Kirby Wibur gone?

[KFNNradioFan]

Re: Fisher Management Incompetence

And here's the story from Kirby himself: http://www.kirbytalk.com/2009/11/my-side-of-the-story/

Sounds very typical of incompetent Fisher management who has been dropping their LOCAL hosts for 10 years since Mike Siegel, Ernie Browne, Scoot, Peter Weissbach, etc. etc. etc.

On the other hand it also sounds like Entercom management who has also been dropping its LOCAL Seattle talent for 10 years like Mike Webb, Bryan Styble, Mike Siegel, Erin Hart, Turi Ryder, David Boze, Jane Shannon, and Lou Pete.

If Fisher wants to drop its cume of 20,000 like down here at KFNX 1100, then keep firing all the local people.

My advice to them is to read Jerry Del Collianno's blog on LOCAL radio.

What Kirby writes on his blog is of critical importance in demonstrating Fisher management incompetence:

" 1.) Our ratings had been improving and climbing steadily over the past six to nine months.
2.) We were ahead of Glenn Beck, our competition, in the 35-64 age demo
3.) We were behind in the 25-54 age demo.
4.) We were the highest-rated daypart on the station, consistently outperforming the rest of the shows on the station.
5.) An expected upward tick in Beck’s ratings due to his appearance here in September did not occur "

 

[HowardMBurgers]

I suspect Fisher did not renew Wilbur's contract because the cost of keeping him well outweighed (pardon the pun), of putting on syndicated programming for the time being.

Until you personally have a radio station balance sheet and sign the paychecks for air staff, you have no place to judge.

 

[SeattleRadioPro]

Until you personally have a radio station balance sheet and sign the paychecks for air staff, you have no place to judge.

Well put, Howard. It's very easy to sit at a computer hundreds or thousands of miles away and throw barbs at station management.

Have to admit, though it's pretty funny to watch out-of-towners come up with ideas for Seattle stations (like the thread that suggests 710 go to 850 and put "lifestyle talk" on 97.3 - hilarious!!).

 

[KFNNradioFan]

Until you personally have a radio station balance sheet and sign the paychecks for air staff, you have no place to judge.

Well put, Howard. It's very easy to sit at a computer hundreds or thousands of miles away and throw barbs at station management.

Have to admit, though it's pretty funny to watch out-of-towners come up with ideas for Seattle stations (like the thread that suggests 710 go to 850 and put "lifestyle talk" on 97.3 - hilarious!!).

No not really. Just looking at how N/T works in Phoenix on 92.3, but apparently isn't working up there on 97.30fm

Phoenix and its suburbs ("urban villages") are concentrated into a much smaller area than Seattle and its suburbs, so FM works fine.

Seattle-Tacoma-Everett-Olympia-Issaquah-Bellingham - and east to the pass - and west to the coast - and north to NAS Whidbey and Pt. Angeles - can't be covered as well by one FM station. That's why AM works better, with the groundwave, plus the NW-SE trending skywave at night. Take advantage of huge ground conductivity on the salt waters of Puget Sound.

The idea for 850 is to upgrade the signal and move the ESPN 710 sports to that station. If the allocation in Canada is an issue, then perhaps send the daytime signal to cover SW Washington and the Olympic Peninsula, and perhaps an arc extending east from Puyallup to Sammamish. There is potential for upgrading towards to coast at the very least.

Under Bonneville 15 yrs ago, the old KIRO-FM featured a mix of interesting local talk separate from KIRO-AM, with lifestyle talk w/ Gary Christensen and others.

 

[HowardMBurgers]

No not really. Just looking at how N/T works in Phoenix on 92.3, but apparently isn't working up there on 97.30fm

Phoenix and its suburbs ("urban villages") are concentrated into a much smaller area than Seattle and its suburbs, so FM works fine.

Seattle-Tacoma-Everett-Olympia-Issaquah-Bellingham - and east to the pass - and west to the coast - and north to NAS Whidbey and Pt. Angeles - can't be covered as well by one FM station. That's why AM works better, with the groundwave, plus the NW-SE trending skywave at night. Take advantage of huge ground conductivity on the salt waters of Puget Sound.

The idea for 850 is to upgrade the signal and move the ESPN 710 sports to that station. If the allocation in Canada is an issue, then perhaps send the daytime signal to cover SW Washington and the Olympic Peninsula, and perhaps an arc extending east from Puyallup to Sammamish. There is potential for upgrading towards to coast at the very least.

Under Bonneville 15 yrs ago, the old KIRO-FM featured a mix of interesting local talk separate from KIRO-AM, with lifestyle talk w/ Gary Christensen and others.

The transition from N/T listeners to FM in Phoenix took a while also. I submit that a year from now, this conversation will no longer be relevant. The fact remains that no one under 35 listens to AM. Why hitch your radio wagon/revenue into the future to something with an aging listener base?

I believe you're under the incorrect assumption that AM stations can just somehow directionalize their signals to reach geographic areas to suit their individual needs. That is not the case at all. When preparing a directional antenna design to go before the FCC, the Commission will only accept what is called "Standard Patterns" already on file. Examples of Standard Patterns include variations of cardioid, figure-eight patterns and alike. Antenna patterns are selected to meet city of license requirements and meet the current restrictions to interference for stations licensed either co-or adjacent channels/classes. Again, one can't just create special fingers of signal to reach certain areas.