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KFI dropped the ball big time on the Zimmerman verdict coverage

B

Bug on the rug

The verdict broke during Mo "I'm an angry black man!" Kelly's show, but after 8p Brian Suits took
over and was talking about drones!!! Arguably one of the biggest verdicts and stories of the year, and he's talking about drones!! Meanwhile, across the dial, 790 KABC talk show hosts were all over it!

Compare this to last Saturday when news broke about the SFO plane crash and KFI was overkill on the coverage bringing in the big guns: Tim Conway talking about every crash minutue detail (even though it was reported at the time that only 2 of the 300 passengers died), who then handed it off to Kennedy, who then handed it off to the fabuloso Lisa Ann Walter, who handed it off to a, this time around, a more-sedate-than-usual Mo Kelly! They also flew a reporter to the SFO airport for coverage!

Talk about a big city, Bush League news department!
 
Bug on the rug said:
Talk about a big city, Bush League news department!
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Other than the fact that there was a verdict, there was nothing else to report as news: there were no riots right after the verdict, President Obama did not issue any statements about the son he never had (although one NFL player issued his views on the Zimmerman's expected lifespan).

Now if you wanted to editorialize or speculate - which has been 90% of the airtime devoted to this event - then you could open the mikes and shout about injustice, but anyone who felt the jury system worked in this case, probably would not have said much about that for fear of being ostracized by their media peers and called racist.

I watched the Miami TV stations live post-verdict coverage and the only news they had, again, was that there was a verdict. They were then reduced to showing press conferences from attornies for all sides saying, basically, nothing that had not been said a hundred times before.

At the end of the day this was a big story only because the media had chosen to make it one, but it's the kind of case that occurs routinely in courts throughout the country. Instead of spending more time on a post-mortem of this case, the media circus should move its tent to Chicago and focus on why the routine in that city leads to this becoming the routine: "A dozen people were killed and at least 62 wounded in gun violence that rang out across Chicago over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend."

While I doubt many would-be rioters listen to KFI, it is probably good that they did not spend the evening adding to any post-verdict hysteria.
 
The verdict, once read, was not a developing story. There is no developing information coming in once the verdict has been announced, unlike the plane crash in which more details were coming in moment by moment.

All that was left after the Zimmerman verdict was announced was reaction to it.
 
Bug on the rug said:
What about getting caller reax? KFI is 90% a talk station, right?
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Since 90% of the people who call into talk shows are bigger idiots than the hosts of said shows who cares about listener reaction?
 
Ummm, ratings!??

Plus, every KFI host talked about the case ad infinitum (ESPECIALLY Bill Carrol which made me tune out) for a year and five months! And you know they'll be talking about the post-verdict all week!
 
I was really surprised that nary a word on the Zimmerman verdict was mentioned by Suits considering it is alleged by Zimmerman's defense to be a case of justified self-defense, something that's right in Suits's wheelhouse. To be fair, Suits spent the previous week's show covering the Asiana plane crash so maybe he felt that there were other, more important topics (such as the coup in Egypt) that he didn't want to let get anymore stale, but still he could have spent a few minutes on it. He didn't even say that they would cover it next week. Either he really, really doesn't care about the case (unlikely) or it was a pre-taped show. I'm betting on the latter.
 
Contrary to what the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. said before the verdict was announced, the George Zimmerman trial was not a "defining moment" for the movement towards racial equality as envisioned by her father. Contrary to what the lawyer for Trayvon Martin's family said after the verdict was announced, Martin will not join Medger Evers and Emmett Till as "icons" of the civil rights movement.

It was a manslaughter trial in Sanford, Florida. It had no national implications. If both parties had been white, or if both parties hads been black, the major news media would have paid little attention to the trial. As Mister Bug points out, these stories get talked about way too much.
 
TheBigA said:
You guys realize it's Sunday, right? I'm sure it will be the primary topic of discussion starting Monday morning.
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Only by people who already have an agenda or are trying to get one going.

Like he said....the rest of us don't give a crap.
 
I could be wrong but I'm guessing that because we're in the city that Charlie Van Dyke calls "the entertainment capital of the world," tomorrow the Zimmerman verdict will be forgotten and the talk-show hosts will be discussing the death of Glee's Cory Monteith. (And if I am wrong, please don't rub it in.)
 
LARadioRewind said:
I could be wrong but I'm guessing that because we're in the city that Charlie Van Dyke calls "the entertainment capital of the world," tomorrow the Zimmerman verdict will be forgotten and the talk-show hosts will be discussing the death of Glee's Cory Monteith. (And if I am wrong, please don't rub it in.)
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Only if by "talk-show hosts" you mean John Phillips (or so people around here tell me). I don't think the AM talk radio audience gives a crap about Glee.
 
Actually, the timing of the verdict, which I believe was around 9:00pm EDT local time, couldn't have been any worse for the media as a whole, and the cable and network news outlets in particular. In their case, with even their Saturday "B team" shifts over for the day and the rest of the weekend scheduled to be filled with taped programming and just the most skeleton of "C Team" Sunday crews manning the newsdesks (who were still hours away from coming on to their shifts), they simply didn't have the resources ready to go for the full-on blitz as they usually do. Fox News was unusually pathetic with Geraldo standing in front of the courthouse searching out any aggrieved party he could find out of the crowd of just a few dozen protesters who weren't really protesting but rather looked like they were only still there because the TV crews were.

No, they were praying for the ladies to wait until Monday morning or afternoon to hand down the verdict so their whole A team shows and their producers and guests could be in place and they would be able to milk the story for at least two-three days. With almost two full days for the news to get out before those shows go on the air on Monday, the air will already be out of the balloon and they'll have missed their shot. Sorry Big Media, but in this case the final score is Reality 1, Media 0. (Well except for the fact that they were all rooting hard for a guilty verdict, so it might be Reality 2, Media 0).

As for the original poster's comments, I have to pretty much agree. If you're on a talk station on Saturday night, even in LA, you by definition have not hit the big time. If you want to advance the ol' career, that is an excellent time to show the PD that you can go off script and handle the news on the fly and still create compelling radio, so the next time they have a slot open when people are actually listening, they might consider you. So I consider this an opportunity missed by the hosts.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
If you want to advance the ol' career, that is an excellent time to show the PD that you can go off script and handle the news on the fly and still create compelling radio, so the next time they have a slot open when people are actually listening, they might consider you. So I consider this an opportunity missed by the hosts.
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That's an excellent way to get fired.
 
TheBigA said:
ChannelFlipper said:
If you want to advance the ol' career, that is an excellent time to show the PD that you can go off script and handle the news on the fly and still create compelling radio, so the next time they have a slot open when people are actually listening, they might consider you. So I consider this an opportunity missed by the hosts.
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That's an excellent way to get fired.
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Of course they should have the PD's permission; I am not suggesting they go rogue. But if it is Saturday night and no one is listening, why should the PD withhold it? If you are a host who wants to advance in your career, why would you not lobby for the opportunity?
 
ChannelFlipper said:
But if it is Saturday night and no one is listening, why should the PD withhold it? If you are a host who wants to advance in your career, why would you not lobby for the opportunity?
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Because the station can get sued or fined any night of the week. Put someone on the air who doesn't know how to deal with a controversial issue, and you're just inviting trouble. It's this kind of "career advancement" that has hurt radio's credibility. People want to become stars and make money, and they could easily incite a riot.
 
SimiRadioListener26 said:
I was really surprised that nary a word on the Zimmerman verdict was mentioned by Suits considering it is alleged by Zimmerman's defense to be a case of justified self-defense, something that's right in Suits's wheelhouse. To be fair, Suits spent the previous week's show covering the Asiana plane crash so maybe he felt that there were other, more important topics (such as the coup in Egypt) that he didn't want to let get anymore stale, but still he could have spent a few minutes on it. He didn't even say that they would cover it next week. Either he really, really doesn't care about the case (unlikely) or it was a pre-taped show. I'm betting on the latter.
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One word, prerecorded. Didn't Suits move back North after his failed efforts in So Cal?
 
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