Watching the seisomograph at KIRO... again

 We're going back on DeathWatch 2010.

Labor Day marks another traditional radio slaughtering season. 

The killing ground may be at KIROFM. As reported, the once and mighty market leader, slid in the July book to 18th in the market; sporting KIROAM with its huge blowtorch is in dismal 17th place, and little sister KTTH is ranked 20th. (Limbaugh and Beck can't save KTTH: anyone ever think (besides us) that maybe live, local liberal talk might work in this liberal town? We did, do)

Somebody's got to go. Changes must be made, and there aren't that many spots: Dave Ross, Dori Monson, Ron & Don and Frank Shiers. (The newsroom has been trimmed up, The new kid, Alex Silverman works all the shifts of everyone who got fired... will they hire a co-anchor for The News Chick?)

Will Dave Ross, (m-f, 9a-12p) the "reigning patriarch" of Seattle radio get the RIF after all these years? His numbers have been poorly for a while... Dori Monson (m-f, 12-3p) once King of Seattle Talk Radio is unpleasant, but is no. 2 in the station ratings and aces on-line traffic. The excellently-produced Ron & Don (m-f, 3-7p) are utter dolts, but are the station leaders, and have improved immensely. Frank Shiers (m-f, 7-11p) doesn't matter: He's on evenings.

There was a tense time before Memorial Day, when the stations were on edge wondering who would get it... but despite all the tea leaves read by ourselves and others, nothing happened and everyone went en vacances.

A KIRO source told us that BlatherWatch-stoked attention around Gregg Hersholt’s firing took management by surprise and that they’re letting stuff die down before continuing on their revamp of the entire Bonneville cluster. (We'd love to take the credit for saving those jobs, so we will!).

Now what's up? Stay tuned, you'll hear when we do.

Comments

[Obama is a black man]

Ron and Don are done.

KIRO has the opportunity to calibrate itself appropriately for the upcoming election season.

Talking about Paris Hilton or answering riddles with Ron's grandma just doesn't do it for me.

We need intelligent debate about the issues and the direction of the country.

[Andrew]

Nothing will change.

[Pablos1026]

You blew smoke up our ass a few months ago with a previous "changes are coming" blah blah post, and that didn't happen. Why should we believe you now? Is it you WANT it to happen, or do you have ACTUAL facts? I don't disagree that changes need to be made. But as Sgt Friday said, "just the facts, ma'am." Dont butter us up unless you have something real to report.

[Rich]

Since when is reading tea leaves an exact science? keep up the good work! I enjoy this blog.

[Rat_Bastard]

Dave and Dori will always be reliable... They have to get rid of Ron and Don.
I actually tune away when I hear Don's voice doing all of those ads and end up staying with whatever I go to more and more.
And yeah, the evening doesn't matter much...
I don't mind hearing Frank Shiers when he's doing ads, he's not bad at all when he has a script.
I try his show over and over, but just can never make it more than a few minutes.

[Mysterion]

Wonder if the Dave Ross/Luke burbank thing is permanent?

[drool]

Yeah, what's with the Dave and Luke show?

[TomF]

Since when are Ron & Don "excellently produced"? The show is 90% bleating and screaming, 10% traffic and weather.

After the big head of steam built up here three months ago about the alleged imminent bloodbath at KIRO FM, I'm not sure anything's going to happen... if only because the suits don't have any better game plan in the wings. Yes, the station is pretty much wreckage after 12 noon, but it's not like network TV, where they can just program reruns of old shows in place of the programs they cancel.

We'd all like to see Dori and R&D yanked. I'm not sure any of us can say who or what would jump-start the numbers in their place.

18th in the July book is deeply pathetic, though.

[benseattle]

Well, if you're all worried about KIRO-FM then what about the Giant Rocker of Seattle, KJR-AM with Pat O'Day and company? Oh, what's that? You say I'm dealing in Ancient History, that times have changed and people have moved on? Exactly. Perhaps more than in any other medium, what you accomplished in radio years ago means absolutely NOTHING today. While it's sad that the airwaves suffer from a dearth of intelligent discourse, that conservative bleating seems to be the "formula for success" in other markets so it's foisted upon us here, KIRO-FM can do what it wants, but the facts are: the audience has moved on. Ross and Monson and R&D will continue to Narrowcast to a small segment of the listening audience ("We're number 18!")but KIRO "talk" as a powerhouse is done. Over. Finished. Through. And good riddance.

[CorporateBook]

Ron & Don are not the number 1 talk show in Seattle. The owner of this blog knows nothing about radio. We will see a return of the KIROFM dial to talk in the tradition of Jim French and Larry Nelson, two gentlemen I had the honor of working for. KIRO will go back to basics.

[Andrew]

At this point any affordable replacement for any of them would perform worse, no matter who it is. Their biggest problem isn't with the content, it's with the move to FM. Aside from Ron and Don, the rest of the hosts mostly appeal to an AM audience. They should return to a simulcast as KOMO is doing.

[Darryl]

I'm shocked to come here and read this about KIRO. I stopped listening over there when they fired Luke, but to see now where they have fallen is amazing. How did this happen? They owned this town for so long. I thought they fired Luke because he didn't fit the station. Now it looks like the station doesn't fit Seattle.

[Woody]

How about fire everybody and just close the doors. The station and format just don't work in an era of internet and satellite radio.

[Coiler]

If you read the post, it says Ron and Don are the station leaders, not #1 in Seattle

[Ryder]

Just like the economy, KIRO has taken an arrow to the heart. It will flutter for awhile. However, in the long run, neither can be saved. Everything has changed. Yet the same people behind the failures of both are still running things unwilling to accept the failure of their ways. Or that they themselves brought it about.

So what is the solution?

There isn't one. It is like an out of control rollar coaster. Everyone is hanging on for dear life hoping that they survive.

What would I do with KIRO? First, cut back on all the commercial breaks. That would mean pay cuts for the highest paid hosts. Or replace them with cheaper talent. I would tell Dori Monson to not cover so many topics that there isn't time for calls. I would also order him to stop playing the same sound bites over and over. Dori's show used to be centered on the callers. Now it is all sound bites and interviews with calls when time allows. Those were the good old days of Monson. Now he takes himself way too seriously.

Dave Ross should be moved to the newsroom where he could handle commentary. Make him a part time worker. Dave would do an excellent job in exposing BS.

Okay, thats just a few ideas

For what they do Ron & Don are fine. I don't know about you but on the drive home I don't want to hear anymore political ranting. Give me fluff.

Not that any of this is going to save KIRO. Like the economy, the spiral is out of control. Nothing will ever be the same.

[Skookum]

I heard a comment near the end of Dave's broadcast that hinted Luke could be a permanent co-host. I think they make a good team.

I've always enjoyed Dave Ross. Would listen to him more if I didn't have to work.

Luke's not bad. He seems smart and witty and it's nice to hear him talk about things of substance. TBTL was a little too inchoate for my liking. I ran out of patience waiting for someone to make a point.

[Woody]

R&D the "most listened talk show in the Northwest" ??? WTF

Limbaugh? Beck? Lars Larsen in Portland?

It's impossible to think that this is a true statement.

[Gottesman must go]

I have to admit that Burbank is tolerable in an occaisional appearance with Ross, sometimes even vaguely enjoyable. Only because he's forced to perform under a modicum of discipline and he knows he can't say "like" all the time on the grownups show. Big mistake to give him a daily position there, even an hour a day with Dave,......once a week during the last hour, tops.

[Senor Winces]

Why would Luke step off a rocketship aimed at the moon, onto a rusty ferryboat going to Bainbridge?

[Steve Johnson]

Has anyone noticed that the Dori Monson show seems to be using Jessica Gottesman (sp)to interact with Dori?

I too, have enjoyed this blog, but sometimes I think it's full of S*** on some articles, including this one.

Seems like KIROFM is going more the way of two hosts/cohosts instead of taking calls from listeners. I have enjoyed Frank Shires in the past, but his show has changed too. He spends too much time telling the details of a story, when he takes a break he always seems to come back and repeat what he already said.

I do find myself not listening to KIRO FM as much as I did KIRO AM. When I'm working I'm on the road and that is during R & D / Frank's shows. I've heard Don say how R&D are the #1 show in Seattle...one day he was pissed cause they wouldn't say that on the lead in to the show. He brought up something about "enemas" and I must say he is the enema of the airwaves in Seattle.

On the AM side, much ado about "Groz" coming to KIRO AM, yet I heard his cohost Chris Cashman say the other day on another show that "we don't take listener calls"

So much for caller driven radio! Definitely not like JT The Brick at all where he encourages callers.

While KIRO AM ratings are down, they are ahead of KJR. You talk about the impending doom at KIRO FM. I wonder what's gonna happen at KJR AM if their ratings don't go up with Husky football? I could see Ian Furness going bye bye and he wouldn't be missed.

[Medved's Longtime Companion]

Tease Luke Burbank by letting him pal around with Dave for a while. Then fire him. That's it. Shakeup done. I can't imaging another rendition of the John Bolton/Luke Burbank conversation. Holy cow, Luke Burbank needs to get a job at Safeway until he has something to, like, sort-of say.

[Medved's Longtime Companion]

I forgot to say kind of, you know?

[Jessica]

Jessica Gottesman was put on Dori's show for one reason. He consumes the souls of those he is close to and she had a fresh, crisp one that he wanted to devour. Run away, Jessica.

[Woody]

I'm tired of Jessica trying to hype up the news...ending every sentence like a question...

Jessica please just read the news...no commentary, no inflection, no unnecessary emphasis that you think we listeners need to hear!

[Susan]

I love Luke Burbank. It's pretty hard to believe Kiro fired Luke and replaced him with Frank! Kudos to Luke! His podcast is interesting and downloaded worldwide, he has great guests and now Ford is sponsoring him!

I think Luke and Dave make a great team and I will definitely tune in to hear them!

[George Patkos]

Dave Ross and Luke Burbank make sense.