Bongwater said:
KIRO's got a REAL mess on their hands. The switch of KIRO to FM again has to be one of the BIGGEST blunders in Seattle radio history. Well, they didn't learn the first time in the '90s and I have a nagging feeling this won't be the LAST....
And they did it just as KBSG was really starting to sound good too. They can't even get the KBSG call letters back........
I submit you wouldn't know a radio blunder if it hit you on the head.
I submit right back that I DO. I'm ARGUING with one....AGAIN.
You just HAVE to pick a fight with me everytime I come up here, don't you?
I'm sure that Bonneville knew there was going to be a transition period where ratings would be down with their eye on a slow rise back into the race.
Fer chrissakes Guru, it's been almost a YEAR since KIRO's gone to FM, OK? Something's gone horribly WRONG here. I can probably understand a slip of a couple digits, not a couple of digits COMBINED. FM is supposed to be BETTER than AM, it should have automatically sold ITSELF by now....
The fact that they made the change in the middle of a recession makes a lot of sense.
You know Guru, I'm actually glad you have a radio career. Because if you were a stock broker, your head would be on a pole.....
The Mormon owners have sizable cash reserves,.....
I'm glad they do....they'll NEED them. But only for so long. If KIRO becomes their least favorite charity, they WILL bail out of this market again....
....perfect to keep things going while the economy is in the tank.....
So they just blow a nice chunk of it on a massive gamble. KIRO-AM was on top BEFORE the switch to FM only. Now look at them. THAT made sense....
Maybe it's PPM. Maybe it's the switch to FM only. Maybe it was the planetary alignment in early April. There's a lot of factors that converged at the same time. Whatever it is...it's NOT HELPING NOW.
It's at worst, a disaster. At best, the right idea at the WRONG time....
Rather than making such a big strategic move for the future when the economy is good, why not work on the rebuilding so the product will be ready when times are better? Just as the traditional oldie listener; KBSG wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway.
Funny, KJR-FM seems to be doing GREAT. And KBSG was AHEAD of KJR-FM before the switch. KBSG could have stolen a LOT of that thunder and the KIRO-FM PPM rankings wouldn't look so damn embarrassing. At least Bonneville would still have KBSG to fall back on.
The future ain't gonna happen until they can deal with RIGHT NOW......
Bonneville has seen success in Washington DC and other markets with the move to FM. Moving KIRO to FM will eventually prove to be a smart move. I would agree however that the KIRO PM drive show with those two guys and midwest bar-stool talk, does not befit a large market NT station. KIRO needs to do real news in all drive times.
But other markets AREN'T Seattle. Seattle radio is it's own beast and it works in much different ways than most of the country. You're only finding this out NOW. It's the LISTENERS, not the programming "experts" that call the shots now with PPM.
KUOW is the only station I know of that can get away with news/talk on FM in Seattle. They've been doing their format since the '80s. That much has also been proven. KIRO-FM however COULD take a few cues from KUOW and get down to hard, detailed news. Which ironically was what made KIRO-AM a leader for many decades....
Granted, JACK-FM is on top and KEXP isn't even mentioned in PPM, both shocking to me as well. But most of what I predicted with PPM has come to pass.....
