting to convict the defendants before there has been a trial.

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AH Belo’s second-quarter losses widen amid less ad revenue, larger accounting charges

On Wednesday July 27, 2011, 7:08 pm EDT

DALLAS (AP) — Newspaper publisher A.H. Belo Corp.’s losses grew in the second quarter as a slump in advertising worsened.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011 – 09:45 p.m.

The Editors and Publisher of the Riverside Press-Enterprise appear to be getting a little full of themselves these days.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011 – 01:30 p.m.

Local newspaper circulation continues to dwindle these days and rumors of more job cuts at Los Angeles News Group publications has once again surfaced.

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By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jul. 22, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 6B

CalPERS threw its own pie at Rupert Murdoch this week.

As the hacking scandal intensified at Murdoch’s News Corp., the California pension fund took aim at the company’s two-tier stock structure.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 – 05:30 p.m.

So the rock-solid slam dunk case against San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Neil Derry wasn’t so rock-solid after all.

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Mary Bono Mack

By PE Politics
on July 19, 2011 7:33 AM

As the News Corp. phone hacking scandal unfolds in the United Kingdom, Inland Rep. Mary Bono Mack is asking industry groups if the same thing could happen in the United States.

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Thursday, July 14, 2011 – 11:30 a.m.

The following is a list of recipients of San Bernardino County retirees receiving annual pension payments in the amount of $150,000 and greater.

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10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 11, 2011

Cassie MacDuff

San Bernardino County public pension managers wasted time and taxpayer money fighting The Press-Enterprise’s request for the names, annual pension amounts, job titles and government departments of top-paid retirees.

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Monday, May 23, 2011 – 11:40 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 – 09:45 a.m.

You can really tell when Mike Brossart has a problem these days.

Mr. Brossart is the Opinion/Editorial Page editor for The Sun and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspapers.

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Sunday, May 15, 2011 – 05:30 a.m.

If the San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association (SBCERA) was considering appealing last weeks decision by a superior court judge that sided with the Press-Enterprise newspaper in seeking the release of retiree pension data, it had better think again.

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Sunday, May 8, 2011 – 10:30 a.m.

A story, published Saturday, regarding San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Chairman James Ramos’ press conference to announce his candidacy to run against Third District Supervisor has disappeared.

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10:00 PM PDT on Friday, May 6, 2011

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

The San Bernardino County retirement board must publicly disclose the pension records of county retirees, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

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Ken Chiampou and John Kobylt

They don’t hold office, but they do have power over budget negotiations. The notion of compromise is not in their playbook.

By Anthony York and Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times
March 13, 2011

Reporting from Sacramento and Los Angeles

It’s drive-time in Los Angeles, and that means radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou are riffing about state politicians.

Within a matter of moments, they refer to various lawmakers as “traitorous pigs,” “con artist” and “Republican dirt bag.” They use gruesome sound effects to suggest the mounting of one legislator’s head on a stake — his entry into the duo’s hall of shame.

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Friday, February 18, 2011 – 08:20 a.m.

A San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge, on Wednesday, denied a motion for stay of proceedings filed by the San Bernardino County Employees Retirement Association (SBCERA) over the release of pension information on county retirees.

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Sunday, February 13, 2011 – 10:00 a.m.

Three local newspapers appear to be under intense budget pressure, with their respective reporters and staff being the people deeply affected.

A situation most likely a symptom of a continued nationwide drop in print circulation, courtesy of the Internet and electronic age.

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As part of the deal, Arianna Huffington will oversee a new AOL division responsible for bringing together all editorial content from both companies.

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times
February 7, 2011

In a bid to make itself relevant again, struggling Internet pioneer AOL Inc. announced late Sunday that it would buy the Huffington Post, the well-known news and opinion site, for $315 million in cash and stock.

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By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: January 29, 2011

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who is flirting with a bid for president, has none of the usual campaign accoutrements. No tour bus, campaign manager or yard signs. Few Americans, in fact, even know his name.

What Mr. Pawlenty does have is a beat reporter from Politico chronicling every utterance and movement of his noncampaign: a 25-year-old named Kendra Marr, who followed him through subzero temperatures last week equipped with a salt-coated Chevrolet Malibu rental, a laptop and a hand-held video camera.

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Halt to federal funding could doom KVCR-TV
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/06/2010 03:35:12 AM PST

It was National Public Radio that angered Republicans this fall, but it could be local public television stations that feel conservatives’ wrath.

Since public radio giant NPR fired commentator Juan Williams in October, more and more Republican lawmakers — including Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands — have called for cutting off federal funding for public broadcasting. If they manage to do that, San Bernardino County’s local public radio station would probably get by, but the local public television station would likely be in trouble.

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District Attorney Mike Ramos

Sunday, December 5, 2010 – 01:30 p.m.

Last week another round of perjury for San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos.

Last week another list of excuses and deflections by his biggest defender.

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Sunday, October 24, 2010 – 11:30 a.m.
Last Updated: October 24, 2010 – 03:30 p.m.

This weekend we were all treated to another LA Times/USC poll.

However, instead of being disgusted, I rolled on the floor laughing.

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Sunday, October 24, 2010 – 10:50 a.m.

Talk about an independent expenditure with a life of its own.

A series of negative mail pieces sent by the San Francisco-based “Citizens Against Corruption Opposing Rutherford for Supervisor 2010″ took on a life of their own over the past ten days or so.

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Thursday, October 21, 2010 – 01:15 p.m.

The final day in the trial of former San Bernardino County Assessor employee and Rancho Cucamonga city councilman Rex Gutierrez had some interesting events of note.

Gutierrez is charged with three felony counts related to alleged time card fraud during his employment under former Assessor Bill Postmus.

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Monday, October 18, 2010 – 09:45 a.m.

Well, it didn’t take long for three of the four local newspapers to relapse into their old ways.

Saturdays reporting of events transpiring in the preliminary hearing of former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus and Taxpayer Advocate Gregory Eyler once again begged a question.

The question? Were the reporters even in the room?

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Jurors find Pryke defamed former Sheriff’s wife
October 06, 2010 3:44 PM
Tomoya Shimura

SAN BERNARDINO • A jury has determined that the publisher of a local weekly is responsible for publishing false articles about former San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod’s wife and awarded her $332,500 in damages.

Raymond Pryke published articles in the Hesperia Resorter, Apple Valley News and Adelanto Bulletin in 1999, claiming that Nancy Bohl had leaked confidential patient-client information to her then-boyfriend Penrod. Bohl is a psychologist and owns The Counseling Team, a firm that provides crisis intervention services to Sheriff’s deputies.

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Ramos with Attorney General Jerry Brown

www.iepolitics.com

Posted by Administrator – September 26, 2010 at 10:48 AM

Today’s article by Joe Nelson of the Sun is almost amusing to those of us who have been close to San Bernardino County’s “biggest corruption scandal in the county’s history.” Joe has finally figured out what we have been telling him for a year or so now. Yes, D-Day is nearing and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

The local media has not missed a beat in the years-long corruption scandal. There has been nary a day without a headline or two referencing some aspect of the ongoing investigation, arrests, and prosecution.

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Monday, August 30, 2010 – 4:50 pm

I just read a story published this afternoon on The Sun newspaper website that I’m sure will appear in Tuesday’s edition.

The story is regarding a settlement with recently appointed Assistant Auditor-Controller-Recorder Matt Brown, former chief of staff to San Bernardino County supervisor Paul Biane. Brown filed a complaint with county officials that he was subject to a hostile work environment due to his cooperation with a county corruption probe.

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Glenn Beck

By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 27, 2010; 3:09 PM

Glenn Beck has billed his “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday in part as an opportunity to focus attention on those who have served in the military.

Specifically, Beck has joined forces with a small, Tampa-based nonprofit called the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which he said will benefit from all proceeds of the event. He is encouraging his supporters to donate to the foundation.

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A.J. Duffy objects to the paper’s analysis of the effectiveness of more than 6,000 elementary school teachers.

By Jason Song and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times
August 15, 2010

The Los Angeles teachers union president said Sunday he was organizing a “massive boycott” of The Times after the newspaper began publishing a series of articles that uses student test scores to estimate the effectiveness of district teachers.

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Eric Hogue

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 11, 2010

The two candidates for governor have yet to debate, but a sharp-tongued feud has erupted among conservative radio talk show hosts over Republican candidate Meg Whitman.

Whitman has been repeatedly roasted by John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, the high-octane Los Angeles radio talkers, for backing away from the tough position on illegal immigration she had taken during the primary campaign.

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Brown

Thursday, July 22, 2010 – 08:38 pm

Listeners to the KFI AM-640 John and Ken show were treated to a surprise unannounced five minute call-in from California Attorney General Jerry Brown this evening.

Brown wanted to talk about his new investigation into the City of Bell salary scandal. However, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou wanted to talk about illegal immigration.

Prior to Brown’s call-in John and Ken had adopted Calbuzz’s nickname for Brown, a.k.a “Krusty”.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

The ferocious pounding that high-profile conservative talk show hosts John and Ken delivered to Meg Whitman over the L.A. airwaves this week clearly shows that her blatant untruthiness isn’t playing any better on the right than it is on the left.

“If she’s going to lie to us during the engagement process then the hell with her,” said John Kobylt, one half of the dynamic duo featured on the “John and Ken Show.”

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Reporter Joe Nelson
Sun / Daily Bulletin

Monday, July 12, 2010 – 10:45 am
Last Updated: Monday, July 12, 2010 – 12:08 pm

One thing is obvious these days. Investigative reporting by local newspapers is long gone.

More and more local newspaper reporters are becoming increasingly pliable to ignoring facts when it suits them. A prime example today is a one-sided story in the Barstow Desert Dispatch related to action by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on the Nursery Products LLC – Hawes Composting Facility near Hinkley.

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You can usually tell a newspaper and their agenda when you contrast and compare stories by two reporters for two different newspapers, who are sitting in the same room.

This is part two in a series covering the disparity in reporting by The Sun / Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Newspaper. The papers are a part of the Los Angeles News Group, which is a subsidiary of MediaNews Group.

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You can usually tell a newspaper and their agenda when you contrast and compare stories by two reporters for two different newspapers, who are sitting in the same room.

The two newspapers in this case? The San Bernardino Sun/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and the Riverside Press Enterprise.

The subject? The corruption trial of former Assessor employee and Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez.

The reporters? Joe Nelson for The Sun and Richard K. De Atley for the Press Enterprise.

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What a shocker!

KFI-AM 640 has announced that San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Robert Lemkau has cancelled his appearance on the John and Ken Show scheduled for the 4 o’clock hour this afternoon.

The second cancellation.

It seems Lemkau’s PR firm had previously scheduled a more important conflicting interview with another media outlet.

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KFI-AM 640 Radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou have announced that San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Robert Lemkau has agreed to appear on their show during the 4 P.M. hour tomorrow.

Frank Guzman

When I was asked to be interviewed by the combined editorial boards of The Sun and Daily Bulletin I hesitated because I knew the Sun’s reputation for lack of objectivity.

However, I accepted under the mistaken premise that maybe, just maybe, because of the corruption which has overwhelmed our county, this time they may be objective in their endorsements.

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www.iepolitics.com

Written by Administrator
May 12th, 2010 at 8:18 pm

I will not publish the Sun’s endorsements here. You will have to look for them yourself. I am completely disgusted with them. You can tell there was no point in challengers even bothering to show up.

For a paper that sometimes rails against county corruption, one would think all Board of Supervisors-appointed incumbents would be looked at as suspect. But the paper is endorsing incumbents across the board, except maybe superintendent as that has yet to be announced. Instead of being a watchdog for the public, it has become a lapdog for the Board of Supervisors and appointed officials.

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** The following Letter to the Editor of the Press Enterprise newspaper was forwarded to InlandPolitics.com yesterday due to its non-publication.

I write in response to the story “Corruption campaign part of San Bernardino County DA’s race” by Richard K. De Atley. If you wonder why your circulation is declining it is because you have abdicated your responsibility to “investigate.” You simply report – or rather repeat whatever you are told. The public corruption in San Bernardino County is partly the responsibility of the press who act like press agents for politicians rather than skeptical seekers of the truth. You acknowledge the bloggers; making it evident that you are aware of other sources of information or “news.”

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After receiving a few feedback comments I decided to write a follow-up piece to my first story on this topic in a effort to make my point clearer.

The op-ed written by Frank Pine, Editor of the San Bernardino Sun / Inland Valley Daily Bulletin titled “Whose attorneys are they?” available here lists a myriad of block walls county supervisors “could have” employed to avoid waiving attorney-client privilege related to the Colonies Settlement matter. A waiver was requested by San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos and California Attorney General Edmund “Jerry” Brown in order for their prosecutors and investigators to access documents and lawyers who worked on the litigation.

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Sun / Daily Bulletin newspaper Editor Frank Pine put in some extra effort over the past few weeks.

He even inked an op-ed column on the subject.

Pine and his newspapers spent their time hammering away at the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors over their slowness to waiver “Attorney-Client Privilege” protecting documents and lawyers involving the $102 million Colonies Settlement from being accessed by state and county investigators.

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Andrew Vanacore, AP Business Writer,
On Monday April 26, 2010, 1:19 pm EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Circulation continues to drop severely at U.S. newspapers, though the rate of decline slowed from the previous six-month reporting period.

Figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show average weekday circulation fell 8.7 percent in the six months that ended March 31, compared with the same period a year earlier. Sunday circulation fell 6.5 percent.

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It looks like The Sun newspaper is feeling a little self-conscious these days.

Editor Frank Pine, the subject of much criticism on this blog over the past several months for his rose-colored glasses when it comes to his newspapers non-reporting of stories for which they have facts in hand is trying to defend his actions.

Are Pine’s rose-colored glasses the problem? Or is there an agenda?

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Affiliated Media Inc., the parent of MediaNews Group, announced Friday that it will file for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

MediaNews Group owns a controlling interest in the California Newspaper Partnership.

Local newspapers owned buy the affected entities include The Sun, Redlands Daily Facts, and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

The bankruptcy action has already been “pre-packaged” and is not expected to affect the operations of individual papers.

MediaNews Group owns 54 daily newspapers.

Sarah Palin

By Howard Kurtz

Sarah Palin, who regularly rips the media, is becoming a television pundit at a place where she’s likely to feel at home.

A Fox News executive says the network will shortly announce that the former vice-presidential nominee is signing on as a contributor.

Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska last summer, will appear as a commentator on various Fox shows. She will also host an occasional program that will examine inspirational tales involving ordinary Americans.

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