KIRO staffers must be even more uneasy reading today their parent company in Salt Lake City is cutting The Deseret News staff by nearly half and moving what's left of the paper five blocks away into the cubicle farms at the KSL-TV/KSL Radio and merging newsrooms. (Wow. radio and teevee reporters reporting for print! Who'll they Google? )
The Big Shrink is a shocking development for the Mormon church-owned media group. The paper is Utah's longest-publishing daily newspaper.
Radio typically makes programming and staff changes around this time of the year, the inevitability of which are underscored by Bonneville's Seattle cluster's (the KIRO's, KTTH) poor performance in the ratings.
A source told BlatherWatch today: "I'm hearing changes may be coming right after Labor Day. I know everyone is skittish... and unhappy."
Another Blatherwatch Source. We have heard that before
Posted by: Pablos1026 | August 31, 2010 at 03:18 PM
What would BW talk about if KIRO disappeared?
Posted by: Woody | August 31, 2010 at 03:23 PM
All thats left is KOMO. But dont think Tom Huytler or Bill Yeend generate as much excitement. BW could talk about Sports radio since that is "talk" radio. But Liberals dont like sports that much.
Posted by: Pablos1026 | August 31, 2010 at 04:11 PM
Listening to R&D analyze the President's speech will be the equivalent of a pre-schooler's finger paint art.
Posted by: Woody | August 31, 2010 at 04:40 PM
"Our plan actually expands news coverage and analysis even in the face of the economic realities we face," Deseret News CEO and President Clark Gilbert told The Associated Press.
Wow! Talk about spin. I'm all for trying to paint an optimistic face on any business development. But, you shit-can 85 workers and then have the balls to say you're increasing news coverage?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Posted by: Stinkweed Moholohan | August 31, 2010 at 05:08 PM
Pablos, got any evidence for that, or are you just pulling it out of your ass? Bla'M doesn't care for sports, but there are plenty of us who do. I went to college on an athletic scholarship, and in that limited universe of the fellow jocks I knew, you couldn't generalize about them, either - let alone the fans.
Posted by: Pete | August 31, 2010 at 05:32 PM
Guess the Right must be behaving itself these days if the best this blog can do is re-hash KIRO layoff stories.
Apparently ol' Hood forgot about "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "Chicken Little".
Posted by: Fred Grandy | August 31, 2010 at 06:27 PM
Pablos, By the looks of KIRO FM’s numbers, no one has much appreciation for sports talk.
Posted by: Obama is a Black President | August 31, 2010 at 06:50 PM
KIRO sports is on the AM dial Obama is a (not very good) Black President (but like Obama, the are not doing too well at all)
Posted by: Chucks | August 31, 2010 at 08:18 PM
KIRO will not disappear. Hood's correct, there will be a reckoning, but it may not be until after the November book. Ron & Don ARE NOT the no.1 talk show in Seattle.
Posted by: CorporateBook | August 31, 2010 at 09:06 PM
You have been fooled again.
The speech tonight by the President suggesting that we're all done in Iraq is incredulous.
When will America wake up and realize that the deterioration of our country accelerates.
The lies, deceit and general ignorance continue.
The experiment has failed.
Posted by: Obama is a black man | August 31, 2010 at 10:16 PM
Thanks for the correction Chuck S. By the way since Dave Ross shed light on your hypocrisy you don’t seem to be doing so well yourself. Your posts seem very mean spirited of late.
Posted by: Obama is a Black President | August 31, 2010 at 10:31 PM
OIABM, do you think you will convince others of your propaganda by jealousy? Another sad case of ODS.
Posted by: Obama is a Black President | August 31, 2010 at 10:41 PM
Propanganda? The decline of the socieoeconomic system as we know it is well underway and you, Hood and others merely watch.
I'm not worried about myself. I am more than comfortable. My concern rests in the America that we leave for future generations. I am a wealthy self-made man. The opportunities presented to me during my lifetime are rapidly diminishing for the youth of today.
It's an old cliche but so very accurate-It's time to take our country back. The experiment has failed.
Posted by: Obama is a black man | August 31, 2010 at 11:16 PM
Calm down old man. Take two teaspoons of Pepto-Bismol and get some sleep. I’m sure your ODS will subside.
Posted by: Obama is a Black President | August 31, 2010 at 11:24 PM
I replayed the last minute or two of Dave Ross’s show from yesterday, just to make sure I heard correctly. They (Ross and Burbank) were discussing the results of a study that suggest moderate drinkers outlive those who don’t drink.
Ross commented that he couldn’t drink that much and would have to start drinking at work and then added, “But the nice thing is, now that you’re here, if you look here, and you notice that I’m not visible because I’m under the table – you can just jump in now, before we have to run a tape.”
Maybe this is one of the speculated imminent changes.
Posted by: Skookum | September 01, 2010 at 06:56 AM
It's too bad, isn't it, that OIABM didn't start worrying about all this when it actually started happening. For Democrats, taking our country back is what we did in 2008.
'
Posted by: joanie | September 01, 2010 at 08:32 AM
I think Dave and Luke have a nice rapport. I'm not sure about full-time teaming but I like their banter. I still enjoy listening to Dave's take on the world and current events. City, state and national - he talks about everything. There's no whining like Dori. And I don't always agree with him but I listen because he's reasonable.
Posted by: joanie | September 01, 2010 at 08:37 AM
Sorry Ph(J)oanie to remind you of the historical fact that the Democrats have essentially been in charge since the 2006 midterm landslide elections.
Posted by: Obama is a black man | September 01, 2010 at 10:46 AM
I would put Dave and Dori on mid day to debate. That would be something to listen to.
Posted by: Mike Barer | September 01, 2010 at 01:17 PM
BREAKING
JessicA Gottisman just asked Dori Monson if Dori is a girl's name !
Dori chuckled and said it was a manly Icelandic name.
Hood must be LOL.
Posted by: Plain Jane | September 01, 2010 at 02:38 PM
Dave Ross should seriously be thinking of an exit plan. He's the only talker at KIRO worth listening to anymore, which means Bonneville almost certainly has his pink slip already lined up at the ready.
I stopped listening to KIRO last year. The two morons know as Ron and Don could be ignored, but I just couldn't take Dori and his bile-filled ranting anymore. There was a time when Dori was fun, but the rabid hate got old quick, and the move to FM was the last straw for me. I'm *NOT* a hard-core "lib-er-roll", but I just couldn't take the hate.
For talk, I mostly listen to KOMO with some of UW's talk to round things out.
Posted by: Arty Ziff | September 01, 2010 at 07:23 PM
Bill McMahon is consulting that place--odds are Ron and Don will be hosting the morning show soon.
Posted by: Nantuckett | September 01, 2010 at 07:53 PM
the Democrats have essentially been in charge since the 2006 midterm landslide elections.
Oh, so all that corruption, deregulation, and Lehmann Brothers-Goldman Sachs-WAMU chicanery started in 2006 under the ever-watchful eye of "mission-accomplished-executive-order-by-the-hundreds-top-gun-totin'-"king-of-deregulation"-frat-boy Bush? Why those nasty Republican-loving dems. Damn those dems!
Oh, don't fergit that other Dem - Hank Paulson - the mastermind behind all this chicanery.
He's a Republican you say? My, my. Do tell.
Posted by: joanie | September 01, 2010 at 11:54 PM
Sorry Ph(J)oanie but here's another historical fact for you.
The Obama Administration is stacked with the most ex-Goldman Sachs personnel than any previous administration (please see link):
http://www.nachumlist.com/goldmansachsobama.htm
Response please.
Posted by: Obama is a black man | September 02, 2010 at 12:05 AM
That may be correct and I"m willing to admit it. Why can't you ever admit when your side fucks up?
And I didn't vote for the same. Geithner and Summers should be gone.
Maybe your side will quit fucking everything up when your side gets some integrity. We dems are tired of cleaning up your parties. And Obama hasn't done a "Heck of a good job" but then few dems are saying he has.
Continue the blame game if you must but try to get it right this time.
Posted by: joanie | September 02, 2010 at 08:31 AM