Dori Monson (KIROFM m-f, 12-3p) and producer Li'l Jake yuck it up bragging how they've gone beyond the call for their listeners showing up and doing a show on Saturdays, and Sundays. The show is called Ossimadio, (presumably named after the giraffe in Wizard of Oz).
"Is this guy ever not working!?" Dori asks about himself on his web page.
We'd ask: Is he ever not lying!?
Dori, of course, is the only one who blatantly claims he's actually live in the studio. (That's because he's immoral, as we've pointed out many, many times).
(photo: Bill Radke)
Two exceptions: Bill Radke (KIROFM m-f, 5-9a) is taped, but is the only one who does original content for weekends. Bill presides over thoughtful and funny group interviews on various social subjects. Rewind it ain't, but it's more substsntive than the usual crap on KIROFM these days. Radke's morning partner, the redoubtable Linda Thomas, had an hour during which she did interviews/feetches on focused Seattle topics, but she gave them up for some reason.
(photo: Ciscoe Morris- bunga bunga!)
The other exception is Ciscoe Morris, the gardening hunk. He's the only one who is actually live on the weekends. The suits were smart enough not to mess with Ciscoe Inc. - sex always sells, and ... Ciscoe is sex.
PD Larry Giffords decided KIRO was going to improve their weekend ratings. So he hired Jason (Rantz) Antebi to do it. He's a former right-wing it-child, and Phil Hendrie's former producer.
What you see on weekend is mostly the fruit of Jason's fertile mind, (you decide if fertile is the right word). The work of it- the packaging of the clips from the previous week is done by already over-worked producers.
In general, commercial radio doesn't gives much of a shit about weekends. Audiences are low compared to weekday drivetimes, upon which the radio business lives and dies. Since listenership and therefore ad rates are lower, weekend radio has long been degraded to brokered shows (Dr. Mixon), infomercials (as run by KIROFM from 4-6a weekends) or reruns of the syndicated shows (Rush or Glenn).
The competion for weekend earballs is tough. Public radio has always shown brightest on weekends. They've developed high-quality programming that has riveted listeners for a couple of generations and built great loyalties.
Public radio, it could be argued, has made its largest impact on weekends with programs such as This American Life; Prairie Home Companion; Car Talk; Wait, Wait, Don't tell Me (to name a few) are some of the most beloved radio presentations in modern radio. Newer shows like RadioLab are attracting new crowds.
Locally-produced music shows such as the long-running The Swing Years and Beyond on KUOW on Saturday nights or KPLU's Saturdays and Sundays nightly All Blues with John Kessler are sturdy radio brands and represent hour and hours of weekend TSL that's hard to compete with. Especially for commercial stations not willing to spend any money!
As always, there's another problem that's makes KIROFM's weekend come up short for listeners: the goddam ad spots. Looking at the Dori's podcast: we see that an hour's content is really only 32 minutes long.
We remember KVI, in its talk heyday, when all manner of creative radio was going on. KIRO once had lively Saturdays, unsullied by syndication and re-runs. Also we recall a KUOW who allowed a Bill Radke (and others) to run free to develop and syndicate unique product under their imprimatur.
Despite those who have grumbled in ears about having to do the extra work to produce the programming, we salute the weekend effort made by KIRO. But there ain't enough there to pry the NPR out of our cold dead hands.
looks like no one cares!!
Posted by: rich | December 10, 2011 at 06:55 AM