Starting Tuesday morning, KVI's new "Smart Talk" will start talking smartly with KOMO-TV's Elisa Jaffe and Mark Christopher as hosts of the Sunrise Seattle.
(photos: Howard, left; Jaffe, right)
Then comes syndicated consumer blabbermeister Clark Howard, 56, who will be live, but, unfortunately, talking about his carburetors and CuisinArts from Atlanta, Georgia!
Also live but also local (yea!) is Buzz with Scott Carty offering a talk alternative to Dori Monson from 1-3p in case you don't care for Michael Medved (KTTH m-f 12-3p) or BBC Newshour (KUOW m-f, 1-2p).
We have great hopes for Mr. Carty, 41, who's rumored to possess a sense of humor and who says he loves to "write for the ear and have intimate conversations with microphones."
That may sound creepy, but actually that's a good thing- the best writers write for the ear; great broadcasters develop Freudian relationships with their mics.
A View Ridge resident, Carty lives within the city limits of Seattle. Another good thing for a Seattle broadcaster, by our lights.
Scott enjoys long days in soundproof booths. And pie. Any kind of pie, really. Cherry, apple, coconut cream, pumpkin, pecan, blackberry, mac-nut, french silk, you name it. if it's served in a pie pan, it must be good. While Scott won't accept pie as a form of payment, he welcomes the opportunity to sit down and enjoy a slice with you so he can tell you how he enjoys providing clients with a real voice and a delivery your target can relate with.
Pie appreciation is high on our list of attributes for radio blabmeisters- though Carty distinctly left out humble pie. (but then- he's a talk host). What's more: we learned that Carty's voice - again, according to Carty - can be made to sound "real, friendly, casual, sincere, thoughtful, quick, witty, dramatic. Very versatile!"
We like all those attributes to a voice- and in case you need something other than Regular Scott- he can sound like a "senior male, middle age male, young adult male, and a teenage boy."
That will serve Carty well- his principal competitor Dori Monson's voice is stuck in young adult male with teenage boyish highlights. The KVI host could use his middle age male to whip Dori Monson's whippersnapping ass. We'll be there to hear it.
Impressively, Carty also has ongoing roles in Nancy Drew CD ROM series. (That's right Nancy Fucking Drew! THAT Nancy Drew... THE Nancy Drew!)
After Carty, it's the afternoon drive with The Wall Street Journal's Daily Wrap, a frenetic snore-storm of financial numbers they're hoping might compete with NPR. They could carve off a few listeners from All Things Considered, but will make Ron & Don (KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) seem stimulating.
The rest of the dayparts are canned or freeze-dried Clark Howard and Scott Carty with syndicated and refried Phil Hendrie and Imus overnight.
All this with as many ad spots as they can sell and stuff into the time allotted.
We're withholding judgement until we've listened to the broadcasting- (it's the least we can do) though expectations are low: KOMO isn't gonna spend the money on talent like KIRO does. KIRO anymore is palpable pap most puerile. Our worst fears are that the new KVI will be a cheap attempt to out-KIRO KIRO.
Will there be a decent website with podcasting of the local shows, pages for talkers and listeners? KIRO shines at this. But Fisher has never done anything but punted on-line, another reason KVI failed so spectatularly.
KVI: Seattle's newest talk station... sounds funny, doesn't it? KVI is a heritage station who pioneered so-called "hot talk" radio back in the early 1990's. They helped make the AM talk format into a viable business model. But, as conservative talk's heyday waned, KVI's troubles waxed.
They lost Rush Limbaugh, the MIghty Wind that anchors most right-wing satellite stations, to Bonneville's upstart KTTH. After a few hiccups and false starts: they brought back Bryan Suits from KFI in LA, fired longtime morning guy, Kirby Wilbur, and moved in and out, up and down, the high-priced Commentators, John Carlson and Ken Schram (who now live over at the KOMO newser where they dish up pet news, celebrities acting badly stories, brilliant regional discussion on the weather... along with the occasional room temperature political material).
Then Fisher, with the perception and aplomb they're known for, flushed the KVI talk brand (one of the most durable brands in local radio) down the crapper and started playing music from the 1960's.
Bad move.
Once KVI's talk radio brand had circled the bowl and was gone forever, the ratings for the geezer music plunged into the Christian radio range and stayed there. There was talk of converting it to Spanish-language, but, as noted by many consultants: Fisher doesn't handle its native tongue that well, how could it make Spanish work? (Could be they just wanted to follow the local building contractors' example of hiring Mexicans...).
So the geniuses of Fisher Plaza, after searching the sewer pipes in vain for the once glorious KVI brand, decided to build a new talk station from scratch. And here we are.
We love this move because at least few local broadcasters got or kept their jobs. Like PD Travis Box, a real pro and a Fisher survivor. We're sure, they're not paying the new help much.
Some believe that Fisher's plan is to get KVI up and breaking even, then sell it off to some sucker. We hope not. We hope they make a splash big enough in local ratings that they'll start filling those dayparts with humans who breath the same air that we do.
We won't be holding our breaths.
sounds like we may get some actually likeable people in the afternoon and mornings, with Elisa and Scott. Something Seattle talk radio has been flat out of in recent years, in those time slots. Monson and Suits simply are not likeable individuals. Now i read that we aer getting Imus as well as Hendrie in the night time/ early morning hours. Fantastic. AI was gettign all set to stream Imus from WABC in the upcoming winter months, but now i can take a load off my computer hardrive and give it a rest at night.
Posted by: Tommy008 | January 02, 2012 at 01:43 PM
And do I even need to mention that Medved is not a likeable man? Yeah, didn't think so.
Posted by: Tommy008 | January 02, 2012 at 01:59 PM
Rumors abound that Travis Box is out and that Carty is the Operations Manager of KVI.
Posted by: sarah | January 02, 2012 at 03:48 PM
Good piece, though I think their best move would be to simulcast KPLZ.
Posted by: Mike Barer | January 02, 2012 at 03:55 PM
What's the over/under on KVI becoming all-canned outside the morning drive "fluff" show? (And note that they're already doing happy-talk, chuckle-buddy morning news over at KOMO-1000; how different will this be?)
The morning folks are already under contract to Fisher, and so cost very little. Will they spend any money on promotion? TV ads even on KOMO-4?
I suspect someone in Fisherdom will decide it "isn't working" and isn't worth the cost of local afternoon talent or any meaningful promotion or support in about 4-6 months. Let's say six. I hope I'm wrong, but, like Bla'M, I'm not optimistic.
Posted by: Pete | January 02, 2012 at 06:05 PM
They will improve from a .2 to a .4 and switch formats again within a year. Who in their right mind would play Christmas music until January 2nd when all they had to do was switch back to oldies?
Posted by: Moral Voice | January 02, 2012 at 09:27 PM
It's time for Travis Box and Manda Factor (his wife and morning show reader on KOMO radio) to move onward. It's well known they have been scoping out the latest all-news efforts in NYC and Chicago. They'll jump first, if Fisher doesn't blow them out soon.
Posted by: Ellywood | January 02, 2012 at 09:32 PM
WTF was that gawd-awful drivel on KVI this morning? It was like eating alone at Dennys and being forced to listen to the nitwits in the booth behind me drone on about their Christmas presents. It was enough to make me projectile vomit my grand slam breakfast. This group of nitwits mak Scoot sound lik Edward R. Murrow.
Posted by: ira applegate | January 03, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Move Herb Weisbaum and Jane Shannon to mornings on KOMO.
Posted by: Erictheeditor | January 03, 2012 at 12:10 PM