KIRO's dumping of tom douglas is just plain stoopid

Chef Tom Douglas’ live and local food and dining show being suddenly dumped from KIRO’s weekend line-up and replaced by a re-run financial advice program just doesn’t add up.

Or so they're sayin'.

Was he booted from the conservative talk station for insisting on doing a now sold-out benefit for arch-rival public radio talker KUOW starring Garrison Keillor on April 1?

There's an irrational (sometimes) rivalry between all radio stations, particularly the public stations who take a big bite out of the local audience. (Shit flew, we hear, last week when Ron & Don (KIRO m-f, 3-6p) did a segment based on an episode of NPR's This American Life).

Or was he paid too much? Douglas had always insisted on being paid. Such is not always the case on weekends: business owners see airtime exposure as marketing and gladly appear for free, hoping, of course, to become a "celebrity" on the order of Tom Shane or Sunny Kobe Cook.

Douglas' insistence on payment had long stuck in the craws of Bonneville suits who might not have tasted his Triple Coconut Cream Pie- (always a mitigating factor for any Douglas-hating). At $550 per 3-hour show, Tom actually made more than Frank Shiers (m-f, 7-11p), (he gets $350 for the first 3 hrs, and a snack machine “gold card" for the fourth). Maybe it's figured in terms of useful information: Tom is more helpful in a real-time way. For all of Frank's authoritative smugness, he can’t tell you what the internal temperature of roast pig meat should be or how to gut an avocado.

Ratings don’t matter much on weekends: what counts are ad sales, and KIRO-ites in sales and programming tell BaltherWatch that ads for In the Kitchen with Tom & Thierry were an easy sell.
 
In case you missed the show which ran for nearly 7 years (Saturdays, 4-7p), Douglas and his side-kicking friend and "Chef in the Hat" Thierry Rautureau, the whimsical Gallic chef/owner of the venerable Madison Park frog pond, Rover's. The two are old friends and that they like each other, is plain to hear.

They developed a tight and solid show that knew what it was talking about and goodnaturedly played off their professional and cultural differences. Douglas is a tireless promoter of local food and farmers, Seattle beaneries, WA wines. He gave Seattle chefs, restaurateurs - even rivals - lots of airtime.

It did what radio does best. Brought together and gave voice to a small, but avid niche of foodies, restaurant pros, farmers, wine bibbers, producers, and sellers. Authors of cooking books, food travelers, writers, critics, and editors.

Douglas and Rautureau travel a lot, so the show did live remotes and phone-ins from locations all over the country. That cost KIRO very little, if anything, and was an exotic value added to a little hometown show.

As you’d expect, Douglas has been crazy successful in business and is who he is, so there's a little professional and personal envy of him around town. But Douglas's success mant he reall didn't need the promotion himslef, and used the KIRO show to magnanimously promote pretty much everyone in Seattle food and dining.

Through his successful cookbooks, Food Channel appearances, and 35 years of promotion, his name has enough national cred that he could snag chats with ace-boom food pros, big-time foodies, chefs, and authors from NY to the Latin Quarter.

We, for one, will miss the show, the one and only real gathering of the Seattle food professionals/foodie community together in one place in the media. It was the last gasp of the Seattle food radio. The blogoshere is making radio irrelevant, and this move by Bonneville shoved KIRO farther in the who-gives-a-shit? direction.

Douglas was replaced with re-fried episodes of syndicated financial advisor, Bob Brinker. KIRO loves to stick chunks of Brinker like putty into programming holes that need filling. It's safe to say the long nurtured food and dining niche audience that Tom and Thierry developed has been effectively run off.

This is another thoughtless move by a company who, even after all their recent ratings failings, believe there's still a such thing as a disposable audience.

Comments

[Andrew]

The Splendid Table isn't going anywhere. Listening to people describe things that are better tasted and/or seen has always made for tedious radio imo. Luckily they're all on the weekend and easy to miss.

[David M]

Saturday afternoons just aren't the same without them. It was the final reason I had for listening to KIRO. Very sad what this station has degenerated into.

[joanie]

I don't much care for Splendid Table. I think KUOW would have a winner if they took this show under their wing. Could go national.

Will KUOW take a risk? Probably not.

[AprilMayJune]

Talking about food is almost as good as talking about sex for whetting the appetite. Splendid Table or T & T,it makes for good weekend fare. KIRO blunders once again - shocking.

[Tommy008]

i vented a little about Douglas, before, because he sometimes gets on my nerves, but i actually did listen to the show at times..... is was a tad precious, but actually after thinking a bit more it actually was A DECENT show STILL LEFT ON KIRO......the Mormons seem Hellbent on reducing KIRO TO A LOWCLASS, LEAST COMMON DENOMINATOR station......people like Shiers and Monson are boors who have no class.....

[joanie]

Tommy, you listen to the radio a lot. So do I. I love radio. And talkers often get on my nerves but I listen anyway. Something about their voices or styles eventually gets to me. I have to get past those things and keep listening because I do love radio. But it is hard.

I'm trying to say that I understand. When we listen to so much radio, we hear everything: every little nuance, pause, shrillness, overused word. That's just people being normal. In the end, as critical as I am, I love radio.

[Tommy008]

firing Douglas and Company over a KUOW benefit they lent their talents to is Monsonesque, an act of boorishness befitting the afternoon bum on KIROfm. I'm suer Douglas viewed such a thing as an act of civic duty lending support to something that was just a basic community asset like a library not a commercial business that was a threat to KIRO. MONSON DOESN'T BELIEVE an entity like KUOW should get any special help, government funds partularly.....

[Dangerous Dan]

Why is there continued speculation? Other than some promotional buzz Douglas produced negative ROI. Perhaps if the show were marketed like the gem it was, the outcome might have been different. I'm sure Tom's stipend went toward having a writer/producer and air talent for "Northwest Weekend". Since that's now also on Sundays, the call seems to go beyond nixing Tom. As for Moneytalk, they're not reruns. There are new shows both Saturday and Sunday. Although I think they're rerun overnight.

[sms]

It seems to me that there is a real market for contetn like this. Same as there is for realo political talk.

I would really like to see KIRO's balance sheet.

[james chan]

Tom and Theirry were a great respite from table pounding talk. Frankly, I have always been annoyed by brinker.
I think they deserved a stipend for taking the time on a serious 'date night' to do a live call in show. They are a great reference about food and restaurants.
I really hadn't thought of KIRO as 'conservative' as in KVI, till I read this article. I pretty much thought of monson and shiers as conservatives, with phil, dori's toady being annoying on weekends, then I heard allen hunt who is crazier than dori. ron and don are just annoying douches. So yes, KIRO is increasingly flapping right. RIP
Dave Ross painfully goes out of his way to direct the conversation on his show to attract/retain conservatives and has conservative callers who regularly
get on to grouse about something progressive/Obama/ Democrats. The station is becoming increasingly unpleasant for this bleeding heart to listen to.

[Goldy]

Let me just add that I LOVED following Tom and Thierry's show on Saturday nights. They were fun, friendly, and often left treats for me and Chris.

It's a shame to see even more local broadcasting get the ax.

[CorporateSuit]

Folks, I can't believe most of you taking what Hood says as gospel. He has absolutely no proof to what happened or why the show was dropped.

Having said that, in my expert opinion, it was purely a matter of economics. How was the company supposed to justify dishing out $2000+ a month for Douglas alone for a show that brings in NO ratings for the station? It may bring in some revenue, I don't know the way it was set up, i.e. other non-paid-infommercial programming.

If you're going to compare Shiers to T&T, you're comparing oranges to apples. Shiers is doing a 5-day-a-week show that contributes to the station's PM drive time ratings, which in turn can allow sales to generate revenue. T&T is one on day--on the weekend, usually in the evening for only 3 hours.

So, it's not that it was a bad show or any kind of "scandal"---it is was just pure economics. KIRO *could* just turn off the station on Sunday late afternoons actually save money on power and paying a board op instead of putting Bob Brinker on. In fact, they could save a sizeable chunk, by turning the station off at 7 PM and turning back on at 5 AM both Saturday and Sundays.

[KS]

Besides, Brinker probably has considerably more listeners than T & T would have, as money is a vital concern at this time..

[Tommy008]

Tonught id rather watch a group of circus freak led by their 400 pound boss repossess cars from L.A. lowlifes and losers on TRUTV for three hours than listen to Frank Shiers.....after that i'll switch to KTLK in L.A. for Phil Hendreie.....that will nicely eliminate the obnoxious Mr. Hunt......

[Myrtle Mopup]

Folks, I can't believe most of you taking what "Corporate Suit" says as gospel. He was fired last year from Fisher, and he's still looking for meaningful work. That suit is getting a little threadbare.

[Corporate Suit]

Hey, Myrtle, you crack me up! Never fired, still working, and doing quit well. Why make this stuff up? Anyways, the departure of T&T must have been economic.

[Tommy008]

the sarcastic, fat bastard on KVI mornings... an alternative to annoying KIROFM morning news?....not....

[Duffman]

He probably won't last 6-months.

[Duffman]

Don't know if you were listening today, Tommy008...but I would agree with your assessment of Dori's stupitidy in what he was doing. He was actually trying to demonstrate the fad of setting oneself on fire with some sort of product...apparently kids are doing this in school and being expelled for it. THIS IS DUMB! And, I can't believe Dori reduced his show to this level.

[Duffman]

Dori, if you're listening...what you did on your Show today with the fire demonstration was flat STUPID! KIRO should have a chat with you 'bout that.

[Jaynie Dillon Jones]

I was keenly disappointed when I heard Tom & Thierry's last show. I've enjoyed them for years.

How KIRO can justify putting or keeping Frank Shiers on at any time of day or plugging in still more hours of repeats of Bob Brinker boggles my mind. I would love it if Phil Hendrie was on during those hours.

For KIRO to have dumped Tom Douglas is unbelievable.

I don't even want to ask,
"what next?"

[thothman]

When I first heard the condescending voice of Bob Brinker during my favorite radio time slot of the week, I figured both Tom & Theirry were doing functions and didn't have the time to get a best of show together. The following week when I tuned in and heard his voice again I went into depression. I LOVED In the Kitchen with T&T! Cannot believe that KIRO would pull a program that had nationally regonized talent that had becomed a polished gem. As other readers of this blog are spewing, there aren't too many polished gems left for Kiro. Not even any diamonds in the rough. Like other avid radio listeners, I used to listen to 710am pretty much from morning til night. No longer. Dave's luster left when he was defeated by Reichert. His attitude changed from crusader to defeatist. Dori was so traumatized by 911 that he became a knee jerk shoot first and ask questions later coward. They got rid of talent like Prell and Hart for the dronings of My Daughter is the reason for the sun rising and setting Shiers. Now Bob Brinker replacing T&T???? WTF! Don't even get me started on lets read the front page of the paper for show prep R & D.

[UNDERWOOD30Hattie]

If you are willing to buy a house, you would have to receive the lowest-rate-loans.com. Furthermore, my father always uses a secured loan, which is the most reliable.

[J.Russell]

the ONLY reason I listened to KIRO on saturday. Tom & Thierry I miss you!!