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Changes at KOMO?

R

RichJohnson

Where are you, local radio observers? Shannon in, Brooks out at KOMO Radio? It takes someone 3,000 miles away to post thiw??? Or am I wrong?
 
Rich,

Sometimes we know about things but don't care to post them on a message board.

I'm hearing that's not the only change, BTW.
 
Everyone is too busy posting 20 year old videos and whining about how Pat O'Day and Robin & Maynard need to be on the air.
 
http://twitter.com/lisabrooksradio

Confirmed - Lisa's out. Bio deleted from komo website.

Not sure I understand this.
Are they going for a ratings boost in the afternoon?
New sound?
What?
I thought Lisa sounded great, first with Slocum and now with Brian Calvert (I had low expectations for him based on his previous fill in work with Manda in the morning).
 
My guess would be an economic move. Getting a lower salary 'news reader' than an existing higher paid 'news reader' (especially one who been on the beach), is pretty commonplace these days. Unfortunately that's the game that needs to be played when you don't want to compromise employee count and potentially increase overtime.

Not to sound harsh, but these people on news radio stations aren't really considered 'personalities' anyway. PPM measurement has made that point; lot's of free music and read me the news.
 
Permit me to defend the lowly 'news reader.' That, all by itself, is a skill that fewer and fewer people possess: to literally read aloud in a way that doesn't sound like a 3rd grader. My ex-wife is a brilliant ICU nurse and hospital manager who could out-school me in her sleep. But she could never, despite plenty of coaching, 'get' the idea of speaking in thoughts or phrases instead of pronouncing each individual word as she read it on the page.
Then, when people like John Erickson, Bill Rice, Lisa Brooks, Liz White, Doug Limerick and my Fox colleagues Dave Anthony and Lisa Brady take that skill to the highest level and become friends who tells you interesting stuff every day, they earn their money.
 
TVradioguru said:
My guess would be an economic move. Getting a lower salary 'news reader' than an existing higher paid 'news reader' (especially one who been on the beach), is pretty commonplace these days. Unfortunately that's the game that needs to be played when you don't want to compromise employee count and potentially increase overtime.

Not to sound harsh, but these people on news radio stations aren't really considered 'personalities' anyway. PPM measurement has made that point; lot's of free music and read me the news.
Click to expand...


"NOW HIRING: Seattle radio station seeks news reader. Must be able to work for impossibly low wages and overtime work mandatory, Applicants must have/know of no other life. So if you've always dreamed of surviving on food stamps in a rented basement in Seattle and do not play bass in a local rock band, this is your golden opportunity to work in the 13th ranked radio market in America. Send tape/resume to......."
 
TVradioguru said:
My guess would be an economic move. Getting a lower salary 'news reader' than an existing higher paid 'news reader' (especially one who been on the beach), is pretty commonplace these days.
Click to expand...

Why is it assumed that Jane is getting less money than Lisa? Consider that KIRO had exponentially more listeners to its morning news than KOMO ever had in the afternoon. Say what you want about how "news readers" are interchangeable...but something tells me that this had nothing to do with money and everything to do with reinforcing KOMO's brand as a news station.
 
http://www.komonews.com/aboutradio/schedule

Some changes:

*Commentators cutback to 12-2 (thank goodness)
*Brian Calvert & Nancy Barrick anchor 10-12
*Bill Rice - news updates 12-2
*Herb Weissbaum & Jane Shannon take over PM Drive; I'm glad to see Weissbaum get a FT anchoring gig... for a TV guy that just kinda ended up on KOMO radio first doing business reports during a down time in his career, he's turned into a heck of a radio anchor.

Bob Mathers and Deborah Kaplan appear to be the overnight anchors now - Gary Burleigh and Jennifer Harriman have moved to weekend daytime gigs.
Charlie Harger, who has anchored Sa & Su mornings for about 5 years, is cut back to Saturdays only with weekday AM editor Frank Lenzi doing Sundays (he's been doing it for a few weeks and sounds pretty good).

Note that Marina Rockinger no longer has a regular weekend shift, she must be doing full time reporting M-F.

BTW, has anyone heard a Sara Johnson traffic report lately? Lots of Mary Whitish/Eric Slocum in the middays.
 
Rich Johnson said:
Permit me to defend the lowly 'news reader.' That, all by itself, is a skill that fewer and fewer people possess: to literally read aloud in a way that doesn't sound like a 3rd grader. My ex-wife is a brilliant ICU nurse and hospital manager who could out-school me in her sleep. But she could never, despite plenty of coaching, 'get' the idea of speaking in thoughts or phrases instead of pronouncing each individual word as she read it on the page.
Then, when people like John Erickson, Bill Rice, Lisa Brooks, Liz White, Doug Limerick and my Fox colleagues Dave Anthony and Lisa Brady take that skill to the highest level and become friends who tells you interesting stuff every day, they earn their money.
Click to expand...

Agreed. We had a guy on the NPR station in Juneau this summer that sounded great ad-libbing a music program during the midday, and sounded like a 3rd grader sounding out the words reading a newscast during All Things Considered. Even in Juneau, he didn't last long.
 
Congrats on landing on your feet, Jane.

Now, first things first: before your first shift, be sure to find out where the bathrooms are because, unlike KIRO, they are located a LONG way from the studios and with the current format, you'll have to master running to pee quickly and run back within 60-90 seconds.
 
CorporateSuit said:
Congrats on landing on your feet, Jane.

Now, first things first: before your first shift, be sure to find out where the bathrooms are because, unlike KIRO, they are located a LONG way from the studios and with the current format, you'll have to master running to pee quickly and run back within 60-90 seconds.
Click to expand...

But take into account the female perspective: How far away actually is the Ladies Room? Is there monorail service? How many toilets do they have in the Ladies Room with total number of female employees on any given shift (in the worst case scenario.) Add 5-10 seconds for the time of opening the stall door and sitting down, another 30 seconds for cleaning up and checking for things in her teeth and another 15-30 seconds if she's wearing high heels. Women can save some of that time by wearing Air Jordans and cutting back on the Mongolian Beef and grape flavored Pop Rocks before a shift, but men in general tend to take getting to the bathroom and back a little easier.....
 
..or just do as I like to do and take a big salad bowl into control room. When full you put it on a table in a common area with a ladel and a "FREE FRIDAY PUNCH" label. Make sure the corporate guys are in town .... then it's just a waiting game.....
 
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