I’m almost feeling nostalgic at the news, what with the John Carlson Show being my first experience in a radio studio, but as of Monday, conservative talk is no more at KVI.
Yeah, I know, good riddance and all that. But it’s hard to think of the continuing loss of live, local programming as a good thing.
Talk radio is a really insipid format regardless of wether it’s from the left or the right. Seattle still has plenty of good local radio, it’s one of the city’s few remaining endearing qualities.
If Houston can have a Pacifica station, why can’t Seattle? :-)
democrats and republicans love oldies, goldy.
I am not gloating too much, because KIRO could just as easily go the same. Although one story had KVI considering going to a Spanish Language station.
2)Enoch Root, I subscribe to two podcasts from KPFT, by the way, the Local News, and The Prison Show. The latter is a unique show, but I usually listen to only the 1st half-hour.
There is a closer Pacifica station down here in Olympia, KAOS (www.kaosradio.org), while for those who consider KAOS to be a bunch of evil corporate sell-outs, there’s Free Radio Olympia. (www.frolympia.org) And “oldies”? Bah. KBRD plays oldies. {www.kbrd.org)
Local talk Radio has run it’s natural course @ KVI. National talk radio shows however are still doing amazingly well…especially Limbaugh & Beck.
I suspect someone else will eventually dive into local political talk radio prior to the 2012 elections. Perhaps KIRO will hang in there. I don’t know. I haven’t listened in years. I’m a Fox News TV fan…but not every day.
I get my news on-line from NY Times, FoxNews & WSJ and occasionally the Seattle Times & CNN plus a number of Business publications.
Listening to talk radio of any sort too long can be hazardous to your health..sports or politics. I have friends that cannot get enough of either. Ugh. Then they want to talk about what they heard. Ugh-Ugh. Too much.
Provides more evidence of why all “public funded” radio needs to be defunded or stripped of politics. Now with only 1 conservative radio station, we are outflanked by 94.9, 88.5, plus the lefty tone of the TV stations.
7. righton spews:
Hey, I get that you don’t like it, but why don’t you try to be a little more specific aout the “evidence” that the format change at “provides?” So you think that the government is obligated to step in to correct the marketplace?
BTW, the loss of “live, local prorgamming” is as natural as rain. These things run in cycles, like disco clubs crowded out live, local band clubs in the 70s, but then live music clubs came back strongly in the ’80s, to recede somewhat in the 90s (raves got big, you know), and on and on, et cetera, et cetera, bow.
@9 Perhaps you recall the “Live Music is Best” bumper stickers on musician’s cars in the late 1970’s. Tough times for local musicians then.
Oh my! First the Giants win over Texas now the right wing noise from KVI goes quiet – Carlson, Wilbur, Siegel, Brainless Baloney and the rest. Medved got his start in this market over there. Suits’ annoying yap is shut and he gets a stiff check for years to come for the privilege.
If only Monson could join them.
Whatever happens today, I’m a happy camper!
In the meantime Carlson now appears as a responsible, rational, objective observer over at Crosscut.
At least at KVI the bias was branded!
KVI and right wing talk will decline like all fads and trends. It was “new” and therefore interesting. The vast majority of the radio spectrum is still owned by right wing people or organizations with “public radio” as one of the few differences. And yes, KUOW and public radio in general is more liberal (in the denotative sense) but that’s because arts are always more liberal. Maybe KUOW should drop what small Federal funding they get, since they’re largely supported by hundreds of private for profit businesses and corporations (unless Bank of America and Key Bank are hippy non-profits now), and 10s of thousands of direct contributors. Maybe KVI could do the same, have their listeners send in money directly, along with having advertisers/supporters like KUOW.
And lets not get too far down the “government support” for public radio bit unless you want to get into all the corporate wellfare and giveways to big business (Boeing, paying farmers to not farm fields, etc) that create unfair playing fields.
But seriously, NPR and public radio DOES things that NO ONE else will ever do…including ALL right wing talk radio. I mean it’s fun to listen to Rush or someone yell and rant about (issue of the day), but there’s no real facts or detailed reporting, just angry people yelling opinions. Show me ANYTHING like this NPR hour long detailed investigation into exactly what broke down in the financial sector leading up to the recent collapse (http://www.thisamericanlife.or.....e-watchmen). Give me something from KVI and Rush or Drudge as detailed, fact specific and non-partisan as this (they did NOT just blame one party for all the problems). NPR will run half hour or hour long shows on ONE issue, and unlike info-tainment news they will invite on guests from ALL sides and let them give their point of view. Even if the moderator is obviously leaning one side, you can listen to all points and make up your mind.
P.S. I don’t think NPR should have fired Williams for his Muslim remark. It was just and honest off the cuff opinion. Probably one that didn’t need to be said on radio. I’ve flown planes with Sikhs, Muslims and “what the hell is that” sort of people for 40 years without a single problem. Millions of Muslims have flown on planes for 80+ years without incident. So your odds are 12 out of 13,134,714. You’re ok. I think a simple apology, or just explanation saying “yes I don’t think all Muslims are terrorist anymore than all Christians support the KKK…basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar is probably not going to blow up a plane).
Right wingers object to the “tone” of public radio.
Ahhh poor babies. A even temperament on the radio apparently has a liberal bias.. Of course we all know that facts lean left as well.
Angry, red-faced screaming at liberals, fear and conspiracy mongering is more fair and balanced to them.
@7
Remember the theory that the market decides what gets on the air? I rememberit. (Insert various rightie tv/radio blowhard, “Left wing radio is a failure. People don’t like it.”)
Despite your grumbling, “left” NPR gets a tiny bit of funds from the government and most from their listeners. Can you imagine KVI holding a pledge drive? How many would pony up $50 to keep Hannity on the air and get an “I Vote for Stupid! I beleive you Sean!” tote bag?
The downside to this is a couple remaining local based talkers will probably get pushed out so KTTH or KIRO FM can swallow up the cheaper syndicated shows now available.
@ myself
I forgot to mention that NPR gets a huge chunk of funding from Corporate America.
The right-wing talk station couldn’t make it now? During the red tsumani? The backlash? The Tea Party frenzy? As the Kenyan anti-colonialist, socialist virus is squashed?
It’s unfathomable.
Would a non NPR show have researched and reported on the ties to corporate prisons and Arizona?
NPR gets very little of its funding from the government. I listen to KPLU, who receives less then 10% of it funding from taxpayers. Great programs.
Now if you listen to public radio, and you don’t contribute, you are stealing. Plain and simple you are a thief. Write a check, or go to jail. I will make it easy for your libtards who can’t look shit up: http://www.kplu.org/membership_support.html
Go.
It’s not April suckas!
Any thoughts on why local talk doesn’t last in Seattle?
Is it cheaper to have a national syndicated feed than pay for local people to discuss local issues?
Is it easier to get national advertisers to pay for national shows, then get advertisers to pay for local talk shows?
Is the free market killing local dissuasion of local issues?
Does that matter to anyone?
Is there anyone else old enough to wish that KVI could somehow return to its mid-60’s glory as Seattle’s leading MOR station, with the likes of Bob Hardwick, Jack Morton, Perry Allen and Roall Ericson behind the mike and Basie and Sinatra on the ‘tables?
I’ve always wondered what kind of person listens to right-wing talk radio mid-day anyway?
Those of us with jobs seldom have that option. I’d listen to Dave Ross occassionaly if I got the chance to do so, but that occurs only in a rarely, in a half-hour sprint in the car between the office and an outside meeting, assuming nobody else is in the car with me.
Even when listening to commentators I generally agree with, I can only take it in small doses, as it tends to spike my blood pressure.
At least here I can vent a bit and keep my blood pressure down.
In the 90’s I used to have to do a fair amount of driving in connection with my job, and I’d often listen to KVI (or its equivalent in other cities) as an alternative to the hopelessly insipid crap that the rapidly coalescing giant chains (i. e. Clear Channel) were foisting off as “popular music”. Back then, although I certainly found a lot of the ideology wrong-headed and offensive, Rush and many of his ilk (especially John Carlson here in Seattle) were a little less heavy-handed and often genuinely funny. I’ve taken a listen occasionally in the last few years, and it’s different. The level of paranoia and vitriol, combined with the patently delusional notions about how the world functions, seem like something that would be annoying and ultimately boring to anyone with a shred of intelligence and a modicum of self respect.
22. ArtFart spews:
ME! At least in the 70’s.
Hardwick was a client of ours.
What a crazy bastard!!
I listened every morning and had a zillion laughs. he was always up to something..jet ski marathons, that deal with hauling the whale..
He was one of a kind.
I always thought he was bi-polar. Hi highs and Lo lows. ArtFart…I really believe that was what lead to his suicide. He was a cantankerous SOB and it was a real wonderful time in Seattle Radio.
There are many people who drive frequently for there jobs in the Puget Sound Region. I am one of them. After a while you get tired of listening to music. KVI was one of my favorite talk radio stations. Mark Levin, in my opinion, is one smart guy, I’ll miss him the most! Not one who cared much about politics, the differing points of view, opened my mind to a whole new world. Hannity, Laura Ingram(sp), etc., and the local hosts served to educate and inspire during this very interesting political time. And yes I do tune to the liberal AM 1090, but my blood pressure can only take small doses of it.
The change in KVI’s programming is a HUGE dissappointment!
Until either Fisher sells KVI, or the Seattle Radio VP gets fired by Fisher, KVI will be unprofitable regardless of format. This is because the problem at KVI is NOT the format, it’s the management. This management team does not know how to monetize radio. For example, all the conservative formats are riding high right now and raking in the profits during a time in our country when there is a strong conservative push as seen by the November election. If you cannot make money on a conservative station over the last year, you have a management problem, not a format problem. The advertising team at Fisher must be incredibly un-creative, and the marketing team clueless, to not be able to monetize a conservative format in 2010.
More evidence of poor leadership at Fisher. Bonneville must be given credit for seeing the weakness in KVI’s management and taking Rush over to KTTH. Fisher was unable to keep Rush and began the decline of their money making conservative format from the 90’s.
If you still don’t buy it, ask yourself why any communications company would invest in a music format on the AM dial? Music is dead on AM, and to think there are a bunch of managers over at Fisher thinking this is going to be a great move is further evidence of the lack of leadership at that company. Somebody should tell Fisher all the portable music players (iPod, Zune, Creative, etc) do NOT have AM tuners, only FM tuners. They are investing in a 1950’s strategy for a station in 2011. Maybe Fisher has the dough rolling on on KOMO (although Cox KIRO is #1), and they just want to put KVI on life support. I hope there is an outside company that makes an offer to Fisher and brings back local talk to the KVI frequency. Fisher does NOT know how to do it.
Hello we are looking for advertisers for a new oldies station. Oh really, is this KJR? No, its an oldies station on AM! Click…
So much for Hate Talk 570
I smell a conspiracy here. KVI had great programming and now they are playing songs on AM? Who plays songs on AM? What a joke! Now I guess I am going to have to get Satellite radio to listen to conservative radio in Seattle. The local politicians got what they wanted. Was the FCC involved in this? I want to know what really happened.
I did it, Cyrus.
Just to piss you off. Me and the “local politicians”. Us “libruls” want to cut you off from all the accurate information that you used to get from KVI.
Bwaaaa Haaaa Haaaa!!!
One World Government!
Tri-Lateral Commission!
George Soros!!!!!!!!
We’re winning….Yayyyyyyy!
@29…
ps…You can get all the hate talk you want at am 770.
You’re welcome.
@29 “Who plays songs on AM?”
KIXI, 880 on your dial. Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett are better than a left/right talk-fest anyday. Take a listen. It’ll help get your mind right.