Ask Billy Bob: what would you do to fix "the KIROs?"

(Billy Bob (whose name is neither Billy nor Bob) worked long in the Seattle radio market wearing a suit. He says the experience heightened his sense of irony, and diminished his circle of friends. Recently, he and his faithful readers had a chat about how to fix KIRO, the station that threw it 

(photo: Mr. Bob; thanks, Diane Arbus)

all away by flipping to FM, and leaving a sports talker in their heritage AM blowtorching spot on the dial).

Dear Billy Bob: The brass doesn't know what KIRO should be. They need to start by getting in a room and coming up with a real strategy. The station is all over the map. Shouldn't KIRO start by just figuring out what KIRO should be? Signed, Mr. Mission Statement.

Dear Mr. Statement: Hell No. That sort of stuff is for thinkers, not doers.  Just get out there and throw guano against the wall. See what sticks. That namby-pamby strategy-wategy stuff is for losers.

Dear Mr. Bob: Was putting TBTL and Phil Hendrie on KIRO a huge mistake? Signed, L.Burbank.

Dear Luke: No. Not a mistake. Nothing says hip like 60-somethings from Salt Lake deciding what people in their 20's want to hear. As Brittany Spears often says, "With age, comes much wisdom." 60-something gray-hairs know that, more than anything else, 20-somethings really, really, really want to spend their after work hours listening to talk radio. Plus I hear guests on Phil's show that you never hear on the liberal mainstream media.

Dear Billy Bob: I think the switch to FM was a blunder. Look at the coverage maps. 710 AM is one of the best AM signals in the United States. Why waste that signal? Signed, A Broadcast Engineer.

Dear Engineer: Waste? Are you kidding me? Have you heard The Herd? Have you heard ESPN basketball scores? Where else are you going to get that stuff? Plus, they'll soon have Seattle University basketball games on 710. Buddy, you should stick to meter readings and EBS tests.

Dear BB: I get up in the morning and check the Internet. I get all the news and background on stories I care about from dozens of websites. KIRO re-hashes the same 5 or 6 headlines over and over, along with the same, usually incorrect, traffic information. Don't you think they should be go more in-depth, like NPR? Signed, Steve Scher

Dear Steve: So what if the NPR stations are doing well. Their listeners all eat brie and drink pinot noir.  KUOW can have 'em.

Dear BB: The research I see says people want more local information. KIRO reduced their news staff and eliminated a bunch of live and local shows like David Goldstein. They should put the local shows back on and do more local news by hiring more reporters. Signed, Whipple

Dear Whipple: David Goldstein is a commie, and only people who eat brie and drink pinot noir like him. there's a reason "news" rhymes with "lose." Get over it and enjoy the syndication.

Dear Billy: It seems those guys in the afternoon talk non-stop about American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. I think they should either start talking about issues, preferably local issues, or go back to a news show. And that one guy with the mohawk is overbearing. Agree? Signed, Ron U.

Dear Ron: Hey, Tom Delay is a newsmaker and he was awesome on that dancing show.

Dear BB: I think the problem is ego. They made a big mistake switching to FM and their egos won't allow them to admit a mistake. Gentlemen, be human. Admit your mistake. Billy, what are the chances Bonneville brass would check their egos at the door, admit their blunder and go back to AM?  Signed, Jim French.

Dear Jim "Freedom Fries: "About the same as the Pope giving up the big hat and converting to Mormonism.

Dear Billy: Wasn't it a mistake to drop the name NewsRadio? Signed, Branding Expert.

Dear So Called Expert: I'm calling BS on all the inside radio branding fooey. So what if "newsradio" was a 30-year heritage positioning statement? Big fricking deal. Oh, sure, Nike sticks with the swoosh and McDonalds keeps the arches and Mercedes insists on hanging onto that peace thingy on the hood. But really, how well are those companies doing? Why should KIRO be stuck with a boring old moniker like NewsRadio? Screw it. Let KOMO have it.

Dear BB: I miss the CBS newscast at the top of the hour. When KIRO dropped that, I dropped KIRO. Signed, Missing the Net.

Dear NetMisser: CBS employees are all communists or are sleeping with their staff. If you miss that crap so much, go pick up a copy of The Daily Worker.

Dear Billy: King County makes up 50% of the Arbitron defined Seattle Metro and, as you probably know, it's one of the bluest counties in the US. Plus KVI and KTTH are already conservative stations. Isn't going more conservative a programming blunder?  Signed, UW Demographics Researcher

Dear Husky Researcher Guy: When you've got a Muslim president who pals around with terrorists and wasn't even born in America, you can't have enough stations telling the truth. If I was Bonneville, I'd fire Dave Ross and put Mike Siegel on 9 to noon. By the way, when your football team can beat LSU and Notre Dame, then maybe you'll have some credibility.

Dear Mr. Bob: I love your wisdom. You are so witty. You seem like a very sexy man. I think Frank Shiers is the best talk host I've ever heard on any station. What say ye?  Signed, Mrs. Shiers.

Dear Madam: I agree with all your points.

Comments

[M.Steele]

Republican congratulations, not all of them have lost their marbles.

But you have to enjoy ray-dee-ohh’s enthusiasm. If we catch bin Laden he would be apoplectic about that news.

And ray-dee-ohh, no buyers remorse on my part. After all he just won the Nobel.

[ksr]

"All they've got to do is put KIRO talk.. back on AM. Who knows how many people, like myself, no longer listen because they can't get decent reception."

Huh? I don't get it.

What is it with (most of) the people around here? KIRO has been your favorite whipping post forever. With the exception (sometimes) of Luke Burbank, Mike Webb, Turi Ryder and a couple of others, none of whom generated enough loyal listeners to attract a loyal advertising base (or were too obnoxious to work with), people here have done little but complain about the station.

Kind of makes you wonder why anyone here really cares that KIRO went to FM... or anything else, for that matter. Why do you all obsess so much about a station you have such little regard for? You don't like the periodic changes in the newsroom. You don't like Dave. You don't like Dori. You don't like Ron & Don. You don't like Frank... all of whom, for some reason or another, the money people in Salt Lake DO seem to like.

It's almost like that first crush that you can't quite give up on.

Y'know... as times get tougher for the Seattle broadcast industry, perhaps the time might come when the suits would entertain a programming/talent package, run by some of you here. THAT would be worth listening to, if for no other reason than the temporary entertainment value while waiting for the power company to pull the meter (IMHO).

[Radio is Dead]

I'm a self-employed 24/7 professional that works in multiple internatioanal time zones.

I keep my finger on the global pulse. Not much gets by me.

I will continue to bring truth to a blog full of lies, deception and slander.

[Drew]

That's nice. But you're still a free-loader if you openly choose to not "pay the fare" like others when you hop on board and ride around all day.

[M.Steele]

Come on KSR, it is a satire. Besides, I still listen to Dave Ross…when I get the signal.

[AuthenticAndrew]

Ed Schultz is pretty much saying what I just posted (minus the assissination stuff) in words almost as harsh as my own. I'm glad that liberal commentators are taking the gloves off and calling it like it is. Liberals have long been sipping tea and waxing nuance while conservatives rally mobs into a frenzy. Kudos to Schultz for turning it up a notch.

[Drew]

Yes, Alan Grayson is showing another reason why we'll win.

[AuthenticAndrew]

Alan Grayson said "conservatives probably wish there was a Nobel Prize for fear, a Nobel Prize for racism, if there was a prize that they'd be in the running." Good stuff.

[Drew]

Yea, for a freshman congressman, he's got it figured out. And the donations and support for him has been pouring into his office. His constituents call him a hero.

[angelina jolie]

I think Radio is Dead, has a desire for us to believe he’s a grown up. Ahhh isn’t that cute? Your faux bizzieness must do a lot of stuff with you in the “free” internet all day long. Keep on swingin’ there tiger.

[Drew]

Besides riding Blatherwatch Transit all day while bragging about how he doesn't pay, he also uses public roads, sidewalks, flushes his toilet, breathes the air, and enjoys the safety and security of having police and fire standing by to save his ungrateful fat ass. Proud to be a con, he is.

[Radio is Dead]

Obviously AJ I'm the only grown up here. Given all the handouts you and your deadbeat libs on this board expect, look in the mirror and see who's the helpless child.

Yes the internet is free for the user. It's because of the free market...just like broadcast TV.

Go to Europe and see what the internet costs...what a car costs....see the lack of shopping choices....give me a break you ignoramus.

[Radio is Dead]

Drew...

I also pay enormous Federal Taxes, Property Taxes, Sales Taxes, B&O Taxes, etc.

You sit in your rent controlled apartment waiting for the mailman to show up with your welfare check.

[The Red Lioness]

How do you know he flushes?

[Drew]

How can you afford top pay any taxes, when you're riding the bus all day? Everybody else is paying your freight. In a true "free market" (as defined by Ronnie Rayguns), B'lam can charge you for your ride. In fact, he can charge you extra, AND make you sit in the back of the bus.

[Drew]

If RayDeeUhOh was as important in ConWorld as he would like to think, he wouldn't have to pay taxes. In stead, he fights so the wealthy can get tax breaks, and they pat him on the head and give him a Scooby Snak.

[AuthenticAndrew]

The ease with which conservatives are talked into voting against their own best interest is dumbfounding. They claim they "don't want handouts" on the one hand but on the other will allow corperations to exploit them with their powerful lobbies, tax havens, tax breaks, subsidies, low wages, reduced environmental standards, union breaking, etc. They're total suckers.

[RobP]

AA opined:

>>It's the effort that counts. Whether he succeeds or not is almost beside the point.<<

And it's those liberal bull$hit attitudes like that which is sending this country to hell at an alarming rate.

[AuthenticAndrew]

Oh? And how is that Mr. crazy conservative foaming at the mouth?

[sparky]

Yes, Rob, vg.
The country was in stellar condition right up to November of last year. Then it hopped in the handbasket and headed to Hell...

Hmm..who was it again who had a shoe thrown at him, again?

[Drew]

Hmmm, and all along I was giving credit to Michelle Bachmann for her internment camps hysteria. Or the Pills-Buried Doughboy for his repeated playing of the Barack the Magic negro song. Or Beck and his fake tears. Or your basic garden variety cons, for believing their shit.

[William J Harrison]

Oslo's modern idea of Valhalla. All hail our dear leader for life; Barack Hussein Obama. Looking for a recession proof growth industry in Europe? Plastics? No. Invest in the exciting world of Burka manufacturing!

[angelina jolie]

Uhoh, call the fire department, we’re going to hell. Yep, we’re going to hell because our president received the peace prize. And don’t forget the democrats want healthcare for all.

No we weren’t headed to hell when our president was giving the oki doki for torture. Not when our president lied so we could go to war. Or how about those that were disregarded in New Orleans. Or how about when the president and the national security adviser disregarded that pesky document which eluded to our enemies wanted to strike us with planes, in the title no less.

RobP, would you sit next to me when we head to the HELL? I want the company of someone with experience in the HELL to help me navigate the darkest recesses.

[Grand Oligarh]

hades, you say?

[Radio is Dead]

I'm still waiting for Obama to decline acceptance of this award.

[Radio is Dead]

Wow Shiers just said what everyone's been thinking....he got the Nobel Peace Prize because he's BLACK!

Go Frank Go!!!

[AuthenticAndrew]

Uh oh! is someone reaching for the rope?

[Radio is Dead]

Frank said it not me...everyone's thinking about but not talking about...the rest of the world is gravely misinformed about race relations in the US>

[AuthenticAndrew]

If there weren't 1000 other reasons that might be plausible, such as the fact that he's liberal and Europeans tend to be liberal, or that he's trying to have multilateral foreign policy, or maybe it's because he's an inspiring orator, or maybe it's because he's of mixed race, and not specifically because he's black. The charge that he won an award for being black is itself a racist obsevation. I hope for your own sake that this sentiment doesn't travel any further than it already has.

[Radio is Dead]

Shiers makes a good point.

Obama would NOT have won the Nobel Peace Prize if his name was John and he was a middle age white guy with bonde hair and blue eyes. Furthermore he would not be President. Hillary Clinton would be.

You cannot deny this. If you do then you are intellectually dishonest.

[Coiler]

if you live in N Idaho, I suppose you can't deny this.

[Radio is Dead]

Why didn't Ronald Reagan get the Nobel Peace Prize. There is evidence suggesting that by winning the Cold War (a peaceful non-event) he saved upwards of 100 million lives.

[Drew]

"Next stop, Hayden Lake, Idaho"...hey, RayDeeOh, isn't this your stop? Don't forget your hood.

[sparky]

Dead must have seen the secret ballots that said "vote for the black man."

Right, Dead? That's how you know.

[Drew]

Like Reagan, RayDeeUhOh slept thru the Cold War

[AuthenticAndrew]

Non-blacks win Nobels all the time. Al Gore got one.

[Radio is Dead]

Again...please answer the question.

Would Obama be President if he wasn't black?

Would Obama have won the Nobel Peace Prize if he wasn't black?

Thank you for agreeing with me. Sorry you feel so dirty now.

[Coiler]

Yes, Jimmy Carter too, all loyal americans

[Radio is Dead]

Yeah...Carter a loyal American...

-King of the Malaise Era
-Impotent defender of Freedom
-Enabler of the long gas line
-Dealer of the Race Card
-Failed peanut farmer

[Radio is Dead]

Isn't it ironic that the continent responsible for the two greatest 'loss of life' events in world history vote Barry the Appeaser Obama as the Prince of Peace?

[sparky]

Partial list of world leaders praising our President on his award:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Nobel honor is a tribute to Mr. Obama's commitment to

"tolerance and dialogue between states, cultures and civilizations."

The French leader said the choice of Mr. Obama confirms the

"return of America into the hearts of the people of the world."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the peace prize is

"an incentive to the president and to us all" to do more for peace and, especially, to do more to remove the threat of nuclear weapons.

Former Egyptian Foreign Minister and Arab League Secretary-General Esmet Abdel Meguid, who was involved in Middle East peace talks for many years, said that Mr. Obama's award appears to be a positive development for peace in the region.

"I want to say that we feel that Obama has achieved a lot for his country and for the world and he deserves what has been granted to him. It is a positive move that would lead to more understanding and relations between the United States and other countries, including Egypt. So, I feel that this is a good occasion to build on that for the future," he said.

In Lebanon, which has known long periods of instability in recent years, Paul Haidostian, who is the president of Haigazian University, believes that Mr. Obama's Nobel is a step in the right direction and is a positive omen for the future.

"I was initially surprised by the news, because I usually expect older people, with longer experience in the peace process, but I took President Obama's winning of the prize as a promise for the future, as much as it is for his approach in the past. So, I guess it hits the right tone in that it is a promise that US policy in the Middle East and in the peace process, President Obama will try to do his best in the future," said Haidostian.

Jamal Khashoggi, who is the editor and publisher of the influential Saudi daily Al-Watan noted that he believes Mr. Obama won the Peace prize for his overtures to the Arab and Islamic world, and especially for his June address at Cairo University.

" It is a good sign and it is very quick for a president to receive the Nobel Prize even though he didn't finish a whole year in his term," said Khashoggi. "But, his speech in Cairo was a very good blueprint for peace. He did not only address Israeli's interests as American presidents usually do, he addressed also Palestinians concerns and rights. Not only Palestinians ... he even talked to Hamas. That was really good. I was there in Cairo and I was very much impressed. It is a very good step. I just hope that Hamas and others in the Palestinian camp will realize that."

The popular, Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV broke into its regular news programming to make the announcement that President Obama had won the prize, noting that the President had taken

"many extraordinary steps in trying to achieve a rapprochement with the Arab and Islamic world."

Former peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the award

"speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope" in his still-young presidential term, comparing the new U.S. president to a "younger Mandela."

Given the fact that the Pew Research Survey, by the end of dubya's second term, indicated that the entire world saw the U.S. as the single greatest threat to international peace.....(ahead of N. Korea & Iran), those opposed to President Obama's award need to reconsider. This is an international sigh of relief. A thumbs-up to the new face of America. A little pride (after 8 years of shame) is in order.

[Radio is Dead]

Oh good Sparky becomes my new punching bag...

The world is rejoicing because Obama reflects the image of a diminished superpower you idiot.

I'm offended that you can compare Obama to Mandela...one weak slick speaking vs a man of true integity, grit and fortitude (no comparison ...oh they're both black).

I can't list one career accomplishment of the guy other than he was craftily packaged and won an election.

You Kool-Aid drinkers just don't get it.

[joanie]

Have you guys finally figured out who this is?

Sparring with him is boring. Like trying to have a reasonable conversation with a schizophrenic off his meds.

[Radio is Dead]

Shiers has finally returned to the topic:

How in the world could a one-time prestigious institution water down a prize that years ago honored the lifetime achievements of an individual toward the goal of peace on Earth.

Sad day for the loss of this treasured piece of world history. The prize will NEVER have its true value restored.

[joanie]

If there's any justice in the world, Chevron(Texaco) should be made to pay - big time!

These oil companies have got to start cleaning up their messes. Unbelievable.

[Radio is Dead]

Joanie I agree. Those responsibility must be held accountable.

That doesn't make everyone that works at Chevron (Texaco) a criminal. It also doesn't make those that hold Chevron stock in their retirement and HSA plans evil.

[joanie]

Who said it did?

[Radio is Dead]

The company is not the culprit.

Out of line individuals at a company are the problem.

[black is beautiful]

Radio is dead Do not talk to joanie. Joanie is a khunt.
Did you see where they gave the Nobel to old ebony and ivory?
It is really awesome how the guy can mesmerise the idiots of the world in just 10 days in office.
He so deserves it. I hope they give it to him next year to. That would be sweet.
Do they give that prize for his getting free medical care for all Americans that join unions?

[joanie]

Take your meds, gigi, and go to bed.