As reported on BlatherWatch, KIRO-FM’s “Too Beautiful To Live” was in fact eponymously named, ending its on-air run about a year and nine months after it started. That’s about as long as my show lasted on KIRO, and while I’ve got nothing against TBTL or its host Luke Burbank, I gotta say, in the radio business, what goes around comes around.
While it was never explicitly stated, it seemed clear at the time that I and most of the rest of my weekend and late-night colleagues were axed at least partially to make room on the payroll for the somewhat pricier TBTL. I was of course disappointed at the time, and a lot of inside-radio folks reassured me that KIRO was making a big mistake dumping me… but then, none of these radio-insiders have since offered me a show on their stations, so it was really hard to argue with KIRO’s decision from a business perspective. In the year and a half since, the switch to FM, the advent of the PPM, and the declining radio market in general have hit KIRO hard, so despite my full spot load, and my relatively low costs, I don’t know if my show would have survived regardless.
Replacing TBTL in the slot will be the familiar (and I assume, much cheaper) voice of Frank Shires, who is nearly always wrong and incredibly uninformed, but who happens to be perhaps the nicest and most gracious person I’ve met in radio, so I wish him the best of luck. Also my best wishes to Luke, Sean and Jen… especially to Jen, who is as friendly in person as she comes off on the radio, and to the ever so easy-going Sean, who as my first board-op made my baptism-by-fire radio debut so much less frightening and disastrous than it should’ve been.
And finally, here’s my fervent wish that KIRO and its newsroom survives this economic and audience downturn and eventually comes back stronger than ever. I came to KIRO merely to do my own liberal thing, but it was when I had the privilege of keeping listeners company and informed during the 2006 wind storm and power outage that I learned what an incredible resource a radio station could be to a region. We would all benefit to see KIRO return to its live and local glory, regardless of who is behind the mic.
The community lost a strong progressive voice with the canceling of your show Goldy.
Progressives were cheering you on and right wingers were tearing their hair out.
It was for a time a fun way to celebrate the popping of the far right Bush bubble.
And where else outside of a podcast could you hear the voices of the local progressive blogging community? It was a good time. I hope it comes back.
TBTL was terrible. I tried over an over again to listen..It was just bad..
I used to listen to the end of tbtl on my way home from classes at night, that followed a full-time day-job. I finished school and being in my car listening to the show.
I found its light hearted style a refreshing break from the newsy grind, and my unusually long days.
PPM will have its impact
PPM killed the talk-radio star
TBTL was amazingly boring. A bunch of bland voices, babbling about nothing, endlessly.
It’s a shame the KIRO is getting more and more conservative, but when you own this radio station and a billion others, you can force your agenda and your point of view out into the public airwaves.
I wonder how long before the internet and pod cast kill radio like it is doing to newspapers. 5 years? 20 max I bet.
TBTL seemed to me something of a lifestyle show aimed at the late 20’s – early 30 something crowd – you know the high spending demographic.
Luke however was a 40 something and a parent – divorced if I recall?
Again, too boring to listen.
I totally understand why some people didn’t “get” TBTL. That’s not an insult at all. I found it by accident and got hooked. I described it to an 11 as, “like sitting at a bar table listening to friends talk.”
It is about nothing really. But that’s why I like it. The show isn’t telling you what to like or what to think. The show will never tell you you’re an idiot for not agreeing with the host. (See O’Reilly and Malloy for particularly egregious examples of this behavior.)
Find the Ken Jenning’s podcast. Stupid, funny and kind of informative all at once. (And if you’re not checking Ken Jenning’s blog every couple of weeks, you’re missing a pretty funny man…)
TBTL was so bad it almost made Goldstein sound good.
Burbank, insufferably hip, was always trying to be the next insufferably hep postmodern Ira Glass. Instead, he sounded like Hayes Barnard running a con.
And Jen Andrews? Trying to remember the sniveling toxic ‘toon character from back in the day whose only lines were ‘heh heh’ and ‘heh heh heh’.
Too bad because Jen at KVI was a bright shining light when she was allowed to sub. Burbank at KVI was a proto dweeb. It took KIRO to take away the proto. Burbank passed up few opportunities to dump on KVI, whose only real fault was giving Burbank a damn job. It’s more than he deserved.
Suggestions to Arquette: Nevermind Shires. Shitcan Hendrie. Fire dross-Ross. Put on Dori from 9 to 9, then give Andrews (solo!) 9 to 10:30, Goldstein-Sharkansky 10:30 to midnight. Then bring back the Midnight Truckers.
Problem solved.
Dorie? I find him worse than TBTL for completely different reasons. He’s mean spirited. He comes across like that bully from elementary school, the kind that will not only knock you down, laugh at your bloody scrape and then get his cohorts to hold you so he can rub salt in your wound. That’s what it’s like to listen to Dorie.
Dori’s a recovering liberal. What’s not to love?
@7: And someone brilliantly noted that Hayes Barnard sounded like the guy in the next stall of the Minneapolis airport men’s room.
@7
I can only assume that you are a failed radio staffer of some kind. That level of bitterness for anyone’s success can only come as a result of your own failures.
Remember Dori pimping the “Mom beat up her child’s molester” story. Yep! Remember him revisiting it when it turned out she was 100% full of crap and headed to prison? Nope! Didn’t happen. Dori’s M.O. Hit a story hard when there appears controversy. Never apologize when you turn out to be full of crap. Oh, and all taxes are bad.
BTW, doesn’t moving the syndicated Hendrie (the station can’t really fire him) to 1am make the show irrelevant? Hendrie used to have a good show but he’s a little Ali G. Once people get it you run out of outraged callers who don’t get the joke. Then the show falls apart.
ylb non-seeing eye
Hardly Fool Hardly!
Typed nothing about firing Hendrie. Please try to keep up. Please learn to read.
Dori makes mistakes. That’s the liberal part of ‘recovering liberal’ reasserting itself.
No radioactivity here, czecho. Was merely insulted that a valuable wedge of the public’s broadcast spectrum was being wasted by and on TBTL. They let it go on (about 390 episodes in the collectors’ series) too long.
@13
“shitcan Hendrie…” Wha, wha, wha?!?
Sockpuppeting? Please learn to read your own posts since I guess you are also 2 bitter 2 deal.
?
Can’t we just get along, czecho? I mean, I almost fell in love with my Slovakian dental hygienist. Doesn’t that earn me points for ecumenicism?
(Shitcan means shitcan. It doesn’t mean fire. That’s why we never yell shitcan in a crowded theater.)
LOL! Stupes comments on my comment…
I remember Stupes’ dig at Goldy back in his KIRO days.. What was it?
How darling a dig at Goldy from little Stupsie!
A pitiful fool remains a fool.
Hey lookie here the monomaniacal one ylb non-seeing eye@16 is using his tctmgr again.
Everyone on our side made comments on Goldy’s on-air squeaky voice while he was on the air moron. Puddy called him ASSie Voice because Goldy is the Voice of HorsesASS idiot.
Once again you can’t figger out a parody.
Still chronologically challenged.
FOOL!
Ya see rujax, ylb non-seeing eye has reverted to his standard HA hateful ways. stupes, stupsie.
There is one fool who can’t change no matter how much you plead with him.
18 – I call you that because you and sockpuppet MWS called us folks on the other side stupid and other names and epithets since the beginning.
Even as your silly ass team has been sinking into the mud of defeat – lie after lie exposed and so many of your pols going to jail or resigning in disgrace.
Your whole pose here is so desperate Stupes. You’re pretty sad. But keep it up – the antics of a buffoon can be entertaining at times.
Oh poor ylb non-seeing facts eye. He can’t deal so he resorts to gutter attacks. Well he is a bottom feeder here.
Keep using your tctmgr and that database. Maybe you’ll get some common sense. Your horseshit gets sillier every day monomaniacal one.
BTW You R STUPID. What part of that sentence don’t you comprehend fool?
On second thought naaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Frank Shiers = Out To Lunch.
Dori has nailed down the flaming ignorant non-voting redneck demographic.
It’s hard to tell where Shiers comes from (well, aside from the Old Testament). The guy is just so clueless in mounting his jihad against climate change science, you almost have to feel sorry for him.
At least Dori revels in his “stupid truckdrivin’ manchild white guy” routine.
Shiers thinks he knows what he is talking about. Which is pathetic, when you get right down to it.
Luke was a nice guy who covered fluffy self-absorbed GenX/Y garbage. It was a decent schtick for a while. But my God, man: we could only take so much of your cotton candy and bubble gum routine!
See how he continues to live up to my name for him?
Such is the vanity of a FIEND!
At least you admitted to it fool! A Truth telling “fiend”.
The Prosecution Rests ylb non-seeing facts eye.
I believe Dave Ross is the only “liberal” on any Bonneville station anywhere. (Assuming, of course, that one would call Dave Ross a Liberal.)
It wasn’t really just budget cuts that removed Goldy and the other live/local night/weekend talkers from KIRO. It was the Bonneville right-wing Morman police.
If Dave Ross doesn’t pick up his ratings soon, or if Dave were to suddenly decide to retire, you can count on a right-winger 9-to-Noon on KIRO.
23 – You resting? Ya I kind of figured you’ve been in a trance since at least 1994.
Don’t bother waking up. Reality may be too much for you to bear.