KIRO newborn: too beautiful to live?

"I can tell you right now: the people in the BlatherWatch chatroom aren't going to like our show."

It's Luke Burbank talking and he's speaking of Too Beautiful to Live, the KIRO show he's premiering tonight (m-f, 7-10p) with sidekick/producer Jen Andrews.

He's hoping the title isn't prophetic.

Too Beautiful to Live is already a big hit with us-- it's stealing an hour from The Frank Shiers Show! (Frank claims that's OK with him, we suspect he's lying).

"I'm thrilled about working with Jen Andrews," says Burbank. , who used to produce Ron & DonThey've know each other for years, and he knew it was made in heaven right away: "She doesn't want to do battle of the sexes every day or have conversations about the viaduct." (that is cool... hard to meet a woman these days who doesn't want to talk viaduct).

Local talk radio falls into two categories, says Luke: "Either it's yelling and getting everybody frothed up about something the Edmonds City Council did, or it's talking about boobs."

We'll listen in tonight like everyone else-- Burbank says it's a show for people who like public radio but get bored with it; and like commercial radio but feel it's stupid too much of the time.

That would be us.

"The nighttime sports-talk/political talk tropes are what Bonneville is trying to get away from," says Burbank.

(Bonneville International, who owns KIRO and KTTH is one of the few media corporations willing to invest in new commercial radio ideas to revitalize audiences and snag new ones in order to survive and thrive. Like newspapers, radio's having a crisis: there's no attrition for the aging audience, and new media platforms are competing savagely. Some of B'ville's out-of-the-box formatics of late have been Washington Post Radio, which put that influential newspaper on the radio in DC; and the Nightside Project, an innovative show out of mothership KSL in Salt Lake City. They've pulled the plug on former, and we hear they're doing the same with the latter, but at least they've been trying).
 
(Photo: Jen Andrews)

They've given Burbank and Andrews pretty much carte blanch for 15 hours a week.

Burbank says a program director once told him: "I program my station from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Whatever else happens, I don't give a shit."

He shakes his head: "But here's Bonneville and [KIRO PD] Rod Arquette saying, 'we're going to go spend a bunch of money, and roll the dice on doing something at night in hours that aren't really useful or super important to us. No matter how many numbers you get at night, there's never going to be enough that makes it worth it. Let's do something at night, and try to figure out the next wave of how radio will sound." 

Although Burbank has worked in AM radio- KVI, and Metro Traffic, he's spent much of his career in public radio-- on Seattle's KUOW, and NPR. "I've always thought I was a little too interesting for public radio, and a little too smart for commercial radio," he says. "Now I have some people from commercial radio saying, 'we want to turn you loose at night to do whatever you want.' I've just been revelling in that."

TBTL will be very personal, according to Burbank. "We want to make the smartest, most esoteric show on commercial radio." 

Burbank swears that TBTL isn't just about luring a younger audience. It's more about a sensibility than age. "You'll never hear me saying this is a show for young people. It's going to be for people who are awesome."

(Using the word "awesome is, of course, both a sensibility and generational. Can you be awesome even though you refuse to use the word to describe anything short of an Act of God? We hope so).

The TBTL promises:

~ it won't sound like NPR
~ we'll be real people talking about our lives-- when politics and sports intersect with
   them-- we'll talk about them.
~ no scripts
~ no making mountains out of molehills
~ Mayor Greg Nickels will never be on the show
~ no boobs
~ you can be any age-- if you're into what we're into, it'll be fun to listen to.
~ you'll never hear that the Enumclaw City Council is up to their old tricks
~ he and Andrews will get on a studio scale every night, and announce their weights on-air.

Quotables:
"The measure of the show won't be: did we have 20 yucks per hour.we could have someone on who lost their son in Iraq, and we're crying for an hour. To me, if there are genuine human experiences going on in the show, funny or not funny that's really a good show. We're both joke-y people, but I want to make sure that we don't become Luke 'n Jen in the Nut Hut."

"You could make a pretty strong argument that we're not very interesting people.We have to hope that we are."

"There's nothing that sounds less awesome or young than declaring yourself the awesome, young show."

"TBTL will have a rich online life. "We're not going to ghetto-ize the online component, Burbank says. In my previous experience: you did something for the radio frequency, then if they twisted your arm hard enough, you kicked them a little afterbirth for the website, much to your chagrin."

"We're in an out-of-the-way timeslot which heightens the whole digital thing for us. We really need to be viable digitally. For people over a certain age, it'll be a radio show: and under a certain age, it'll just be a website that has a radio show."

"Why is anyone going to care what you weigh? The answer is, I don't know. But if Rush Limbaugh weighed himself every day I'd be interested in that... To me that kind of stuff is interesting and we just have to hope that given enough time, people will begin to be interested."

"I've done some radio production where I've really been myself, and it's gone well and other radio productions where I kind of bent my personality around where my personality should be, sand those thing have gone less well."

As we've reported, Burbank returned to Seattle in December after a few national years with NPR as a roving reporter; then as co-host of the beta Bryant Park Project, a multimedia morning newscast launched in October.

Andrew, who up until recently produced The Ron & Don Show at KIRO, has worked for Kirby Wilbur and Peter Wessbach at KVI, among others.

TBTL replaces Sportstalk, the self-explanatorially titled show vacated when New York Vinnie was fired last year, and placeheld ever since by Mike Brown.

Comments

[Catlin Capital]

I listened to the Luke Bankrupt show last night and it was embarassing considering all the credentials listed here. Sorry but it simply felt forced and very uncomfortable.

Email me for a toxic loan.

[andrews]

In my view what was REALLY embarassing was the following show wherein the host talks to himself.
He did a bit as if he was talking with a reporter at a NH cafe and tore Hillary apart by outright saying that her apparent menstrual cycle was kickin in by her display of emotion and then wouldn't let it rest. He made it disturbingly graphic and TOTALLY sexist. And all the while thinking he was displaying hipatitis.

Def: hipatitis - Terminal coolness.

[Tommy008]

hahahaaha Hugh nice one! how many get hugh's joke?

[sparky]

Maybe tonight he will have the guy who sells
Schwetty Balls.

[Dave]

Using a simple formula I usually make decent predictions after hearing a new talk show host. The only question I ask myself is whether the show was gripping, politics and everything else aside. After hearing Prell & Ventrella's first shows I immediately predicted failure (after I woke up from the coma). I predict the same fate for Burbank. Was an hour long discussion about Celine Dion really the best he could muster on his first night?

[Catlin Capital]

One would think that you would put your best material out there in your first show.

Email me for a toxic loan.

[andrews]

Your request to be 'Emailed for a toxic loan' might result in cashtration.

Def: cashtration - The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

[wutitiz]

Dave, I have to challenge your prediction of failure after only one show.
Consider that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Another example is QB Tom Brady, he of the perfect season, whose high school team lost most of its games, and Brady wasn't even good enough to be the starting QB--he was second string.
In other words, don't judge a book by its first page.

[Cory]

Thanks for the contribution Luke... I meant wutitiz....

Laughing my ass off!

Comparing Fluke Burbank with Michael Jordan or Tom Brady!

[Dave]

I was right about Prell and Ventrella, so I rest on those laurels. When there's no substance it's pretty easy to tell. As for your argument: Michael Jordan didn't have the skills he later showcased in the NBA when he was in High School, those took years to develop. In radio you have about 6 months. Clock is ticking for Mr. Burbank.

[andrews]

Bla'M: if you listened last nite I would be interested in your impression of the first TBTL show?

[Clark]

Thus far with 30 minutes of listening to this show I'm less than interested. All I've heard is too much self-analysis about each little comment. I'm a long time radio listener from many different markets so will give the show a few listens to see if it improves but so far definitely not a placeholder on my dial.

[wutitz]

OK Dave, Cory, et al. I stand corrected. I just listened to 30 or so minutes of Luke interviewing a guy who had taken photos of every candiate w/ his baby daughter. Then a few minutes talking to some fashion blogger from Mercer Island talking about how one of her male friends can pull off wearing some kind of gardening shoes, and how she wore galoshes before it became trendy.

OK, you win. Mea Culpa.

[asfsafas]

isn't seattle supposed to be a "big" market?

Do other "big" market stations put on these greenhorns? Usually, these guys are required to go to some tiny radio station in billings, montana or fairbanks, alaska. Hop from one crappy radio station to the next for 10 years or so until they really tighten up their act and have something that doesn't make the listener want to tear their ears off.

There has to be an almost infinite amount of actual talent out there just dying to get a slot in a big market and the best they can come up with is burbank, goldy and ron and don? Seriously? I'm just about done with AM talk because it's just becoming too painful to listen.

[wutitiz]

Great points asfsfas. If you look at the laundry list of failed KIRO hosts they are mostly local people who had lost some other gig and decided to try talk radio. At this point, I'd like to see Theresa Joy get a show. Her priceless granite ads are a work of art. Even the opera singer crooning 'priceless granite' isn't objectionable after hearing T's perky voice touting the granite countertops.

[joanie]

asfsfas, you took those memorable words right out of my mouth! I was composing as I was reading.

From "you know" to a shrill delivery to learning how to find and delivery interesting ideas takes time and trial and error. I think that may be the problem with talk radio these days.

Another example was Chris Matthews on MSNBC compared to Tom Browkaw. I don't know if you guys heard him but Brokaw made Matthews sound like an adolescent teenager trying out for amateur radio.

"11:36 PM: Talking with Tom Brokaw, Chris Matthews lamented the fact that the pollsters and pundits got it all wrong. Brokaw suggested that the results today should cause the media to reevaluate its desire to “stampede the process,” and he cautioned the media to “wait for the voters to make their judgment”..."

Very interesting observation. You should check it out. Brokaw went on to talk about how they used to analyze rather than predict voter behavior.

I can't stand Matthews anyway. Maddow told him on air today that polling showed that many people voted for Hillary because they couldn't stand Matthews vindictiveness towards her. He got it good tonight.

[Tommy008]

hmmmm.... i'm rethinking my presidential position. Barack had me going there for a few days but i now realize that the guy is just somewhat creepy to me. He comes across as less human than Hillary to me. I think i don't trust him, and i find it a bit overambitious and smacking of hubris that he expects to be President after 3 years in the Senate. His champion , Oprah, is a racist creep and a cult leader, and he goes to a weird, black separatist church outside of the Christan mainstream. McCain and Hillary are the oonly two qualifeid to be president. the problem is i hear people like Hannity and Dick Morris talk about what an asshole Hillary is in private, and im sure it's true, but the entire Repug crew are as big or bigger assholes. And remember, Morris hates the Clintons' guts , and is on a personal mission against them, so anything he says is not credible. McCain is just too old. It looks like Hillary is the best of a bad lot.

[wutitiz]

To play devil's advocate, Tommy, Hillary's main qualification is her husband. If you needed a plumber and Beacon was unavailable, would you ask for Beacon's wife?

Obama at least was a prof of constitutional law at a top law school (univ of chicago) before getting into politics. Hillary was a lawyer at Rose Law firm of Arkansas and has a history of corruption (travelgate, who hired Craig Livingstone? etc).

[joanie]

You listen to too much right-wing talk radio, Tommy.

Obama's a scholar and a good man with very little experience and possible too placating and agreeable to put up the fight looming ahead of us.

Hillary doesn't have to be nice to be a good President. No corruption ever proved so let the rightwing keep their rumors, innuendos and lies. With their history of corruption and half-truths and lies, they should be ignored en masse.

And her scholarship and record in humanitarian areas equal his.

Edward's has the work ethic, law background and the teeth of a bulldog when it comes to litigation. He could accomplish a lot for this country right now.

We have a great field; unless, of course, you're a Republican in Dem clothing more concerned about the priced of your investments than about democracy.

[Tommy008]

haha Joanie sorry I don't tow the Seatte pc lib line. Bill Clinton accused Barrack of being a sleaze in his campaign tactics. I never said i was a Dem- the party has become too extreme for me to pledge my allgiance to them anymore, alhtough I'll ususally voe for the Dem. Usually. I'm an independent voter.

[joanie]

I'm independent, too, but not dishonest.

[wutitiz]

"No corruption ever proved"??? That's like saying Al Capone was never convicted of anything beyond tax evasion, hence that's all he did.

In the Billy Dale case, Dale was fired from the WH travel office and was the victim of a failed attempt to frame him of criminal charges. All fingers pointed to Hillary. Hillary pal Harry Thomason took over the travel office after Dale was ousted. Hillary slithered out, and to this day we don't know who fired Billy Dale. How does a guy who served every president since Kennedy get fired, and the American people never learn who fired him???

In the case of Livingstone, the former bouncer who become WH head of security, again all fingers pointed to Hillary. According to an FBI agent, Livingstone came highly recommended by Hillary. Yet when Livingstone became embroiled in Filegate, nobody would admit to having hired him. How is it that a guy gets to be head of WH security we never know who hired him??

[Andrew]

I think McCain could cover the age issue by promising a decent VP that would take over in the event of his demise. I don't think it's fair to not consider a good candidate on account of some health issue that might or might not happen. That would exclude senior citizens from representation de facto.

I'm trying to figure out how there could possibly be a Republican president elected. No core conservatives are going to show up to vote for anyone besides Huckabee because McCain, Romney and Giuliani are all heathenous, and Huckabee will be easily destroyed by and either Hillary or Obama.

[Andrew]

wutitiz, you're examples, true or not, are the punch line to a joke in contrast to what goes on in any given quarter in the current administration. Fired advisors? How about those fired prosecutors? Plamegate? Cooked intelligence? The list goes on.

[wutitiz]

Huckabee--you've got to be kidding me. He's not even a conservative. What conservative would support a national smoking ban and gov't mandated diet?

Re the Hillary issues, I fully anticipated that the response/excuse would be to change the subject to Bush.
If what Bush did excuses what Hillary did, is the converse true, namely that what Hillary did excuses what Bush did???

[wutitiz]

P.S. In the case of Billy Dale, it wasn't just a case of a 'fired advisor.' He served at the pleasure of the administration, and they had every right to fire him. But that wasn't enough. They had the IRS and FBI try to frame an innocent guy on criminal charges. Not very liberal, ne cest pas?

[Tommy008]

selfrighteous Joanie- your Seatte pc lib mind apparently can't relate to someone who is liberal on some issues such as civil/gay rights, unions,etc. and not liberal on others such as illegal immigration, fighting Islamo-fascism and so forth. To you complexity equals dishonesty. As mt dear old mother used to say- "go soak your head". your frogmarched/lockstep Seattle McDermott/stalinist pc lib head.

[andrews]

OMG, it appears 'ol Tommy is transferring his 'hate-Dori' rhetoric over to our beloved 'joanie'. joanie is the stalwart of this blog there sonny-boy and I can't have you do that without calling you on it. I would suggest you go back to your expertise: radio-host bashing!

[Tommy008]

hey assclown- she called me dishonest. Perhaps you would take that without a response - but i won't.

[andrews]

I doubt that was intended as a reflection of your total character, since I don't believe she knows you. Calm down 'ol boy - we still love ya.

[Tommy008]

I know the Seattle pc lib/Joanie mindset all to well since i was born into a family of them and have lived around them all my life. As long as you're agreeing with them and dutifully towing the McDermott party line they're your new best friend. When you start to show some critical thing and compexity/independence, oooh boy, they viciously turn on you.

[andrews]

My perception of joanie is that she doesn't have a 'vicious' bone in her body. To a large extent, she is the glue that binds herein. Does she like to 'mix-it-up' a bit, of course don't most of us.
Tommy my man I really don't think you ought to take offense.
And, as for me being an 'ass-clown', well - sometimes my wife might agree with you. (smile)

[joanie]

What's Up: Firing a couple of people equates to Al Capone? You prove my point exactly. Your overblown rumors, innuendoes and unproved allegations are just that.

And, Tommy, you do protest too much. You have an overblown opinion of yourself. Anyone that falls for and uses the "Islamofascist" line is by default uninformed and "pc"on the right. I don't call that independent at all.

As for critical "thing" (thinking?), haven't seen that much from you ever. Mostly your a critic: you have a way with words but generally to put down someone rather than engage in any sort of honest discussion.

I do a lot of that as well but am not confined to that sort of posting.

You are dishonest and not the least of which with yourself.

[AuthenticAndrew]

I applaud for doing a fair amount of research on topics, albeit via Air America, but she can get heated and irrational when she starts to lose a debate.

[AuthenticAndrew]

wutitiz, either way you spin it, you can't fault Hillary for such things if you didn't fault Bush for them when re-electing him in '04.

Besides, even if true, Hillary's scandals are like happy fun playtime scandals compared to Bush's.

[andrews]

"Besides, even if true, Hillary's scandals are like happy fun playtime scandals compared to Bush's."

AuthenticAndrew, my brother a truer statement was never spoken.

[Tommy008]

You haven't seen my critical thinking, Joanie, because you're not capable of recognizing it, being so heavily frogmarched into the MCDERMOTT/KINGCOUNTY lib koolaid drinking, inside this 50 square mile ideological bubble that is a laughing stock to the nation. Anyone who doesn't recognize that our Islamic enemies are fascists, and that the proper term for them is islamofascists is living in a pc cowardice/appeasement dreamworld. You remnd me of when leftist writer Christopher Hitchens broke with the lockstep pc left and supported Bush'es war in Iraq, at least the initial invasion. Again out came the insults and namecalling from the squalling Stalinists, very similar to your rapid resort to them when your McDermott koolaider world is threatened. haha Joanie that's tough

[wutitiz]

Joanie: I didn't say that any action of Hillary "equates to Al Capone." It was just an analogy intended to illustrate that "no proof," i.e. no conviction, does not mean exoneration. That's all. But I guess you knew that.

Andrew: so let me get this one thing clear--you think it's no big deal to frame an innocent guy via the IRS and/or FBI, wrecking his career, rep, and handing him a stint in the federal pen? You're telling me you think that's excusable???

Tommy: spot on re Hitchens. After he diverged on the terror issue, they called him a "drunk" so often, he may as well have had it tatooed to his forehead.

[Larry Craig Bathroom Attendant]

I thought Hitchens searched for a meal ticket to support his alcoholism, independent of political parties. Look for him to jump sides again. And yes, he is a drunk. Think about how many times he has appeared on TV, looking like he slept in his clothes nor ran a comb through his hair.

[AuthenticAndrew]

wutitiz, no I don't think it's OK but I'll vote for her anyway, and I'll have a big grin on my face as I do so. I think she's good for health care and a number of other issues. She's still more qualified and effective than Obama, who is the only other realistic choice. She probably won't take us into pointless wars and slaughter poor people's children.

[wutitiz]

OK Andrew, fair enough. I think this shows how dysfunctional our system has become. To change the subject back to Bush (breaking my own rule)--in retrospect I don't think he was qualifed to be the nominee much less 2 term prez, and I fear the same of Hill.

[Tommy008]

i'd like to have been a fly on the wall inside Oprah's magnificiently appointed living room, as she watched Barrack blow the New Hampshire primary. bwahahahaahaha a late xmas gift for me. Do you suppose Oprah is a fan of the f word, as Miss Hillary is said to be? I'd lay money on it. bwahaahahahahaahahahaaa Oprah is a phony and so is Obama. The man just has no substance. Dick Morris believes Hillary will likely go on to win the nomination, now that she's taken all they've given and remains standing. I agree and as I said , I believe she's the best of a bad bunch- both Dems and Repugs.

[BillHill]

Err...a-an-and you believe Dick Morris has substance; the only 'substance' he has is possibly toe-jam around his lips.

[alex]

Back to TBTL which really needs to be renamed Trying Too Hard. Why are we interested in this? It is obvious isn't it? Because Luke Burbank is God's gift to radio.
Or so he would have us believe. Don't count me in on the converted.

[joanie]

Then it's not a valid analogy, what's up, but just more right-wing spin.

Tommy, guess I hit the mark. BTW, you should look up the word fascist.

You might want to count the number of personal attacks you made - in both your posts. That tells the story of your thoughtful consideration of issues. BillHill-right on.

But, a fine storyteller you are. Stick to fiction and stocks and you'll do well.

Regarding Burbank, it is the political season and if he thinks he can do a show without getting political at least part of the time, he's not going to make it. It's like talking July 4 fireworks on December 25. A stupid decision.

[KIROfan]

Current pics of Jen on TBTL web page.

[Dave]

Wow! maybe I will be tuning in.

[Tommy008]

Duhhh, stick to stocks and fiction. Jesus, what a control freak. Of course i'm not taking your advice. You didn't hit a mark with me, you just finally irritated me into a response. I make it a habit of not attacking fellow posters until they attack me, and if you've followed my posts you can't dispute that. I was dismayed to see you start taking cheapshots at me right after my first major disagreement with the local lib party line, namely my stance on illegals. You started off by slyly calling me a "fool", because i disagree with you. nice. Then you got all selfrighteous and inslting about my comments on Vinnie's weight, followed of course by your claims that i'm "dishonest", followed by the outright lie and slander, that i only engage in personal attacks without any thoughtful commentaries.You characterized yourself as the paragon of virtue and balance. teeheehee haha Joanie- I'll stick to whatever i choose to . nice try, though.

[Rodney]

Can't we all just GET A LONG!

[joanie]

I'm having fun. Aren't you?