BlatherWatch

OPEN THREAD: DOES TALK RADIO DESERVE TO DIE?

Why do you think talk radio's numbers are sliding?

Is talk radio, which is primarily dominated by Republican Party politics, suffering because it has to defend, day in and day out an unpopular war and the failing presidency of an unpopular George W. Bush?

Is it just divisive, old technology entertainment for pissed-off aging white guys who are dying or toddling off?

If talk radio went away tomorrow- frankly, darling- would you give a damn?

Luke Burbank: are we all talked out?

Luke Burbank is well-known in Seattle radio.

He was Kirby Wilbur's producer for years; had what he describes a "ridiculously bad Saturday show" on KVI, did Metro traffic;produced and hosted over at NPR affiliate KUOW.

A friend of and mentored by former KUOW personality, comedian and comedy writer Bill Radke (Rewind) Burbank did stand up comedy downtown with some success (e.g.: he made us laugh).

Luke's in Los Angeles working as a reporter for NPR- we hear him frequently on All Things Considered, and Marketplace; and other nationally syndicated NPR shows.

(Luke says he is Blatherwatch's biggest LA fan, we're not sure if Luke has gained some weight or whether he really likes us, but we also suspect he's also our only LA fan).

Burbank weighs in on the question worrying radio pros around the country: Is political talk radio is fading out?

The Los Angeles Times reported in August:

Still, however you measure these things, broadcasting professionals agree that audiences for political talk shows have declined significantly throughout this year. That's certainly been true in Los Angeles. This week, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis-St. Paul reported that Limbaugh has lost 43% of his audience there, while Sean Hannity's has declined by 63%. An executive at the station that airs both programs in the Twin Cities told the paper, "We have really become concerned with what I could call their tight play list of topics revolving around politics." A Clear Channel programming executive in Northern California, where declines also have occurred, admitted, "We're not sure yet what's really going on."

It's happening in Seattle, too as we've been reporting since June and again this week as Fisher broke out of traditional talk programming with the announcement of its upcoming weekdaily pissing match with John Carlson and KOMO TV's Ken Schram beginning Jan. 30 (KOMOAM 10a-12p). href="http://blatherwatch.blogs.com/talk_radio/2006/01/update_carlson_.html">As we wrote:

Fisher honchos are hoping to give a shot of Viagara to the generally flaccid numbers for both KVI and KOMOAM. No talkers (neither the stations nor the humans) in this town are doing very well, and it seems to be a national trend. It's not only KIRO who is plagued with falling or lackluster numbers over the last year - it's all over the dial. KVI, KTTH, all have been worrying their masters as talk numbers have gradually degraded over the past five or six books. The Buzz paid the ultimate price.”

Luke writes:
I listen to A LOT of talk radio… and I’m non-denominational about it, I do a rotation every afternoon on my slog through LA traffic – Leykis, John & Ken, Lee “Hacksaw Hamilton”, Randi Rhodes… anyway, I have been realizing slowly but surely that I really can’t care less what any of them have to say about anything. It’s like I’ve heard these folks spout every possible opinion on every possible topic and I’m just over them.

KIRO according to joe

Whenever KOMO radio's veteran Sales Manager Joe Heslet sends out one his wry letters to his sales staff or advertisers, it's leaked to BlatherWatch almost immediately. We know he has an agenda- it's selling ads for KOMO AM and KVI, but we always appreciate his take because it's a fair-minded look at his world (and ours) that's always provocative and funny. We offer it uncensored for your discussion:

Sales Folks:
I haven't addressed KIRO (Their Positioning Slogan: 10 Hours of Plan B Programming Everyday!) for a while now for a variety of reasons:

a) They haven't done anything that's been terribly interesting to talk about.
b) KOMO and KIRO aren't really competitors anymore.
c) A ship this big sinking doesn't really require play-by-play; everyone can see what's happening.
d) I really hate to kick anyone when they are this far down. But...

With ratings coming out tomorrow, it will appear as though KIRO had a good fall book on the "full week face of it." Closer scrutiny will disclose that the Seahawks' success will be driving the full week ratings and can be separated out by doing a simple weekend vs. weekday ranker.

I thought this would be a good time to take a look at the  KIRO weekday programming--

Scab robots overrun KTTH

KTTH has been automated.

They threw out the producers, the interns, the board-ops and the little people who clean up after the behemoth egos of the talk show hosts.

They can do that because live and local talkers are going extinct too. Sytman & Boze (m-f, 5-9a) are the only mouth-breathers left over there during the week.

The rest are beamed down to the robots from satellites.

The humming throngs of upright humanoids with sticky digits and perineums, coffee-stains and dandruff, wisdom and foolishness that once filled the right-wing Entercom talker have been fired and replaced by the dull thrumming of the steady robots serving their corporate masters without complaint or bathroom breaks.

KTTH and KIRO employees threw out their union, AFTRA last year, much to the delight, we're sure, of the paleolithic  Entercom management.

AFTRA's John Sandifer says, "An employee is truly on his or her own. In the broadcast business that means constant jeopardy."

Could the union have prevented the lay-offs and the onslaught of the robots?

No. Companies have the right to make operational decisions. But the union can bargain about the effect of those decisions on the workers. And the bargaining might have mitigated the human damage- like with severance pay, the transfering of members to other jobs in the company, and bumping rights (part timers must be terminated before full timers) etc.

With their decertification, the emploees discarded the long list of benefits and minimum conditions derived from union membership. Operating under a union contract they're simply not guaranteed even such basic "perks" as overtime, a 40 hour week, holidays, vacations, turnaround pay, severance pay, a grievance procedure, minimum wages, health benefits, retirement plans, discipline without cause, arbitrary terminations.  The list goes on and on. 

The truly sad thing at KIRO and KTTH, says Sandifer, "is that the basic rights in the contract built up over decades of bargaining by employees were all lost in one fell swoop to a campaign by two primary dissidents and a group of people  voting their pocketbooks."

Who were the dissidents? Lou Pate (KIRO m-f, 1-5a) and Mike Webb (Superior Court, Jan.24, 1p).

It's ironic that Webb, who's told friends he intends to sue Entercom over his firing, could have had a union that would have gone to the mat for him in any termination that violated his contract. Now he has to pay his expensive celebrity mouthpiece if he wants to challenge his former bosses.

We suspect this isn't the end of Entercom's "efficiencies"- tough shit to the employees who voted to let this corporate employ them "at will" because they didn't like paying monthly dues. And even tougher shit to those employees who voted to keep the union.

Here's some poetic commentary on robots from our bloggy poet laureate:

I Believe I'll Marry a Robot This Time
   by Michael Hood

I usually end up with those racy centaurs with beautiful asses, armed to the teeth who take me to the woodshed right off the bat to make short business of the deciphering. Then it's a quick frog-walk over to the edge for a peek into the dark...

They don't cry at night, robots.
They shave in the dark like Ray Charles.
The power switch on their backside
you can flick off like a vacuum cleaner 
in case you need some rest.

Robots aren't concerned with vendettas
or the way their pants fit in the back.
They fret about rust and short circuits.
Rivets are a given,
truth's in the wiring.

Wistful of buckets, loyal to bolts,
love is the sweet flowing juice
of pure motor oil.
Sincerity is lost on robots,
being taken for granted is their job.

I believe I'll marry a robot this time.

UPDATE: CARLSON & SCHRAM TOGETHER AGAIN

Don't know if this totally new show will work- what a strange time slot- right in the middle of everything in the morning...you gotta hand it to 'em- it's original, it's live & local, and the chemistry between the two is tried and true.

Besides, damnit- It's great to to see a corporate decision that tries to do some innovatin' around here...the dead air of local radio inertia has been making us plotz, lately.

Though we're skeptical that the Odd Couple of Radio be threatening Jon Stewart any time soon, we do know that Schram's visits to the Carlson show have always been fun. True to his Bronx oral traditions, Schram http://www.komotv.com/kenschram/doesn't give a damn about what the shocked, shocked KVI hallelujah choir thinks of his liberal-ish, libertarian, out loud, and provocative views. He pisses off lefties and social conservatives equally. (Other talkers who hail from the Bronx: Lou Pate and Michael Savage).

Carlson is a veteran debater, having cut his teeth facing lefty Walt Crowley for years in a Sunday evening point-counter-point format on KIRO TV in the late '80's and early nineties. Read our "Lives of the Talk Show Hosts: John Carlson, an Uncommon Political Life."

We're surprised Carlson would agree to get up at that time of day...the KOMO morning news conference call is everyday at 7a. He's not, shall we say, a morning person...

Fisher honchos are hoping to give a shot of Viagara to the generally flaccid numbers for both KVI and KOMOAM. No talkers (neither the stations nor the humans) in this town are doing very well, and it seems to be a national trend. It's not only KIRO who is plagued with falling or lackluster numbers over the last few years - it's all over the dial. KVI, KTTH, all have been worrying their masters as talk numbers have gradually degraded over the past five or six books.The Buzz paid the ultimate price.

Limbaugh's numbers are horrible in this market these days- and after Entercom stole him away from KVI a few years ago, Fisher's probably licking their chops hoping this will be another bitch of a payback and will finally deflate the old gas-bag.

Stay tuned.

BREAKING: SCHRAM & CARLSON TO DO THE ODD COUPLE...

This letter to Fisher employees from PD Dennis Kelly was leaked to BlatherWatch just minutes ago...What we'd like to know- which one will be Felix?

KOMO 1000 News is taking a bold step forward in the New Year by debuting a brand new show on January 30th.

This news analysis program will air daily from 10 am to Noon and feature news commentators John Carlson and Ken Schram.  The show is called "The Commentators" and is unlike anything you've ever heard before on radio.  Imagine a stylized, fast-paced Meet The Press (NBC) with the entertainment-value of The Daily Show with John Stewart (Comedy Network) and a dose of Crossfire (CNN) thrown in for good measure, and you get a pretty good idea of what this show will be about.

John and Ken will interview the key newsmakers of the day, reporters covering major stories both at KOMO 4 News and KOMO 1000 News and other news content partners.  And don't be too surprised if you turn on your radio and hear other interesting people joining "The Commentators" team (celebrities, well-known news personalities, etc.) from time to time.

The most unique aspect of this show is the special chemistry between John and Ken.  These two are the Felix Unger and Oscar Madison of radio.  Exact opposites who complete one another.  I've been listening to these guys banter back and forth in the hallways, and most recently on KVI, for several years.  They actually like and respect each other.  In an era when this sort of media discourse has become so polarized that shouting matches ensue, John and Ken will always approach each show with a good dose of humor, civility and mutual respect.

KOMO 1000 News will continue to deliver on traffic every 10-minutes "On The 4s" and the top news stories done in longform fashion at the top and bottom of every hour.  In addition, we will feature business updates and sports, too.

While many all news stations are working to boost midday numbers with shows featuring an hour on cooking, business, etc, the news junkies of our format are always in search of new information.  A show like this should thread the needle and create a more Time Spent Listening-rich environment.

I would like to thank Catherine Glavan, Nancy Barrick and Bill Rice for all they've done to take our middays to the next level.  Nancy and Bill will continue to host the midday news from Noon to 2 pm.   Bill will also be the dedicated news anchor on KVI from 1 pm to 7 pm.  Effective January 30th, middays will fly without a full-time, dedicated editor.  This role will be split between the morning editor, afternoon editor and news hosts.  With Darren's move to a full-time management position, you can guess where Catherine will be when she's back from maternity leave.

On KVI TalkRadio 570, John Carlson will continue to do his show daily from 3 pm to 5 pm.  Bryan Suits will host from 5 pm to 8 pm.  And, for now, the first hour of Tony Snow will be repeated in the 8 pm-9 pm hour.

Please feel free to come see me if you have any questions about this new midday approach on KOMO 1000 News.  DK

Dennis Kelly
AM Group Program Director - Fisher Communications Inc.
KOMO 1000 News- Seattle Mariners Radio Network
KVI TalkRadio 570 - Fox News & Talk Radio

O KIRO! my KIRO! our fearful trip is done...

BlatherWatch readers and KIRO listeners were buzzing. Erin Hart, the liberal part time weekend talker was missing. Her bio and picture remained on the Personalities page of the website, but she seemed to have been expunged from the line-up- her 10p-1 am show replaced with the retrospective radio drama, "When Radio Was," on Saturdays; her Sunday hours replaced by a Seahawks post game show.

But Erin was just on vacation, her demise exaggerated. The flinching listeners were just reacting after the months of wacky, nonsensical, unannounced, play-it-by-ear programming management that KIRO has become known for.

What a way to run a radio station!

The mood around the newsroom has been described to BlatherWatch as harsh and negative. There's a stab-backing epidemic and many polished up their resumes over the holidays. Great people have left or been fired from all departments.

The Seahawks pulled a KIRO victory out of the jaws of ratings defeat- at least for a little while.

But speaking to our sources inside- there are questions on everyone's minds:

a) Will Dave Ross go to mornings? Management is saying- 'hell, he got his best rating yet in the last trends. That despite that the heavy spot load and that the infernal "traffic on the 3's" gives him just 19 minutes per hour in 6 minute bites. It's a waste of Dave, and listeners we hear from are more than annoyed- they're becoming Al Franken regulars (KPTK m-f, 3-6p) or going back to NPR.

b) Why hasn't anything been done to fill in the important blank spot left by Allan Prell's abrupt departure FOUR MONTHS AGO?

c) When will they replace Mike Webb? IN FOUR MONTHS?

d) What will New York Vinnie (who lives the Seattle maxim: "It's nice to be important, but more important to be nice.") do when his ride on the Seahawks ends and everyone must face that he can't do issues?

e) Could Dori Monson be Tasered on a regular basis?  (If you missed it on the air, the other day- view it here. Many of our readers will find this deeply satisfying...

f) What does Program Tom Clendening do all day?

KIRO seems to be a rudderless ship, with orders all coming down from the Captain Queeg of corporate on the bridge in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Employees are obviously downsizing their capacities to give a shit- Lou Pate is obviously just dialing it in- and, we 're hearing, he's not the only one. Let's face it, if you're bored, you're boring...

Management tried out some talkers to team with Procaccino for a team effort in the key 9-ta-noon spot, but apparently nothing came of it. As neither did the attempt to team up Lou Pate with Vinnie (Pate, we hear, refused).

(About the only pro-active thing done- the only new talent hired around KIRO lately on the newly created talk slot- Saturday overnight. It's the Bryan "rhymes-with-tryin'" Styble Show from 1-5a. Station dish dogs posit he' must be doing unnatural acts to get the support he's got from a certain program director. Styble follows the Frank Shiers playbook and hangs around the station all day sucking up and or maybe just sucking. He's pompous and verbose and peculiar on the air; and pathetic and sycophantish off. He blows).

Folks are saying that Entercom is trying desperately to find a place for the obnoxious Ron & Don who have provided unlistenable fill-in all over the skej lately. It's especially regressive and jolting to have them filling in for Dave Ross, their antithesis. If we were Ross, we'd be pissed. They're moronic, testosteronic, FM shock-talkers known around town for driving a van with a rack of police lights and a graphic that says "Chick Chaser." They had an ignominious and short-lived morning stretch on The Buzz a while back where they mustered 1.0 share before they were canned.

They don't belong on KIRO.

It's been sad to see a once-powerful station degenerate before our very eyes. No one can figure out why KIRO has been intentionally set on a death spiral. A radio pro we know just shook his headrecently and opined that KIRO must be the poorest managed radio station in the U.S.

It's a station without a vision.

ALLAN PRELL TO APPEAR TUESDAY NIGHT AT DRINKING LIBERALLY

Former KIRO talker, Allan Prell will attend Seattle's Drinking Liberally, the weekly Tuesday gathering of liberal media folks, progressive bloggers, local politicians, and some of the choicest blatherers in town.

Allan, who'd been locked for months in a room in his underwear writing his memoirs, promises to put on some pants and drink pints from just about anybody who cares to buy.

It all happens starting at 8p at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Ave E. in Seattle's Montlake neighborhood.

Everyone of such a mind is invited. Republicans can come, though they must check their weapons at the door and mind their manners.

What? end seattle homelessness in 10 years?

That's the question Ace Blatherer, Michael Hood attempts to answer in this month's Seattle Magazine, now on newsstands.

"Fix it in a decade" is the daunting demand sent down to counties nationwide by the Bush administration, who, despite all its outcome-based rhetoric, has systematically defunded the idea.

While the author and many skeptical Seattleites who havd seen grand civic projects fail lately say seeing is believing, Seattle and King County are giving "housing first," a righteous go, despite all the complications of bureaucratic inertia, anarchic providers, duplicated services, dwindled funding and faith-based obstacles.

The piece, A Long Way From Home features a photo spread by veteran Seattle photojournalist, Dan Lamont, (Time, Newsweek, The New York Times) who hung out in shelters, day centers, and under bridges for weeks to get remarkable pics capturing the problem in stark black & white.

Here's a sample: 

“Emily” has the startled, big-eyed look of someone with a gun to her head. She’s been on the streets since 2003. A native of Kirkland, she says she went to Portland’s Reed College where she studied education and child psychology. Her parents are dead, she says, and her brother, who works for the University of Washington “doesn’t want anything to do with me—he told his kids I’m dead.” A schizophrenic who has been in six mental insitutions, she's made numerous suicide attempts that have landed her in Harborview. “The drugs they give me sent me straight to the devil,” she says. With them, she cannot hear the voice and see the face of Yahweh, who, she says, directs her life like a “movie director.” She spends a good deal of her time looking for her friend Martin, who disappeared last year while she was in the hospital. “He was my best friend,” she says, and protected her. A small woman who wears baggy jeans, layers of coats and sweaters, she carries a canvas bag and a backpack full of her belongings. She says she has traded sex for a hot bath and a warm place to sleep. She sleeps in the doorways on the eastside of 4th Avenue between Stewart and Virginia, avoiding the shelters because when Yahweh tells her to run, she can’t get out and away. She says she’s been raped several times when sleeping on the streets.

Seattle Magazine is not available on-line, so you must either read this mesmerizing article standing in the grocery line at the supermarket or buy it outright.

We recommend the latter- where else could you learn that Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love racked up $20,000 in rental charges and late fees at Seattle's Scarecrow video in the 6 years of their membership?

PAT O'DAY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT SEATTLE TALK RADIO: PART DEUX

Is Pat O'Day the founding father of Northwest rock ‘n’ roll or the “Godfather” of the 1960s teen dance scene? A vampire or the catalyst? Or all of the above? There are many Northwesterners who would debate these points for days on end, but what is perfectly clear is that when it came to the business of rock music in the Northwest, Pat O’Day was the Chairman of the Board, the Grand Poobah, the Top Dog, the Big Kahuna. New York City had Alan Freed, Boston had Arnie Ginsberg, Los Angeles had Hunter Hancock, and Seattle had O’Day. As Seattle’s highest-profile DJ of the 1960s and the region’s dominant dance promoter, Pat O’Day ran Northwest rock ‘n’ roll for nearly a decade. ~~from HistoryLink. Read his life story here.

Today, Pat O’Day, 72, the man who personified KJR (Channel 95) is a Friday Harbor businessman (real estate) a Republican, an author, (It Was All Just Rock 'n' Roll II) and ubiquitous spokeshole for Schick Schadel Hospital. He’s inarguably the most successful personality and promoter in Seattle radio history.

Pat agreed to comment for BlatherWatch on the state of Seattle news talk radio. He takes no prisoners, and even though he’s a damn Republican, we wish he were directing some programming around Seattle in these dog days of talk-talk.

In Part 1.0, O’Day ended with a challenge. In this, the final installment, he tells how he would run a talk station and news operation. 
~~
Let’s Do It Right For A Change! (Part deux)
news talk radio and play by play may be the last soldiers left standing…
By Pat O’Day

Where radio news can be bombastic, and addictive, I find it to be generally insipid. But some PD’s and their consultants will say. Things are different now! Oh really? 

You’re going to tell me people and times have changed? (That’s a favorite consultant bromide designed to fit their latest whim.) You’re going to tell me listeners don’t laugh, cry, frown, smile, exhibit emotions, and crave excitement any more?

Then, pray tell, why did they fixate on those planes hitting the twin towers and watch it again and again and again?  Why did they fixate on pictures of water rushing across New Orleans?  If nice, even-toned boredom is what people seek, why have pictures on TV?  Why not a blank screen with copy that reads, “Waters inundate New Orleans!” 

That’s what radio seems to believe. 

I guess TV, networks and cables, don’t know what they’re doing when they produce giant, expensive, colorful, musically superb, new intros. Radio now knows people don’t care for that!  Wrong again!

Well Pat, you say- what would you do if you were given an AM station and told to make it a success in the very competitive Seattle news talk radio arena? 

Thank you, I’m so glad you asked. Regardless of the political or audience direction I’m pursuing, the approach would be the same.

All hosts will first have to meet the primary criteria. They must have an obsession with dramatics. They must carry a constant desire to be entertainers. They must deeply want to make people laugh, cry, get angry, upset, and be totally theatrical.  Intellect, curiosity, and reasonable radio skills are assumed to be tools they possess prior to consideration.

They must be able to conduct themselves before the public, as they do on the radio. They must be able to go out and corral their listeners, and new listeners, with appearances, speaking engagements, and even a remote for an advertiser if necessary. 

Topics of discussion must be carefully planned.  Two or more strident representatives, one or more from each side of the issue, should have pre-recorded so both sides are delivered with great emotion.  (This is called show prep!) 

Now, we’re ready for the listeners to participate.  We’ve excited them, we have involved them emotionally, and we're now ready for some great radio! 

There is no issue, so small or inconsequential, that deserves less than all the emotion you can muster if you want to maximize the time spent listening to the show.

A great radio station is not a bunch of segmented islands with personalities that appear unaware of the programming around them. Many topics should carry on from show to show. Cross-references should be constant!  Well-planned and well-orchestrated differences of opinions between the on-air performers should be maximized. 

Listeners should be led to believe there are nearly fist fights in the halls of the station when the various hosts meet and discuss issues. The stations hosts should be perceived as a somewhat dysfunctional family that is rarely on the same identical page. This breeds excitement, comparison, and doesn’t differ greatly from real life. Cross-reference naturally builds audience for the entire station, and allows the listener to envision what happens behind the microphone.  IT MAKES RADIO REAL!