As the east coast was gripped by two huge snow dumps, Washington DC radio management prepared for the worst figuring that since everyone was stuck at home, and not in their cars, they’d be watching teevee.
But WTOP-FM, a Bonneville news talker racked up double digit ratings by making the “WTOP pledge.” Programmer Jim Farley told Radio-info’s Tom Taylor they promised to “stay on top of all the power companies until all our listeners had their power restored." They encouraged staffers and listeners to call in or go on the air to recite their weather horror stories.
This is well-known programming in Seattle. Despite we rarely have weather worth talking about, KIRO, KOMO go on 24 hour blabber binges for days on end with all hands on deck (board-ops, managers, spouses) blah, blah, blah-ing about the drifts, the wind, the cold, the wet basements. (Folks who usually rant about cutting government services, now complain that the service is not good enough).Chatty Frank Shiers becomes a radio rock star; Dave Ross interviews bottom-tier light company bureaucrats, and Dori Monson posits fiercely about people building on the flood plain. It's umbrella yes/umbrella no. Listeners call in virtually unscreened with detailed prattle about BBQ-ing in the garage and what wimps Seattle drivers are. It's hugely boring. Ratings soar.
But no more, at least for the next year or two. El Niño (the warm current that’s swung our way as it does every decade or so) plus the bigger picture of climate change not only made for an unusually mild, dry winter, but has lowered possibilities for "snow events" and floods (water events?) to next to nil.
How much more can this beleaguered industry take? First the PPMs, now this!
Fair weather is kicking local radio when it’s down. Robbing local talk radio of bad weather as a topic is like taking away Tim Eyman, high school sex, or the City of Seattle. What’s left to talk about?
Radio management and talk hosts can only pray for (as we are) an earthquake, a terrorist attack, or an eruption of Mt. Rainier.
Beware of what you wish for.
Posted by: Nantuckett | March 05, 2010 at 01:48 PM
Yeah Hood. I hope you're at home for the Big One. Maybe you won't be so cute crushed under that bridge you live under.
Posted by: nevets | March 05, 2010 at 01:52 PM
Dan Daily... this movie has GG written all over it.
looks like Craig Crawford got fed up with the bias at MSNBC
who wouldn't get sick of Olby...
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 05, 2010 at 07:24 PM
Another obtuse observation by the master of obtuse observations.
I'll wait for more information. Hmm. Three months till contract renewal? We'll see.
Not sure Crawford will be missed a lot if he does depart permanently. I wouldn't mind seeing the end of Mathews, however.
Posted by: joanie | March 05, 2010 at 08:09 PM
Craig Crawford? Who cares. Or as one of the comments says:
"I guess it's a wash. I found his appearances on Countdown unrewarding."
Posted by: sparky | March 05, 2010 at 09:07 PM
I just thought of something I had to share - it made me laugh today: Big Ed was pondering the meanderings of the Obama administration and suggested that they must be determining policy by wind sock. Which way is the wind blowing today?
I thought that was funny. For a blue collar populist, Schultz really does nail it sometimes.
Posted by: joanie | March 05, 2010 at 09:47 PM
"For a blue collar populist, Schultz really does nail it sometimes."
Yeah, right - Schultz is a poser as a populist. He is really a Regressive with pinko tendencies. The wind sock comment has merit though - just ask the puppetmaster, George Soros.
Posted by: KS | March 05, 2010 at 10:12 PM
You're an idiot. How would you know what anybody on the left says about anything?
You're an idiot.
Posted by: joanie | March 05, 2010 at 11:01 PM
Hood's weather predictions reminds me of other expert forecasts...
1. The 2009 Hurricane season will be on of the worst....RESULT: None
2. The Obama Stimulus Plan will keep unemployment below 8% and jobs will begin to recover in Q4 of 2009.....RESULT: Unemployment at record numbers with numbers beyond 10% in 2010
3. I will close Guantanamo....RESULT: Still open for business
4. I will leave Iraq....RESULT: Still there
5. I will be transparent....RESULT: We know better than you-screw C-Span
6. I will not have lobbyists in my administartion....RESULT: A cabinet full of lobbysits and ex-Goldman Sach bankers
Posted by: Obama is a black man | March 05, 2010 at 11:12 PM
Klueless and OIBM have been kind enough to provide themselves as proof of the republican memo:
The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under the heading “Visceral Giving.” Their motivations are listed as “fear;” “Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration;” and “Reactionary.”
Thank you, fools.
BTW: "visceral" = not intellectual : instinctive, unreasoning (visceral drives)
3 : dealing with crude or elemental emotions : earthy (a visceral novel) (Merriam Webster online)
That's what your party thinks of you. LOL.
Posted by: joanie | March 05, 2010 at 11:25 PM
Phoanie...keep drinking the Kool-Aid. I have no allegiance to either of these corrupt political parties. Bush was a whack job and Obama is worse. We need to take our country back.
The 'Hope and Change' sold to you and all your lib friends should have been appropriately called 'Bait and Switch'.
Posted by: Obama is a black man | March 06, 2010 at 12:11 AM
Hey Coils
On Hope and Change, you didn't get much 'Change' except for spending a hell of a lot more and come November you won't have much 'Hope.'
Pelosi/Reid/ and an ineffective President did the impossible: returned Republicans to power.
The Dim-Ass-Rat Party managed to take a victorious 50 State Strategy of 2008 and turn it into a straight jacket. And those promises. You didn't actually believe that crap about closing Gitmo, ending the wars, Cap and Trade, public option health care, civilian trials of the likes of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, etc etc etc.
Too funny. My advice: turn even harder to the left. Go full force. Don't let those moderate Dems slow ya down.
And Joanie, the Dan Daily comment zipped above your head vis a vi GG. But then it wasn't intended for you anyway. Go off and 'fume' or whatever the heck you do. Angry and dumb is no way to go through life.
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 05:27 AM
Craig Crawford? Who cares. Or as one of the comments says:
"I guess it's a wash. I found his appearances on Countdown unrewarding."
Posted by: sparky | March 05, 2010 at 09:07 PM
judging by the ratings, people are finding the evening fare of MSNBC to also be a wash.
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 07:03 AM
Somewhat moot points...don't know where everyone else gets their news but I principally get it from the I/Net, drilling into the NYT, WSJ and Seattle Times. About the only cable I watch these days is the FSC (Fox Soccer Channel). :)
Posted by: Duffman | March 06, 2010 at 07:54 AM
apparently, in Crawford's resignatio letter he says old spittle-spewer, hysterical Chris Mathews called Ceawford a racist on the air during the west virginia primary coverage-. this shows what an idiot Mathews is.......
Posted by: Tommy008 | March 06, 2010 at 09:57 AM
hmmmm reminds me of someone on this board/..........hmmm
Posted by: Tommy008 | March 06, 2010 at 09:58 AM
Then why are your posts all about Obama? What makes you think anything will change after he's gone?
Bush was a whack job - you say. Didn't see you online emotionally attacking him? What is the big change you see coming once Obama is gone? You're counting the days after all. Let's see the details.
Oh, and why a screen name that focuses on his race (as in racist) instead of his abilities and actions if this isn't visceral with you? What does black have to do with his governing?
You're post like a reactionary southern racist. You're a fraud.
Posted by: joanie | March 06, 2010 at 10:34 AM
Dim Ass Rat...aww I bet you came up with that clever gem all by yourself!
Posted by: sparky | March 06, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Dim Ass Rat...aww I bet you came up with that clever gem all by yourself!
Posted by: sparky | March 06, 2010 at 11:22 AM
actually sparkles, it was after reading one of Coiler's postings that the words Dim-Ass-Rat came to mind....
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 04:15 PM
Well, mere words cannot do justice to your linguistic prowess.
Posted by: sparky | March 06, 2010 at 04:27 PM
as does your sincerity, Sparkles.
you are never a ph(j)oanie...
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 06:39 PM
"How would you know what anybody on the left says about anything?"
Sometimes, like above, you are genuine horse's ass, Ph)J)oanie. I read both left and right views. Back at ya, you idiot.
Posted by: KS | March 06, 2010 at 06:43 PM
KS
you okay with 'Dim-Ass-Rats'?
given that Coils aka 'Re-thuglican' and 'Bushler' loves to toss around the names it appeared highly appropriate to give him credit for the inspiration.
in regards to ph(j)oanie, for one who wants to use carbon offsets and worries about man's contribution to global warming it sure looks hypocritical that she would have such a large carbon footprint with multiple homes. one of those, do as i say not as i do types...
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 06:51 PM
Spot on Puts. Don't do as I do, do as I say - the motto of the usual suspects. They need to consider their farts as part of their carbon footprint - that will throw them for a loop. BTW, Carbon dioxide is a poor indicator of temperature (methane and water vapor are both much better- don't tell that to the moonbats!)
Check out this video (Obamafeld) - hilarious, for those of us with normal senses of humor
Posted by: KS | March 06, 2010 at 07:07 PM
that is funny.
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 07:25 PM
this is sad: Dim-Ass-Rat disarray...
"News that the Obama administration may revert to a military tribunal to prosecute the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was roundly denounced by the left on Friday, with liberals voicing their frustration at the White House’s willingness to embrace the same strategy for trying suspected terrorists as the Bush administration.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the president’s advisers are nearing a recommendation to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a military tribunal rather than a civilian court. The recommendation would fly in the face of Attorney General Eric Holder’s plan to try the self-described mastermind behind 9/11 in a New York City civilian court. The White House has claimed that any decision on the trial is weeks away, but that didn’t stop the liberal blogosphere from erupting in pre-emptive indignation over the White House’s apparent flip-flop.
Liberal firebrand Glenn Greenwald denounced the proposal today, accusing the White House of favoring political expediency over the rule of law. Greenwald compared the decision to the the alleged politicization of the Department of Justice under President Bush and cited several instances in which Obama has reversed his position on national security issues to avoid being labeled soft on terror.
“Although they will try, it will be extremely difficult even for his most devoted loyalists to deny the fundamental cowardice of Barack Obama,” wrote Greenwald. “Even just as a political matter, is there any better way to ensure that Americans will view him as weak than by abandoning one key decision after the next as a result of the slightest pressure? What kind of person could possibly admire a ‘leader’ who does this?”
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 06, 2010 at 07:28 PM
the idiot in charge of their internet streaming at KGO must be a pothead or a moron... its been of the fritz for over a week....
Posted by: Peeroy Jabbar | March 06, 2010 at 10:37 PM
Obama-losi care is being fueled by the Unions. If it doesn't pass, the Unions pension plans are in serious trouble. Andy Stern, SEIU head has been pressuring Obama to pass this large government power scheme that will make health care worse and give the guvmint more control over our economy.
Mr. Soetoro has given numerous speeches - like the community organizer that he is and lied repeatedly about what this Health Insurance reform would do and be deficit neutral - another big lie. It's all about his narcissism and quest for power. House Democrats who want abortions to not be funded best not fall for the hollow promises from the Prez or the Senate and oppose them.
There are Democrats out there with principles still, even though a majority of them don't. They should know that Obama/Soetoro and the Chicago gangsta administration is loyal to no one - they are out to take no prisoners. It's ironic that overseas, Obama is perceived as a joke, a caricature, soft on terror and incompetent (like his predecessor, but in different ways).
Posted by: KS | March 06, 2010 at 10:41 PM
A disciple of the leader of Glennbeckistan has spoken.
Dumass.
Posted by: George Washington's Horse | March 07, 2010 at 02:07 AM
ROFL - I don't agree with a portion of Beck's assessment. I agree more wiith Byron York and Paul Ryan on this issue.
Passing this is more of an ego-trip for the President and the Speaker of the House.
You have your opinion, just like you have your A-hole. You sound like a disciple of Keith "Bathtub Boy"
Olberman.
Posted by: KS | March 07, 2010 at 09:03 AM
AG Holder leaves MUCH to be desired.
Posted by: Duffman | March 07, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Dim-Ass-Rats are in disarray. They keep supporting legislation that the public does not want. They are due to get repeated whoomped up side the head with 2' X 6''s in November if they keep this self-defeating tactic going.
Posted by: KS | March 07, 2010 at 10:11 PM
KS
maybe the same critique that the Left leveled at Pres Bush (43) is also true of Pres Obama. They are stubborn.
Populace be damned.
The Dim-Ass-Rats will pay a price come November.
Posted by: Puget Sound | March 08, 2010 at 03:53 AM