But the live-part was bumped to 6p as of Monday, when the station injected the Norman Goldman Show. Goldman, a progressive lawyer who has the career advantage of having the dough to buy himself clearance on troubled talk stations in their drivetimes.
KPTK fits that description. (26th in the market, the only progressive station in one of the most progressive cities in America!)
(photo: Norman Goldman)
The station typifies everything we hate about consolidated, corporate radio. In one of the most liberal cities in America, KPTK is free of local programming, and has a famously tin ear for local sensibilities.
I know personalities get moved around, but they have given prime drive time to Goldman, who has little experience except for filling in for Ed Shultz. That he bought his way on the air makes sense, because he sure doesn't earn it with talent. And you're right...the bots at the staion don't care.
Posted by: TheRabbit | November 24, 2009 at 04:18 PM
No more Randi Rhodes?!? Goodbye night ratings.
Posted by: Idaho Spud | November 24, 2009 at 04:55 PM
They get a lot of competition from one of the highest rated NPR stations in the country. It's possible that we progressives read and blog/itunes more than listen to AM.
Posted by: Coiler | November 24, 2009 at 04:59 PM
Rons show is the same everyday, interview at the top of the hour then take phone calls and apologize when you dont get to all of them. Then they can send you an email that he reads on Fridays. What, is that when they arrive? You pick out a specific time to read them only one day a week, why? This is the problem with radio, in the age of blogs, twitter and 24/7 news channels they still think it's the days of only them and the newspapers. Plus Ron has no appeal to your average person, privileged upbringing, ballet dancer, cat owner, vegan, environmentalist , dude has no edge. Imagine that, he's not even live in the building he broadcasts from.
Posted by: Skid Mark Road | November 24, 2009 at 05:29 PM
And that is likely the reason that Fox has "great" ratings- cons go to one or two sources for what they feel is all the information they will ever need on a given topic. Liberals and progressives are sourcing many different news outlets, opinion blogs, cable networks, etc. Fixed News may have a couple of million medicated followers at any given time, but the educated and rational remainder are balancing their information search across many different outlets, and that number is much greater than Murdoch could ever dream of.
Posted by: Drew | November 24, 2009 at 05:36 PM
I wonder if the powers that be decided to take a chance on NorMan based on the assumed popularity of Ed. Maybe they think the EdHeads will tune in?
Joanie, are you still listening to 104.5? They played "Red Rubber Ball" by Circle..took me back to picking strawberries in Jr High.
Posted by: sparky | November 24, 2009 at 05:38 PM
I haven't listened in evenings in quite some time. Is Randi off the air in Seattle?
Posted by: mike | November 24, 2009 at 06:03 PM
They probably decided that it really doesn't matter, liberals will listen to anyone professing their "line", so WTF does it matter. They'll get their typical suck-up listeners no matter what.
Bottom-line is: what choce do they have? It's not like they are talented in radio-ratings appeal.
Posted by: Headhunter | November 24, 2009 at 06:05 PM
Listen to these twits arguing about their non-relevant non-ratings shows. It's absolutely laughable.
Posted by: JohnDoe | November 24, 2009 at 06:07 PM
@mike - She is (off air entirely) now. With this change, KING AM 1090 still has to clear (or wants to clear) the Ron Reagan Show from Air America so it's on from 6 pm to 9 pm.
Posted by: Idaho Spud | November 24, 2009 at 06:15 PM
I'm going to go out on a limb and take a guess at the lousy ratings: call in shows.
Shows that are mostly taking calls from listeners are the laziest, most stupid, lowest common denominator programming. I hate them and Hartmann, Shultz, Reagan, and Rhodes get only a few minutes of my ear because of it. That, and with Hartmann, he has more conservative guests for interviews than progressive ones, at least during the time I can listen.
I will switch on the ipod immediately when I hear "let's go to the phones." I gave up when I realized that I had to listen to 20 morons to get one call of genuine substance.
Al Franken hardly ever took calls and had far and away the best show on radio, on any station at that time, including Dave Ross. Any PD who doesn't see this has got to be delusional.
Maybe why conservative shows succeed is the whole dittohead schtick. They want to listen to this garbage. I don't.
Posted by: mike | November 24, 2009 at 06:16 PM
As if listening to the ipod was revelationary. Zombie!
Posted by: JohnDoe | November 24, 2009 at 06:18 PM
Mike, maybe you can share some of that stuff that takes the stink away from your shit; must be awesome to be Captain Smart! ya Blowhard! Franken had dismal ratings, Dude. Now, let's take a few callers,,,here's mike in stuck-up-ville...
Posted by: WILD BILL | November 24, 2009 at 06:42 PM
JohnDoe, that's why it's a fucking talk radio blog. What? They should argue about cheese products, ya tool?
Posted by: WILD BILL | November 24, 2009 at 06:58 PM
I'll miss Reagan at 3. Just got used to him then. I liked having him on live. He may not be "local" but he sure was "Seattle." Got a lot of Seattle callers and definitely talked "Seattle"a lot. I liked that, too.
He's not boring. He's picked up his game since he started. He's the most assertively patient host I've heard. He presses but never loses patience. I like that. He's been the best interviewer of Phil Wolf I've heard. Reagan managed to show him to be a racist jerk.
Schultz interviewed Wolf today but didn't use him as a target quite a well as Reagan. Did a good job though. I like Big Ed.
Posted by: joanie | November 24, 2009 at 08:06 PM
One Friday sometime in the 13th century in the Anatolian town of Akshehir, the Shaikh Nasreddin Hodja mounted the minbar of the Grand Mosque and addressed the congregation. "O Believers," asked Nasreddin, "do you know what I am about to say?" "No, we don't," chorused the congregation. Nasreddin paused dramatically, then said: "If you don't know what I'm going to say, then what's the use of my talking?" And he descended from the minbar. The congregation looked at one another in confusion.
A week went by, and when Friday came, Nasreddin once more climbed the steps of the minbar and addressed the congregation. "O Believers, do you know what I am about to say?" This time the congregation was not going to be caught napping. "Yes," they all answered. "We know what you are about to say." Nasreddin again paused dramatically. Then he said, "Since you all know what I'm about to say, there's no need for me to say it." And he descended from the minbar. The congregation was bewildered. Finally, they decided that next Friday, one half of them would answer "no" to the shaikh's question, and the other half would answer "yes."
A week went by, and when Friday came, the faithful hurried to the mosque. Nasreddin mounted the minbar. "O Believers," he said, "do you know what I am about to say?" "No!" shouted half the congregation. "Yes!" shouted the other half. Nasreddin paused dramatically. Then he said, "Very good. Those of you who know tell those who don't." And he descended from the minbar.
hah...kind of like someone we all know!
Posted by: sparky | November 24, 2009 at 08:12 PM
And if Steven were here, he would want to argue that there were no minibars in the 13th century. ;)
Posted by: sparky | November 24, 2009 at 08:13 PM
Wow. Randi Rhodes and Reagan. There is getting to be less and less to listen to on that station all the time. There certianly isn't any reason for me to tune in in the afternoon any more. I would like to see their programming get ratings in this market, but I don't really care. I know what I like. I don't have any interest in American Idol or Dancing with some fool, and I hear they are very popular.
Posted by: Lucas Foxx | November 27, 2009 at 03:32 PM
AM radio will succumb to all-streaming at this point.
Posted by: sparky | November 27, 2009 at 05:03 PM
As usual you don't WTF your talking about.
Posted by: Avian | November 27, 2009 at 05:21 PM
Isn't this the old AAR station. It sounds as if they are giving up on both of their regular listeners.
Maybe 1090 can go to all smooth jazz or some other fashionable format.
Posted by: chucks | November 27, 2009 at 05:38 PM
Did it really happen? Or was it just a shimmering dream? Two weeks have gone by since my visit to Culebra and it still seems like it wasn't real. Like one of those dreams about a magical place that disappears upon awakening. However, it wasn't a dream. It as real. An earthly paradise. And every night since being there I dream of Culebra but when I awake in a morning, the image does not dissipate with the sharp glare of reality.
Posted by: Duffman | November 27, 2009 at 07:15 PM
Duffman
It's like that Dallas Episode in which Bobby Ewing comes back from the dead. I'm just trying to not picture you in the shower...
Anyway, catch this looks like Howard Dean wants to stop the current Obama Health Care Version:
"There is something worse than passing no bill... You know, what this is is a giant bail-out. This is a bail-out that makes AIG look cheap. Sixty billion dollars a year go to the insurance companies under this bill. Now if we can get a public option, I think that’s OK, but if you don’t have a public option, why would you want to stick the taxpayers with yet another bail-out? They bailed out the banks, they bailed out AIG. This is a trillion-dollar bailout..."
Posted by: Puget Sound | November 27, 2009 at 08:34 PM
"I haven't listened in evenings in quite some time. Is Randi off the air in Seattle?
Posted by: mike | November 24, 2009 at 06:03 PM"
Mike
It's a good news bad news deal.
Bad news is she is still on the air.
Good news is she is still on the bottle.
So expect lots of hilarity (ie falling off of curbs or mysterious disappearances) during the upcoming 2010 election...
Posted by: Puget Sound | November 27, 2009 at 09:06 PM
Hey Duff, my wife drinks CubaLibra's to. Good to see you back. That woman needs somebody else to call an idiot besides me.
:] (that's because Bla'M likes smiley's)
Posted by: chucks | November 27, 2009 at 09:49 PM