EXCLUSIVE: KIRO WINS MARINERS CONTRACT; can KOMO survive?

You can take it to the bank: KIRO has won back the Mariners' play-by-play broadcast contract they lost to KOMO in 2002.

And they picked it up for less than half the $10 million that KOMO paid.

The poorly kept secret has batting around radio-town, but Bonneville International is expected to make the official announcement in a few weeks.

The contract will begin with the '09 season.

It's a major shift in Seattle radio and its tremors will reverberate down the dial. Speculations are rife; here are the most circumspectatious:

710 KIRO-AM will go all sports according to the predominate wisdom. The news and talk shows will move to the FM frequency currently occupied by oldies KBSG (B97.3). (The company has done this in several other markets, notably Phoenix where news talk on KTAR-AM moved to KTAR-FM; and the AM went to sports).

Word is we'll see changes in KOMOAM sooner than later.

They'll have to add talk shows to try to increase the time spent listening, says our guy. "This is not a far-fetched idea. They originally put The Commentators on KOMO to fix this very problem.

"They're in more of a desperate situation now," he says. "I think you'll see KOMO wither away." 

The Mariners -- when  they're playing well -- bring a fair number of unique listeners (cume) so once the Mariners go, so will a good portion of their cume. (Entercom, after they lost baseball claimed their cume loss was about more than just the Mariners. Six years of ratings show otherwise).

A source says: "KOMO will have to compete on its news product alone, which doesn't exactly deliver great numbers. If you want a traffic report, you know exactly when to tune in. You don't have to wait through the sports ticker or a boring health feature. KOMO's news product has an okay cume, but people don't listen for very long -- the station is programmed so they don't have to. Once the Mariners cume goes away, that becomes a bigger problem."

Most agree that the new sports format won't benefit directly from baseball because it's essentially a brand new radio station. However, the new FM talker (B97.3) is likely to win a younger audience and will undoubtedly win some of KOMO's audience by default.

The new 710KIRO will probably come close to equalling KOMO's ratings and could potentially do a little better if ever the Mariners get out of the basement.

We haven't heard anything about low-power conservative talker, KTTH.

Stay tuned for more inside baseball and crazy speculations as this develops.

Comments

[Gay Gary]

I find this all sadly exciting. It will soften the blow a little bit if BonI changes the KBSG-FM call letters to KIRO-FM. (What will become of KRKO? Three sports stations? Will BonnI hire the talented Jeff Aaron away to their new sports station? Will a Sonic-less KJR even be a competitor holding just the Huskies versus the KIRO Mariners + Seahawks juggernaut?) Won't this be the second time Dave Ross' gorgeous voice has been heard on the FM waves? I seem to recall he was simulcast FM in the late '80's, but as I hadn't even hit puberty at that point I barely recall.

On the Fischer side, I certainly do hope the Commentators land someplace nice. As new as it is, it would still be missed. The only solace in all of this is if that dog Kirby & Ko. finally gets put to bed. Kirby's strange speech stylings have become so over-the-top bizarre that he sounds like a retard. Once the axe drops he should have no problem joining Humphries, Cunningham, et. al. on the national weekend circuit, or starting his own C-market syndicated show like Michael Dresser. Either of those roads would be for the best.

And what does this all mean for Mike Siegel?

Too many questions. Too few answers.

[AuthenticAndrew]

This is realy good news for me as a listener, I started listening to talk radio when KOMO had Art Bell and all talk and KIRO was mostly Dave Ross and M's, and I look forward to the possibility that the old dynamic will return.

I, and surely everyone who knows the man, are hoping the return of the M's will cause Dori to magically transform back into the modest everyman he used to be.

Will KIRO bring back NY Vinnie? Ron and Don should feel more in their element and fit alongside M's games pretty well I think. TBTL hates sports and sports hate TBTL, so that'll be interesting.

I don't think people make enough of the listener's desire to not have to change the radio station throughout the day. We just want turn it on and get to work, which is why so many Dave Ross listeners are listening to Dori. Whatever they do they better not have me having to toggle AM and FM, 710 to 770, 94.9 to whatever the fuck. I know it's free but don't make me work harder than I already have to.

[sclub]

If Fishy couldn't afford a mere $5 mil for the M's, it must be broke.

Update those resumes, folks.

[chucks]

This is great news. KIRO getting the Mariners back will make my evening commute so much better. KIRO comes in more clearly on my commute.
Equally as important is Rush resigning for another eight years. It is good that the truth will still be getting out there, thanks to Limbaugh signing for a modest $400,000,000.00. Dang, that is a lot of 0's.
Gawd, isn't America great.

[nevets]

Could this be our new National Anthem if Hussein is elected President.

LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING
by James Weldon Johnson

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,

Till earth and heaven ring.

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise,

High as the list'ning skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chast'ning rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet,

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might,

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee,

Shadowed beneath thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

[nevets]

Anything that gets TBTL off the air for a few days a week during the Spring and summer is great. Go KIRO and good luck with the Mariners.

[Sunder]

That "national anthem" post is the studidest thing I've ever read, and what does it have to do with baseball?

[Sam]

Another BlatherWatch scoop. As usual the biggest story in radio this year is uncovered by you guys. Way to go Michael.

[RobP]

>>

If Fishy couldn't afford a mere $5 mil for the M's, it must be broke.

Update those resumes, folks.<<

Good advice - especially since Fisher's BOD just turned down an unsolicited takeover offer that was worth a hefty premium over current share price.

Yeend'll probably retire, Factor and Brooks will find new jobs, Slocum will move to his poerty career full-time. As for the rest - you'll find them on Western Avenue looking for day labor.

[NYLucky]

Does this mean more talk? If KOMO loses cume from news? What of KVI? Will they put the Taters back on LOMO and get another syndicate for KVI? Kirby will not get a contract renewal. Carleen will have to go to the loafing shed.

[joanie]

Dori started out as a sports talker. Wonder if he'd be interested in staying on the sports side? Probably not as lucrative. Although he'll probably still be involved in both. A dominant voice on AM and FM.

How will this affect KJR which does a good job with sports in this town except the signal isn't as good.

Hard to come up with a down side for KIRO. Sure looks good on the face of it. And at a bargain price.

Nobody knows if Rush earns his money or not. He's all you can get due to flanking him. He literally competes with himself. If you don't have an alternative, you're going to hear Rush.

[Ben]

They should just put KVI down, or sell it to somebody else who might want to invest in a local liberal talk station.

[Edmonds Dan]

They should sell KVI to KKOL and let them put more live conservative talk on the radio. Maybe bring the old luster back with live local conservative talk.

[Marty]

KIRO will be a sports powerhouse. The Seahawks all winter, Mariners all summer. Vinnie?

[Mike Schank]

Why would KIRO-AM flip? B-97 will go all sports like the FM sports station in Portland, KIRO-AM, will stay the same, only less monotone, unfunny losers at night during the summer

[simple]

Not sure why they'd make KIRO all-sports.

[Marty]

I know like Mike Hood says that is what they did in Phoenix. I don't think talk is doing that well.

[Puget Sound]

Edmonds Dan, glad to see you back. Don't be a stranger. Had someone posting a few weeks ago spelling it 'Edmunds Dan' and it just didn't seem right.
KVI definitely could use a tune up in the live and local part. Step 1, deep sixing Dr. Laura at 9 am.

[Puget Sound]

The only reason Rush 'flanks' is because he has the ability to draw ears to his show. You can't 'flank' unless you can get people to listen. I am not a Rush fan but I am not gonna deny the obvious.
Basically you'll hear the third tier radio hosts bellyaching about it.
Take Randi for example.
In regards to Dori, he actually does host with three other former SeaHawks a nice pre and post game SeaHawk Show. It's actually his best stuff.

[sparky]

I hope they do bring back Vinnie..I liked him.

[Edmonds Dan]

I was banned for a while. Guess I'm back in the good graces.

[Gerbil]

Fisher is shrinking down to nothing. When will they start making flour again? I'll have no reason whatsoever to return to KOMO without the M's.

[jarnold]

Being a Mariners fan in Northern California, I will miss being able to hear them on KOMO 1000 at night, since KFIA 710 near Sacramento interferes with KIRO at night. Dave Niehaus and the gang are the best!

[Upton]

I'm a big Mariners fan now because this means Burbank will have to take his purse and his prude out of a time slot that he has no right occupying.

[Wild Bill]

Great Move by 710KIRO. I highly suspected that when they started running the Praise Niehuas spots, the contract was in the bag...The possibilities now are vast. Imagine, tbtl being able to play music and drops in FM! Imagine Lord Ross' voice in FM stereophonologic grandeur, or R&D booming strong against that used car salesman from Brooklyn and his crappy bitter coffee. Dori is still an everyman, fighting for all of us. It's Seattle that's changed. Dori is a true blue Seattleite, calling us out on our pretension and tiny minded politics, and self-righteous empirical stance. The Star Spangled Nevets post is making reference to Lord Ross' blog on the dynamic My Northwest.com site. A good move. Anything that makes 710KIRO stronger is a positive force in nature.....OH, and tbtl is the wonder and glory that is God!

[mercifurious]

dunceman Wild Bill:

How do you feel about Ms. Clinton's inevitability now?

[Wild Bill]

UH, wrong Bill? This Wild Bill is a huge OBAMA Man...

OBAMA is the light in the darkness,,,like 710KIRO,

except for the "from somewhere else" weekend stuff...

[Gay Gary]

Great Move by 710KIRO. I highly suspected that when they started running the Praise Niehuas spots, the contract was in the bag...The possibilities now are vast. Imagine, tbtl being able to play music and drops in FM! Imagine Lord Ross' voice in FM stereophonologic grandeur, or R&D booming strong against that used car salesman from Brooklyn and his crappy bitter coffee. Dori is still an everyman, fighting for all of us. It's Seattle that's changed. Dori is a true blue Seattleite, calling us out on our pretension and tiny minded politics, and self-righteous empirical stance. The Star Spangled Nevets post is making reference to Lord Ross' blog on the dynamic My Northwest.com site. A good move. Anything that makes 710KIRO stronger is a positive force in nature.....OH, and tbtl is the wonder and glory that is God!

So annnnnyway ...

[Gay Gary]

WOW - I have to say, R&D kept me for all 3 tonight. Normally I can't stand Ron & Don and listen to The Commentators and just check R&D at the top of the hour but Don did an absolutely spectacular job on KIRO's Sonics coverage tonight. KOMO and KVI really phoned it in but I guess the Fischer crew is probably just treading water at this point. A just fantastic job by Don O'Neil, though. A+ work.

[Wild Bill]

Gary (Yawn) is that all you can do? copy paste...what a fiendish mind, a steel trap

Clunk

What, you think this is your personal little clubhouse, where you fellas all compare the size and girth of your man boobs?

M's to 710KIRO
tbtl beaming strong
Obama in the White House

ahhhhhhhhhhh

So annnnnnnyway

[Wild Bill]

OH NO, I thought Don O'Neil was incredible today, as well!

Gasp, we have something in common, Gary

O B A M A

[Gay Gary]

Gary (Yawn) is that all you can do? copy paste...what a fiendish mind, a steel trap

Clunk

What, you think this is your personal little clubhouse, where you fellas all compare the size and girth of your man boobs?

M's to 710KIRO
tbtl beaming strong
Obama in the White House

ahhhhhhhhhhh

So annnnnnnyway

Posted by: Wild Bill | July 02, 2008 at 06:43 PM

OH NO, I thought Don O'Neil was incredible today, as well!

Gasp, we have something in common, Gary

O B A M A

Posted by: Wild Bill | July 02, 2008 at 06:45 PM

Annnnnnywhooooo ...

Joanie - how about them Sounders?

[Wild Bill]

BORING

[Wild Bill]

But it won't keep me away

anywhoooooooo, pass the fried cheeze products and dipping suaces

tbtl is the Ranch Dressing of Seattle Talk Radio

[joanie]

Well, it seems Duh'fman is back. Was it my public spanking, Duh'f that brought you back? Well, for the record, no piling on by a bunch of whining conservatives can keep me down!

Gigi, I'm not a Sounder fan. I used to be - sort of. In the seventies and early eighties when I played a lot of sports myself.

Regarding Vinnie, I'm empathetic towards him but prefer Tom Glasgow.

I can get sort of sucked in to R&D once I start listening. But, I don't switch from Rachel and Randi that much. Randi has to be really ranting and David Bender has to be really preachy for me to switch stations. Lately, seems like we hear more of Bender than Rachel. Not happy about that. He's not my cup of tea.

The Mariners back on KIRO. Almost like the old days except it isn't.

Can't wait to hear the line up, however.

[KS]

nevets - your national anthem is way out there in right field and needs to be politically corrected (by taking out all mention of God) for Barry Obama to consider.

The Mariners seemed more natural on KIRO, but am not necessarily wanting NY Vinnie to come back. I liked Jeff Aaron or the Groz (whose hours have been cut back at KJR). Tom Glasgow or Mike Blowers would be OK - like they have now on KOMO and Shannon Dreyer would also be good. It would cut out TBTL - tsk tsk and Ron & Don - so what ?

I just hope they keep Bob Brinker on the weekends, especially in these times of financial uncertainty.

[joanie]

I just checkced out KJR's website. It's very cool. There's a menu for "babe of the day" that I'm sure all of our male eyes have checked out.

I wonder if KIRO will feature a "babe of the day" on their website.

Somehow, I don't think so.

I'm laughing so hard.

babes

[nevets]

Thats what they said about breaking Babe's homerun record. Look what happened to that KS.

And for you Sunder, do you get to the ball park much, or even watch a game on the tube. If you did either you would know the National Anthem is sang before each game. Which one would you prefer?

[rev]

It's an interesting conundrum. As it's programmed today, much of KIRO's weekday schedule is aimed at an audience with minimal overlap to the Mariners' followers.

Dave Ross in the morning is probably safe, but the evening schedule -- Big Story @ 6 and TBTL -- are not likely to carry their audiences over to baseball. The BS@6 folks will likely go back to NPR, and Burbank's listeners will disappear unless he has a consistent place on the dial.

The wild card is KBSG. Are they making any money? Would TBTL work over there?

[nevets]

Looks like all the City of Seattle wanted after all was just alot of money. 75 mil. for letting Bennet out of his lease. What happened to we want them to play out their lease. Now lets see them put this money towards rebuilding the viaduct or something besides a losing Basketball franchise.

[Sunder]

the nat'l anthem at games is just a waste of time. I usually use the time to pee and make sure I have two beers in my hands. (Stars & bars is what I call it) Don't know what your point was reprinting that but doubt that we'll be changing the anthem anytime soon, but why did you double space it?

[joanie]

Odd but I agree with you, Steven. Now that's a first.

But you still owe me an answer.

[Puget Sound]

Why does Nevets have to answer you when you don't answer questions?
Pot meet kettle. See Below.

Some signs that a poster is a troll:
* Dodges questions from other posters

* When one of its arguments is shown to be false, either ignores the proof or moves the goalposts.

Enjoy. Hey isn't it great that Edmonds Dan and Audioslave came back? I missed 'em.

[David]

Funny, I'm the one that asked you about this in an e-mail, and pointed out they did this here in Phoenix. I honestly didn't think it would come true. I think what eventually was the clincher for Phoenix was when Bonneville got Sun Devil rights, to go along with Suns, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals rights. I think it's kinda sad though, the Mariners were right at home on KOMO, IMO.

[KIRO]

Wow, unless you are somehow magic, you really do not know what you are talking about. I could see how you could make the inference from newspaper reports but I can say that we know nothing internally.

[nevets]

Sorry Joanie, must have missed the question, what was it?

And Sunder, I agree it would be a strectch, but 25 years ago (if you were old enough) did you ever expect same sex marriage. All it takes is the right mix of liberal politicians to get that "CHANGE".

[Gay Gary]

Wow, unless you are somehow magic, you really do not know what you are talking about. I could see how you could make the inference from newspaper reports but I can say that we know nothing internally.

Posted by: KIRO | July 03, 2008 at 07:40 AM

So annnnnyway ...

Joanie - what's up with all these thunderstorms?

[joanie]

Beautiful, aren't they?

Gigi, what do you think about the stadium deal?

You know the question, Steven. You made a claim. Back it up.

[Gay Gary]

It's all silly. People who show any interest in pro-sports are rubes. Professional sports teams are private corporations, to cheer for one is like me showing up every periodically at the Boeing assembly line in blue & white face paint and cheering when new wingflaps come out of the factory.

But I did like how Don O'Neil roasted Nickels, but that was just for the entertainment value of it, not because I actually care.

[mark]

Big question is: What happens to the W/E lineup? Where will Brinker go?