Did KIRO Go Commercial-Free in the Evening?

[ah987]

I tuned-in to KIRO-AM tonight at 7PM for the first time in a long time and it was basically commercial-free (at least relative to their normal 20-minutes of ads per hour during the day). After 40 minutes I was so startled I started timing the thing and they had exactly 4 minutes of ads between 7PM and 8PM (The Old Cannery [voiced by Ron Upshaw], Milgard Windows [voiced by Dori], Top Food & Drug and Stone Mountain Flooring).

During the 8PM to 9PM hour they had 6 minutes of ads (Top Food & Drug, Evergreen Ford, The Old Cannery, Milgard Windows, Stone Mountain Flooring and Morgan's Home & Bath).

I think it's awesome they're only averaging 5 minutes of ads an hour - if it weren't for the specific program playing at this time it would be a very listenable and enjoyable nighttime talk radio - but how do they afford it?

 

[djdan]

Based on market revenues I think the lack of commercials may just be due to lack of sales. There is little demand for evenings on most stations right now. You can purchase prime time for what evenings sold for 18 months ago. Just a reflection of the economy not programming.

 

[ah987]

... then that still leaves me wondering ... how do they pay for it?

 

[WKomm]

ah987 -

If things keep going they way they're going, you might not have to wonder how they pay for TBTL - because they WON'T be paying for TBTL.

I wonder how many talk stations have a night show with at least three well-paid employees.

I have nothing personal against Burbank. He fits in well with "the eternal adolescent" crowd of Western society. He just does not belong on KIRO. And I literally can't listening - so I do not, thank you.

 

[FMSteve]

DJ Dan is right. Sales are way down. This is a very serious systemic depression that could last another year or two. The answer is to get your sales department to pound the pavement in their pin stripe suits, red ties, black leather wing tip shoes and leather briefcases....... and walk Highway 99 from Tacoma to Everett getting direct business. And throw the Yellow Pages into your car, too.

As for KIRO, they are making a serious mistake by going to an all-sports channel on 710. Economic prudence supports a hybrid KIRO AM/FM that is a simulcast most of the time, except during games, including pre-game and post-game, in which they separate the link of 97.3 to 710. After the post game action has ended, they go back to the simulcast. In this theoretical model, the simulcast is running 90% of the broadcast week.

Enjoy your Chef Boyardee dinner.

 

[ah987]

Still then I ask ... how do they pay for it (nighttime local programming)?

 

[WKomm]

FMSteve - I most likely don't know as much about the off-air radio stuff as you do but I think you're correct.

Based on my experience, I'll guess that Burbank has a no-cut contract and if canned, they will pay him off. The expense for that shift was already budgeted and planned for so why not let them work the deal out and not renew? And I'll guess the day shifts are supporting the after-dark portion of KIRO programming.

 

[qwezxc]

How long do those no-cut contracts usually run? I really would like to hear Billy Bush and no one carries him in Seattle (that I'm aware of) -- it seems like KIRO-FM is the best bet to carry him but they can't pick him up until Burbank's fat ass stops smothering those hours with his (apparently) non-profit radio show.

Do these no-cut contracts still apply if he quits or leaves for another gig? If that's the case is there anyway he would ever think of doing that? Could he go back to KBCS or wherever it was he used to work at?

 

[WKomm]

q - of all contracts that I've had, only two were truly no-cut. Over the years, DJ's have loved to brag about "contracts" when really all they signed was a non-compete.

My first no-cut was for two years with a third option. If at any time dring the first two years I was fired, I was owed the remainder of the two years, whether it was 23 months or 23 days. They also withheld $1000 a month of my salary in an interest bearing account. If i left one day before the two years, the station kept the dough. So let's say I left for a new gig after a year - I would forfeit $12,000. I stayed, they paid and the 3rd year was never picked up because the station was sold.

The second deal required 90 days notice and 90 days severance, no matter why I was fired. So that was kind of a no-cut, like money in the bank. The contract deal was for 5 years and at any time I was cut, the 90/90 deal kicked in.

So no-cuts contracts come in all shapes and sizes. I don't know for sure but I wouldn't be surprised if Burbank was getting a hefty sum and paying his valley girl sidekick and the effeminate producer out of his own pocket. They very well might be Bonneville employees. Either way, it's a sizeable amount of cash for a night show on a talk station. Maybe they thought they'd syndicate it - I can't imagine any PD in their right mind wanting the gabfest. I'll also guess another reason the $$ are decent is because someone in the hierarchy was enamored of Burbank's sketchy pedigree, simply because of the the letters: NPR. They thought somehow that denoted brainiess, young demo, Seattle book-lover type of appeal.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

 

[qwezxc]

I caught the program twice in the last 2 months; each time he was talking about the opera and how fun the opera was and how people need to go to the opera. That seemed so weird and out-of-place on a show for "youth" ... then I went to their website and they were running online ads for the Seattle Opera. (Is that plugola?)

Whatever. At least they're putting out some effort to attract advertisers, even if it comes across as kind of weird and stilted.

 

[Bongwater]

It would be nice actually for an ordinarily commercial talk station to go commercial free ("'....attack and then we'll all meet at Ruth's Chris Steak House'....Thanks for the call, 7: 49, News-Talk 97-3 KIRO, when we come back, we'll....WHAT??.........")