"This has got Dori's fingerprints all over it," says one KIRO-ite.
"It stinks," writes another. "He finally won."
The post-massacre KIRO weekend skedge is out and wonder of wonders: The Angel of Death passed over Phil, the news junkie's door! Besides the gardening Cisco and the cookin' Tom Douglas, the only local talk show left on the weekend is The News Junkie, the little show that does no harm, has neither listeners, nor point of view; but does have the tremendous advantage of being hosted by Phil Vandevort, the longtime producer for conservative Dori 
Monson, the self-proclaimed "King of Seattle Talk Radio."
David Goldstein, Bryan Styble, and Carl Jeffers and the support hours that go with them were eliminated Wednesday.
The Dori Monson Clause that retained Phil kinda blows a hole in the out-of-their-hands, "budgetary concerns" explanation they gave for laying off all these people.
It kinda blows...
"Dori has been after Goldy's hide for a year," says a newsie; "He's pushes his weight around, always has -- I don't know whether he got Goldy fired, but for sure if Phil's $300 a week job was saved, Dori was behind it."
Dori (whose name is a girl's name) stopped speaking or acknowledging Goldy's presence a few months ago.
KIRO staffers agree: Dori can be a real prick. "All this reminds me of the bad old Entercom days when you felt like you had to kiss his ass to keep your job."
This means a big loss of employment for the horrifically underpaid Board ops too. That's probably the reason Dustin Hornby walked. We'll be interested in hearing more about that.
It's only weekends, we know. But KIRO's closing them down for fledgling local talent is the end of an era. There is effectively no way for a talk host in this town to get started.
We'll probably pass on The Mutual Fund Show, and we can only listen to Bob Brinker once a week.
But take it from us: NPR is where it's at on weekends: in case you haven't already been driven away from KIRO. check out the weekend fare on KUOW.
Here's the Saturday line-up (except they don't say who will be in the former Carl Jeffers spot at 10p or on the overnight -- can't wait to find out!):
6am – 9am KIRO Morning News
9am- 10am The Mutual Fund Show
10am – 1pm In the Garden w/Cisco Morris
1pm to 4pm Bob Brinker Show
4pm-7pm In the Kitchen w/Tom Douglas
7pm-10pm Best of TBTL
Doesn't get much more exciting on Sunday:
6am -9am KIRO Morning News
9am- 10am Meet the Press
10am- 1pm Handel on the Law
1pm- 4pm Bob Brinker Show
4pm-7pm The News Junkie
7pm-8pm CBS News Weekend Round-up
8pm-9pm Meet the Press (Repeat)
9pm-Midnite Leo LaPorte – The Tech Guy
Midnite to 4am Bob Brinker (Repeat)
BM has the radio blog. And while he himself may not know what shows or hosts cost, he must have contacts that know.
I would like to know what the average "live and local" host gets paid, vs. what the station pays for a syndicated show. For example, do they pay Goldstein $100 an hour, but only have to pay $50 an hour for a syndicated show? And then with a syndicated show, can they charge more for ads? And isn't it true that with a live guy, they have to also pay a producer, but with a syndicated show, they don't? And I would imagine with a syndicated show, economies of scale is at play. I'm sure if the corporate office has more of its stations going with syndicated shows, they can get the cost per show down. Can also probably get better deals with ads. I would be interested to know if other Bonneville stations also have been switching from live and local on the weekends, to syndicated. That would explain a lot.
Can anyone in the business explain how all this works?
Posted by: DT | January 31, 2008 at 01:53 PM
I'm sorry, but the phrase "Best of TBTL" made me chuckle a little.
Posted by: stinky | January 31, 2008 at 01:57 PM
Yeah sparks, how would you like the job of deciding the 'best of' for the week-end.
Posted by: Duffman | January 31, 2008 at 02:00 PM
Commercial stock on Mike Siegel's local show goes for $30 for a 60-second spot.
If you go to KRKO in Everett you can rent studio space for $60 for 30 minutes.
So, for just $90 plus Metro fare to Everett, I once bought a commercial during Mike Siegel's show that was just me wishing my boyfriend good luck on his biology test the next day. It was hella fun.
Unfortunately, I doubt he ever heard it.
Posted by: Gay Gary | January 31, 2008 at 02:01 PM
DT, you're barking up the wrong tree. Forget economics, and focus on the mystery guy with the agenda pulling the strings.
Posted by: storsie | January 31, 2008 at 02:02 PM
DT: It's only the most in-demand syndicated show that costs a station anything (and perhaps not even those, these days). These are typically straight barter deals -- the show is free to the station if it gives up a certain number of minutes per hour in commercial inventory. And if KIRO were ever to go down the path some stations take, it could get paid (not pay) to run some shows, with the show's producer owning all the spot inventory to re-sell to pay for the carriage fee. I don't know if KIRO does that on any programming, but several other Seattle-area stations certainly do, including with local programming.
Posted by: Seattlenerd | January 31, 2008 at 02:06 PM
It's T008's agent agreeing to a deal with Dori to have T008 write and publich Dori's memoirs.
Nailed it! :)
Posted by: Duffman | January 31, 2008 at 02:06 PM
Isn't "Goldy" a girl's name too (or, at least a Dog's name)
Posted by: Jay | January 31, 2008 at 02:08 PM
"Forget economics, and focus on the mystery guy with the agenda pulling the strings."
Guy? I think it's "Sister Cath" one of the times Dori went one-on-one with the nuns.
Posted by: Gay Gary | January 31, 2008 at 02:11 PM
Interesting, Duffman. But a piece of the puzzle is still missing--why does Dori look drugged?
Posted by: storsie | January 31, 2008 at 02:12 PM
T008--Sister Cath is your agent??
Posted by: storsie | January 31, 2008 at 02:14 PM
It's actually a look of ecstasy (not drugged), as his dog Star is below 'workin out' on Dori's leg. :) Puzzle solved!!!
Posted by: Duffman | January 31, 2008 at 02:17 PM
Seattlenerd, then what is your opinion of KIRO's firings? What do you think the reasons are? Is it just a matter of them trying to cut costs?
Posted by: DT | January 31, 2008 at 02:20 PM
Duffman, you're a genius. Looking at the pic, I can totally see that. You're right, problem solved.
Posted by: storsie | January 31, 2008 at 02:21 PM
They should have Sister Cath do a show like KFI has --- it's called "The Jesus Christ Show". They have the weekend engineer come on and impersonate Jesus Christ for 3 hours. He's a divinity school dropout and answers callers questions about the Bible in the role of Jesus Christ. It's all quite seriuos but is worth a chuckle when they have to go to break.
"I am your Lord Savior and you are listening to KFI 640AM. I died on the cross for your sins. Now let's check the traffic."
Posted by: Gay Gary | January 31, 2008 at 02:25 PM
Is anyone following the story of the Seattle gang member who apparently went on a grudge-settling shooting spree yesterday and ended up shooting the Ethiopian immigrant owner at the CENTRAL AREA restaurant where the gangster tried to sell drugs and was stood up to by the owner? The immigrant had recently bought a house and had sent for his bride or fiance from Ethiopia to join him in June. This is pure American tragedy, doesn't get much worse. One man's American Dream being violently defeated by the dark underbelly of urban America. There seems to be some hostility and friction between American urban blacks and immigrant blacks from Africa.The former partner of the owner was killed in 2003 shortly after driving away from the restaurant, and his killing has never been solved. I wonder if the police believe this same gangster was behind the first killing?
Posted by: Tommy008 | January 31, 2008 at 02:32 PM
Something tells me he probably believes it's offensive and insensitive to imitate Muhammad, but not Jesus. (I also bet he would be scared to death to imitate him).
Posted by: DT | January 31, 2008 at 02:33 PM
GG, are you serious dude? You meaan like KFI is like Heaven and Bryan Suits (formerly of KVI fame) is like in Heaven broadcasting with Him?
Posted by: Duffman | January 31, 2008 at 02:34 PM
DT: By my math, they just cut 15 hours of locally hosted shows over two weekend days, and replaced them largely with repeats and syndicated fare. Looks financial to me, unless there's another shoe to drop.
Posted by: Seattlenerd | January 31, 2008 at 02:36 PM
actually Gary, you've stumbled on another of what I call 'indicators' regarding Dori. Any investigator will tell you that you look for things that are 'out of place.'
Dori is Catholic, and supposedly of Scandinavian heritage, but Scandis are overwhelmingly Protestant. Add to that his supposed Ballard upbringing/East Coast accent (listen to him say 'borrow' or 'sorry'), his Mediteranian features, and you've got a bundle full of "what's wrong with this picture."
Posted by: storsie | January 31, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Dori is an idiot.
This is the guy who was a cheerleader for the Iraq war and for Tim Eyman.
He doesn't like taxes - but supports the schools - what a hypocrite.
Goldy runs circles around him (and so does Dave Ross).
Firing goldy and keeping Dori Monson is like getting rid of tom Brady and keeping...well not keeping anyone on the Patriots - because they all contribute more than Monson.
Posted by: correctnotright | January 31, 2008 at 02:47 PM
T008--both owners killed? That is awful. My next door neighbor is from Ethiopa. As a runner, I have admiration for them--the current marathon world-record holder is from there, not Kenya.
Wasn't Mayor Nickels all over the news just recently bragging about how safe Seattle has become under his watch?
Posted by: wutitiz | January 31, 2008 at 02:48 PM
With all due respect to hizzoner - the only thing he seems to be 'all over' is whatever he happens to be eating at the time.
Posted by: Duffman | January 31, 2008 at 02:51 PM
Yeah Duffman, that and keeping us safe from strippers.
Posted by: wutitiz | January 31, 2008 at 02:55 PM
Shooting related deaths are down siginificantly. It's so like "wutitiz" and his type to challenge hard facts with anecdotes.
Posted by: AuthenticAndrew | January 31, 2008 at 02:59 PM
Andrew, you have a point to some extent, but the restaurant murder (and the Cap Hill stabbing) are 'hard facts.'
I do not think Mayor Nickels needs to be bragging about how safe it is when there are arguably preventable situations like this, and when he puts so much police resources into things like strip club busts.
Also I found it laughable that he asked for new gun control laws in his statement. The cities with the highest murder rates all have very strict gun control.
Posted by: wutitiz | January 31, 2008 at 03:21 PM
Blaming the mayor for that murder is rediculous, and the idea that a pro gun rights republican mayor might have done more is beyond laughable, that's piss your pants funny.
Posted by: AuthenticAndrew | January 31, 2008 at 03:44 PM
I didn't 'blame' the mayor for the murder, nor did I state that a pro-gun R mayor would have prevented it.
Andrew, if I posted like you here's how my post would go:
"Saying that strip club busts are more important than violent crime is crap-yer-shorts funny. Its so typical of Andrew n his types."
See how dumb that is, Andrew?
Posted by: wutitiz | January 31, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Duffman and GG: KFI, as it turns out, IS the closest thing to heaven in radio.
1.2 million listeners per DAY.
Plus the 1919 White Sox appear without warning and have batting practice.
It's a different world in LA radio.
Posted by: KFI Bryan | January 31, 2008 at 04:56 PM
Jay... "Goldie" is a girl's name. "Goldy" with a "y" is the masculine spelling. As for "Dori" with an "i", I'm not sure. Does Dori dot his "i" with a heart?
And folks, I'm no expert either when it comes to the business of radio, but I think it is a mistake to connect "budget" with "revenues." Rod is given so much budget to run his station, and he invests where he see fits. It looks to me that he has prioritized TBTL and the new website over live, local talk late night and weekends. The fact that in the short term, that might reduce revenues in excess of the dollars saved, doesn't change the fact that Rod has managed to balance his budget. Long term, perhaps TBTL and the website pay off, and this turns out to be a smart move. Or... maybe Salt Lake might have given him more budget so that KIRO could invest in the future and remain live and local.
All I know is that when critics point to my cancellation and say "see... liberal talk doesn't work.. the market won't support it," I know that I have proven otherwise. My show was turning was profit.
And by the way, none of us had producers, so the only salary they saved was our own.
Posted by: Goldy | January 31, 2008 at 06:05 PM
Yo Bryan..sounds like things might be going well for you. I'm glad. Pulling up roots from Monroe or staying status quo for the 6-months that our own T008 gave you?...just in case.
Any comment on the KIRO action?
Take care...I'll try to tune in...but you know you ARE COMPETING with TBTL! :)
Posted by: Duffman | January 31, 2008 at 06:08 PM
Bryan Suits will be ***slaughtered*** in L.A. A lot of baggage in his closet and not too much talent.
Posted by: Sclub | January 31, 2008 at 08:40 PM
"Plus the 1919 White Sox appear without warning and have batting practice."--Bryan Suits.
Could someone please explain that reference? No? Obviously, it's a coded message.
Either he is ordering a "hit," or sending along an explanation regarding hit(s) that have been done.
PugetSound? Nevets? Duffman? Explanations?
Posted by: storsie | January 31, 2008 at 09:32 PM
Bryan Suits compared to the current lineup on KIRO has real talent, but he is too conservative to be stomached in liberal monolith that tries to imitate San Francisco AKA Seattle. Seattle's loss...
More power to you in LA. I listened to you a few times on streaming and you sounded more interesting than TBTL or Goldy - in your own style.
Nice conspiracy theory that Dori Monson led to the firings of two of the three deposed talk show hosts. He may have an influence around the station, but why did his buddy, Tony Ventralla get axed ? I know that it has been mentioned earlier. Seems like more of a case of second-rate hiring and firing practices by KIRO Radio Management.
Posted by: KS | January 31, 2008 at 10:26 PM
Field of Dreams?
Posted by: Nevets | January 31, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Hey Dori, it's all about you practically all of the time here, don't you just love it. No one listens to you...yet they know all about you to the nth degree. LOL!
Posted by: Duffman | February 01, 2008 at 05:27 AM
I disagree. Whether or not Brian is too conservative or too liberal, he has an irreverent style that fits in well at KFI. You should listen to him, he has a somewhat different beat and timbre than at KVI (a Salem Communications station that slid through a dimensional rift and landed at Fischer Plaza). Brian is not some one-trick pony.
Plus I love their faux political ad promos comparing how fresh Brian is to how John & Ken are like old milk you can cut with a knife. These are like the only radio promos I've actually LOL'ed during. KFI has clever promos and such, here in the frozen frontier we're stuck with inane stock imaging that's probably being aired in Milwaukee, El Paso and Albany at the same time.
My only complaint is that Brian didn't treat George Noory deferentially enough during last night's tease for Coast to Coast AM. Ziegler at least used to feign interest in news about how Alan Greenspan was a 7' tall lizardman or Major Ed Dames had just captured the Easter Bunny. Don't F with Lisa Lyon. You F with her and you'll soon find yourself at a CIA lockup in New Mexico being cross-bred with the greys ... or with a one-hour local show on KITZ-AM Olympia.
What I do not miss is the constant footsy with Leah Brandon, so thank you Brian for that.
For now Brian is my preferred evening repast over TBTL.
Posted by: Gay Gary | February 01, 2008 at 06:18 AM
KIRO has become a pathetic excuse for a radio station, it's too bad about Goldy and Jeffers.
I'll continue to listen to Dave Ross. Otherwise, as soon as the sun goes down, it's goodbye KIRO hello KGO.
Posted by: Upton | February 01, 2008 at 07:07 AM
With a 4.1 share and 4th place standing in the #14 Sea-Tac market their (KIRO's) 'Fall '07 wasn't too bad. It will be interesting to see Winter book; anyone know when that w/be available?
Posted by: Duffman | February 01, 2008 at 07:12 AM
What about website traffic since that's the new buzzword?
The #2 AM station in DMA 14 - Seattle - is pulling more visitors than either the #1 AM station or the #1 AM News station in DMA 2 - LA.
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/kfi640.com+komoradio.com+kfwb.com/?metric=uv
Posted by: Gay Gary | February 01, 2008 at 07:22 AM
Will Pizza Beget Listeners?
Fresh approach...right demographics..Hmmmm, might it be that easy?
Posted by: Duffman | February 01, 2008 at 08:16 AM
I hate to say it but the reson that all the lying liberal lyars got got fired is because mainstreem america is sick and tired of there lying filth. Dori doesnt deserve to get fired because he is the only one who TELLS THE TRUTH! Your all going to see how much mainstreem america hates lyars when we tell Billary Clinton TO BEAT THE ROAD!
Posted by: RedRachel | February 01, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Rachel, learn to spell. Also grammar, punctuation, and syntax.
Posted by: Dana | February 01, 2008 at 10:45 AM
>>why did his buddy, Tony Ventralla get axed ?<<
The real question is, why didn't KIRO fire him sooner? It became obvious, quickly, that he has zero talent as a talk-show host.
Posted by: Dana | February 01, 2008 at 10:49 AM
"beat the road"?
Posted by: mark | February 01, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Rachel, does your husband know your not wearing your muzzle?
Posted by: shadow | February 01, 2008 at 12:14 PM
I have stepped up my game. It's nice to get expert guidance.
Posted by: KFI Bryan | February 01, 2008 at 05:51 PM
Rachel, now that you're in LA, what are your connecs. with LAPD. Did you know that LAPD has long had a unit that does nothing but spy on celebs & build files on them.
With their files, they are invariably one phone call away from having the upper hand, no matter what stickey wicket arises.
Posted by: storsie | February 01, 2008 at 06:52 PM
Uhhh.... My wife doesn't read blogs.
Also, what dirt would LAPD ...POSSIBLY? ....have, that would would embarass a celebrity in 2008???
I wish they could blackmail Britney into sending an assistant to Jerry's Famous Deli or Petco on Laurel Canyon.
Posted by: KFI Bryan | February 01, 2008 at 09:14 PM
This is precisely why people like Dr. Laura (LA based) and Billo are trying to turn back the cultural clock.
This is an effort coordinated with the FBI (Billo) and LAPD (Dr. Laura) to make the files once again the devastating weapon they once were.
Posted by: storsie | February 02, 2008 at 09:03 PM