BlatherWatch

Radio out of the box, coming to Tacoma!!!

 For only $10, 97.3 KIRO FM is coming to... Tacoma.  Yes, for ten bucks plus tax, you can watch a Kiro host in what they describe as "an intimate" setting.  Insert 10 dollars for the next ten minutes. 

 In what is being called KIRO Radio On Tour, KIRO FM will be visiting cities that evidently are unaware of their presence.

 

 

 

 

 

The event proceeds go to a good cause, the Fisher House which constructs comfort homes to provide free, temporary housing to the families of service members receiving medical care at Veterans Affairs and military hospitals around the world.  Dori might even be frying up  his Pink Slime burgers.

 

 

March is the cruelest month

At least it is around here. Snow, hail, monsoons, wind--it's enough to send the most cheerful among us to the bottle of Xanax.

Not much on the radio waves: Ron and Don (KIRO FM M-F 3p-6p) think the father of the 3 year old who accidentally shot himself with his father's gun is lying about where he was when the shooting took place. Don is sure the father was actually in the mini-mart with the mother, instead of being a few feet away, pumping gas.  The R&D show has pretty much been wall-to-wall coverage of the trio of tragedies to befall Puget Sound-area children in the last month.

Dori Monson (KIRO FM 97.3 M-F 12p-3p) had his usual classy fare today by talking about a woman who drinks her own urine.  Whatever.

Obviously, this weather is beginning to take its toll.  What have you been listening to?

This is an Open Thread.    Rachelle

Jason Stein to sports radio KJR; don o'neill is big-mouth hypocrite...

Jason Stein will start producing Mitch in the Morning, (KJR, mpf, 6-10) on January 2.

Remember Jason? he was the producer of The Ron & Don Show (KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) run off by Don O'Neill. That, after bringing the show from the depths of the toilet into ratings Valhalla.                                                                              

It is safe to assume Jason Stein will be motivated to destroy Bonneville's 710 ESPN, plus lure (25-54) male listeners away from the KIROs. After all, he was treated like shit there... by "I would be" Don, the dimmer of Dim & Dimmer (think Tommy Smothers with pre-natal alcohol syndrome).
 
There's more Don O'Neill news, which would be funny, if it weren't so pathetic. 

'Where are the men?' he snorted on air and on line on Oct 28. He was chiding the men of the region to become Big Brothers, which, of course, is a well thought-of mentoring program that R & D, to their credit, make a lot of noise about. 

Ron & don, dori monson too lazy to do the last hour of their shows

Back in 2008, Ron & Don (KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) got their four-hour way by pushing out Tony Miner's Big Story, an Murrow award-winning long-form news hour.

The idiot twins (as Robert Reich has called them) went around boasting "you wanted more, now you got four."

(photo: Ron & friend-"he's the bright one").

But as many readers have complained: you don't get 4 hours of new, live content, and neither do you often get 3 hours of The Dori Monson Show (KIROFM m-f, 12-3p).

Both shows play tape the last hour of the day. Our KIRO guy says, "The whole office laughs behind their backs because they say they do a 4-hour show, but really it's only 3."

How can they get away with this? They justify it by saying that the audience changes over so much that it doesn't matter, but pretty much everyone we talk to at Eastlake says: "Laziness is the culprit."

That's also why they added Rachel Belle ... and their newest, lamest segment, "hit me with your talk shots" where they simply rerack cuts from the other KIRO talk shows.
 
It's simply less time they have to actually work. 

Dunno what Dori does in his free last hour, (we've heard he disappears into the john  for prolonged periods, only to emerge with his hair fluffier in the front); Don can usually be seen watching teevee on the KIRO web stream; Ron goes home for the night.

(photo: Dori- "full of, but NOT no. 2)

This what you can do TO your listeners getting so puffed-up being the "No. 1 local talk show in Seattle." You're forgetting who put you there. You can say "fuck 'em," but eventually, that sentiment will be turned back on you. Listeners are your bosses, member? (Dunno where Dori gets off screwing listeners out of their last hour- he's not even No. 2 - though he's unswervingly full of No. 2, as we keep telling you).

KIROFM jocks join the "fart fetish groups;" KUOW pledge drive soars

KIROFM is no. 1 in the ratings, but can anyone take it seriously as a community forum? Or anything but a dumbed-down Page Six with sports and pets?

We'd say no. Latest evidence to the contrary: air time spent nearly every day for a week on the Nancy Grace flatulance "issue." Did she fart loudily and cartoonishly during a recent Dancing With the Stars episode? Or is the YouTube audio a fake? Inquiring children need to know...

Nancy claims she was framed, but doesn't anyone when accused of making the choice between shame and pain?

Dori Monson (KIROFM m-f, 12-3p) took time away from his pet and government abuse stories numerous times over the week, always playing the audio at least twice per. He and L'il Jake couldn't resist the latest "development" that the audio rights were being requested of ABC from a "fart fetish group." The "reporting" was done, of course, accompanied by two more plays of the alleged flatulance, "Just so you can decide for yourself."  Ron & Don couldn't resist playing it a few times. Even Dave 'Bigfoot' Boze, (KTTH m-f, 3-6p) filling in for John Curley, played the cut (if you will) in the evening. (Ya think he's auditioning for the job?)

Frankly, there's nothing that Nancy Grace could do or say that would make her remotely interesting to us. It's hard to imagine Dancing with The Stars generating any real news. Celebrity farting is a recent entertainment phenom, but one we'd rather explore on our personal computers late at night.

Can anyone take KIRO seriously these days? The old Dave Ross must be rolling in his grave... reminds us to get our pledge into KUOW.

UPDATED: Jason Stein 2009-2011 RIP

There aren't many radio producers we take note of, but Monday another one lost his job in homage to the gi-normous ego of one of the talents he served so well.

Jason Stein, who was brought from LA's megatalker KFI to "polish the turds" that was the Ron & Don Show (KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) was fired Monday after repeatedly refusing to polish a certain sensitive proturberance on the person of Don O'Neill, the dumb one.

Don O'Neill, (the "Don" of the outfit) gave Stein the ol' thumbs down like Joaquin Phoenix's character in Gladiator. Don's a blithering fool who handles success by becoming more obnoxious, and is said to be untouchable by management. Even though before they hired Jason, he and Ron fetched diet Pepsis for Dori Monson and were praying on the air in 2009 that the show would last until Xmas.

                                   (photo: Death Angel Don)

They were flailing away in the deep caca; they were #15 in their timeslot, their days were numbered at KIRO. (You'd think...hell, they are inane and puerile, after all)

Enter Jason in Novemberof that year. He'd worked on KFI's powerful John and Ken Show, as well as Bryan Suits' Kennedy and Suits. 

They rest, as they say, is history. Don O'Neill takes credit for saving the station, but it's the consensus of KIRO staffers we know: It was Jason with his big city FM talk know-how, who guided the very lame show into the new world of the PPMs and its present level of success.

They lead everyone - Dori, Dave & Luke, the morning news - in the vital 25-54 demographic; it's #2 in the PM drive (after All Things Considered). Even BlatherWatch has given them props for the show's ability to get and keep earballs.

We're sure Stein, with his resumé and abilities, will land softly somewhere. Sadly, that may be hard to do in Seattle... talk radio, but for the KIRO's is pretty much gone to flowers every one.

Good luck Jason. (and congratulations to the next PD who hires him).

KIROFM presents: refried weekends

Gone is the KOMO-fied wallpaper that was KIRO’s NW Weekends. Larry Rice is long gone, his replacement Josh Kerns gets to sleep in. 

They won’t be paying any live hosts on weekends starting Saturday. KIRO announced the changes Wednesday calling the new weekend fare: “Learn. Laugh. Relax.” We would add, "Drink." That is, if you had any expectation of any new or live content.

What’s new?

An hour each of morning news anchors Bill Radke (Sat. 6-7a, noon-1p; Sun. 2-3p) and Linda Thomas’ (Sat. 8-9a, Sun. 3-4p) conglommed news bits from the week past.
The same (Sat 1-2p Sunday 4-5p) for Rachel Belle’s fetching little feetches, Ring My Belle (or I’ll kill you, foo’) will be amagamated from the previous week's Ron & Don Show.

Why Don o'neill and dave boze are in radio, not teevee

Questions inherent in this video:

Why?

Who "wrote" the script? (Or, Who wrote "the script?")

Why is Dave Boze (KTTH m-f, 3-6p) wearing a tie in the woods?

Whatever happened to Dave Boze's hair?

Why would Dave Boze allow his profile be videoed for YouTube? (Those days are gone, Dave).

Why would Dave Boze allow himself to be videoed with Don O'Neill for YouTube?

Why would Don O'Neill (KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) allow himself to be videoed (let alone seen) in that hat for YouTube?

Do bears shit in the woods?

Does Don O'Neill shit in the woods?

Summertime, summertime- sum, sum summertime...

Jeez. Whooda thunk it? Rupert Murdoch in a fight for his life. President Obama leading the Republicans around like a kid with a calf; the one-time self-described King of Seattle Talk Radio tanking in local ratings!

• Murdoch has taken the biggest blow of his business career, and is just waiting for more legal shoes to drop on both sides of the Atlantic. Will The Wall Street Journal, The NY Post, or Fox News Channel become implicated in the sleazy "pay-the-pigs-for-dirt" scandal? That's a good question, but inquiring minds are speaking up and out. Chickens are coming on home to roost for the ruthless, right-wing media billionaire as not only Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Commerce, Science & Transportation Chairman John D. Rockefeller are calling for the Justice Department to investigate, but also Republicans like Rep. Peter King who wants to know if 9-11 victims' families' phones were hacked. Republican jail bird Bernard Kerik had, as New York Police Commish, a close association to The Post after 9-11, and was not above taking a buck or two for the cause (cause he could always use the dough). Now we know that Murdoch money was ready and willing at such times of need.

• Republicans may still bring the economy down on all of our heads with a refusal to raise the debt ceiling, but we liberals can be pretty happy with the President's leadership on this matter. He's got them in a corner in a shit-or- go-blind position to which he maneuvered brilliantly. It was the kind of bold legislative moves we've come to expect from              (photo: Louie Gohmert) Republicans, frankly. We hope calmer heads will prevail in the GOP and the leadership can find a way to buy off the idealogues in the House. Either way, the president has prevailed in this mess. If the GOP chooses the "nucular" (as Louie Gohmert would put it) option, the US would be in huge difficulty, but the GOP would be moribund for a generation.

• And if this all this wasn't a delightful enough turnaround from some recent summers past, the June ratings book has shown, we're told, that Dori Monson's 25-54 numbers haven't been lower since KIRO first flipped from AM to FM. Dori, who has taken some hits this year, is now considered a drag on the station's dayparts. "Wonder what kind of numbers Ron & Don could get if there were somebody on in the midday who doesn't run listeners off?" asks our guy at KIRO.

Despite the kinky weather, and that we could be facing utter economic destruction at the hands of a political party completely cowed by a smallish claque who dress in funny hats, we love our summertime this year. A downfall of the pernicious Rupert Murdoch -- or Robert Murdoch as John Curley (KIRO m-f, 7-10p) insists on calling him- would be very good for the Republic. He's hurt US journalism in a way that may insure it never gets back to normal and credibility. (Fun Fact: Fox News has mentioned the Murdoch scandal but 4 times in two weeks! ... or 26 times if you believe them about it being mentioned on shows conveniently not in the Nexus-Lexus database).

As for Dori: Don't expect anything to happen until Fall... and maybe not then. He's got a pretty strong contract we hear, and he's got to have a few more bad books to trigger any kind of real justice. We'll just have to take heart in his promise he'll retire in June 2016.

We heart ron & don

We kept wondering: Why are Ron & Don (KIROFM m-f, 3-7p) the highest-rated talk hosts in Seattle?  

They are after all, really stoopid. Don O'Neill plays a crude, agrammatical Tom Smothers to Ron Upshaw's dithering, ever-explaining Dickie. They rarely do real issues; they dally usually in crime stories and celebrity gossip.