Chak's Review - "Kris Rowberry, the KLIV Radio Guy"

You might think that the blog title for this entry is a Pokémon-styled title, much like how I saw in a typical Pokémon episode. Although my major is English, and the title to me represents what I like to say exactly, this blog is nothing related to Pokémon - instead, it's my short review on a KLIV radio guy that surprisingly made the top reason for me listening to that radio station. That "radio guy" that I'm referring to is Kris Rowberry. I've been listening to KLIV for about a month - and this is my test of my thoughts.

During this review, while my review primarily focuses on Rowberry, there are other personalities that I'm also a fan of at any time I ring them up to report major traffic accidents anywhere within Silicon Valley - those are also mentioned in this blog.

To give my readers who he is, I took some time to do a bit of knowing about him. According to a source, Rowberry is a San Jose native - specifically the Evergreen district, although he is a Redwood City resident. Theme parks and the history of the Silicon Valley is his great emphasis, as he tends to let listeners of KLIV radio know what Silicon Valley was in the past. Rowberry is a radio personality at KLIV - he is on the air weekdays from 1 to 3PM, sandwiched between Kim Vestal and John Kelly.

So here are some short things below that defines my take...

ROWBERRY AND THE HISTORY OF SILICON VALLEY

Rowberry does have a unique voice that I think is unmatched, particularly his voice on the history of Silicon Valley's specific landmarks. I would dub him as "The Voice of History in the Silicon Valley."

Here's why: One specific example is the history of the SAP Center in downtown San Jose that Rowberry was referring to - also known as the San Jose Arena, or locally as the "Shark Tank." He was right to the point of which the arena was constructed in the 1980s, as well as the only arena to have "rain out" whenever severe weather took San Jose in 1995.


ROWBERRY AND THE RADIO

I'm personally a big fan of Rowberry's voice during the time he is on the air. When Rowberry is on the radio from 1 to 3PM in the afternoon, I have made every effort to tune in, listening to his unique voice while on the road or online. To my take, Rowberry's signature voice is medium to medium-slow in pace except during stock updates, traffic, and weather - his signature voice is what I don't find on other stations. I like the way that he announces community events in that signature voice because he also gives radio listeners like me a peek of what is happening in Santa Clara County.


THE FAVORITE PART ABOUT ROWBERRY?

There are simply too many things that are considered my favorite part about listening to Rowberry on the radio! After a month of listening to Rowberry on the radio, my topmost favorite part was a hard decision, but it's his tagline - "We appreciate the calls from our KLIV traffic spotters." So why that simple tagline? His signature voice, along with the tagline, is perhaps surprising to some listeners, but familiar to most listeners who tune in to Rowberry on KLIV.

The tagline is similar to those of what Derrick Villa always said at the end of his traffic reports - "If you got any traffic tips, call us on the KLIV listener line."

That is the catchphrase I usually hear each day I go between my San Martin nest and San Jose State University via Ohlone-Chynoweth light rail stations, except weekends. I usually do call in any time I spot traffic troubles, which the help of an app that spots any slow traffic or accidents along a particular route (e.g. Waze), as is my eyes on the road.

The bottom line is that I do like his catchphrase so much that I do enjoy listening to Kris Rowberry. So if he happens to spot this blog, who knows when he'll read it...

My message to Rowberry? "Thank you for letting me listen to KLIV radio, allowing me to report traffic hot spots, and listening to you, Josh Daugherty, John McLeod, George Sampson, and Derrick Villa, among others."

Original Work: Kyle Chak
E-mail: chak595301@gmail.com
Twitter: @KyleSChak