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NewsRadio 710 KIRO AM: Off of band, out of mind

C

CorporateSuit

Since I've worked for so long in radio--or maybe just a creature of habit--I have discovered that despite the constant promotion and stunting for NewsRadio 710 KIRO to the FM band, I just don't listen to them anymore. I inhabit the AM band and since they flipped to sports, I have checked out the ESPN product....but I punch around to KOMO, KJR, KVI, KHHO, and KTTH like I normally have done---but just without the NewsRadio AM product. I couldn't tell you what Dave, Dori or the clowns in PM drive have been doing or saying or anything. It's just like they don't exist any more for me. They flipped formats, I've taken in stride and I'm not missing anything, really.

Anyone feel the same way?
 
I know, I know - you see my name and figure "heree he goes again - "

But your post is interesting because it's the same way for me. I'm pretty much sticking with ESPN radio. I even like what Callabero (sp) is doing on his show. Not only do I have
a problem with some of the so-called "talents" on now on KIRO FM but it just sounds funny. Dead. Flat. Maybe some younger listenders will be right at home with it but it sounds odd to me - and I'm an FM guy!!! Maybe I'd get used to it but, as you said, I just don't miss all the stupid blabber from Doris, Dumb & Dumber and Too Stupid To Live.

I think I like sports more than I thought!!!

Good observation -
 
Well, the hallowed pager like thingy that's supposed to make this industry relevant again is the one to decide that. Only, like I said before, Seattle already tried News/Talk on FM (via the original KIRO-FM 100.7) and that wasn't exactly a smash success.....
 
CorporateSuit said:
Since I've worked for so long in radio--or maybe just a creature of habit--I have discovered that despite the constant promotion and stunting for NewsRadio 710 KIRO to the FM band, I just don't listen to them anymore. I inhabit the AM band and since they flipped to sports, I have checked out the ESPN product....but I punch around to KOMO, KJR, KVI, KHHO, and KTTH like I normally have done---but just without the NewsRadio AM product. I couldn't tell you what Dave, Dori or the clowns in PM drive have been doing or saying or anything. It's just like they don't exist any more for me. They flipped formats, I've taken in stride and I'm not missing anything, really.

Anyone feel the same way?
Click to expand...

Well I'm also a radio-biz veteran and I set the FM preset the day the simulcast began. I gladly flip back and forth between the two stations and welcome not only having an alternative to 950 for sports but also still hearing KIRO as it was.

To me, your "creature of habit" comment implies you are set in your ways and don't embrace changes. Your "not missing anything" observation says KIRO was background noise to you, not a station you HAD to listen to.
 
In this case I agree more with S.R.P.

For one thing, it's been called "news-talk (frequency) KIRO" for almost 2 years now. I'm surprised a 'radio pro' (ex or not) would not have caught the re-branding.

For another, I do have issue with the 97.3 frequency but so far like having the sports option and know that it doesn't disrupt the other programming is awesome. I always was bugged to tune in KOMO and hear baseball. I wanted traffic/news.
 
SeattleObserver said:
In this case I agree more with S.R.P.

For one thing, it's been called "news-talk (frequency) KIRO" for almost 2 years now. I'm surprised a 'radio pro' (ex or not) would not have caught the re-branding.

For another, I do have issue with the 97.3 frequency but so far like having the sports option and know that it doesn't disrupt the other programming is awesome. I always was bugged to tune in KOMO and hear baseball. I wanted traffic/news.
Click to expand...

Once that contract is up....710 will have the Mariners all to themselves.....

The trouble with 97.3 is the signal. Unless you're smack dab in the Seattle area or various wealthier suburbs. 97.3 won't come in very good. In Bellingham....forget it, it's multipathed to hell and sometimes gets overrun from stations up on the BC coast if you're up on a hill (same with KRWM and even KISW. And in Olympia, KYCH from Portland makes a mess of 97.3 sometimes too whereas on AM, KIRO could be heard pretty much all over the state.

FM was just a bad idea for KIRO......
 
Bongwater said:
Once that contract is up....710 will have the Mariners all to themselves.....
Click to expand...

What contract? Please elaborate.


Bongwater said:
The trouble with 97.3 is the signal. Unless you're smack dab in the Seattle area or various wealthier suburbs. 97.3 won't come in very good. In Bellingham....forget it, it's multipathed to hell and sometimes gets overrun from stations up on the BC coast if you're up on a hill (same with KRWM and even KISW. And in Olympia, KYCH from Portland makes a mess of 97.3 sometimes too whereas on AM, KIRO could be heard pretty much all over the state.
Click to expand...

Guess what? It's not KIRO's duty to broadcast all over the state. Just because it serves the City of Seattle on FM and not Bellingham doesn't make it a bad station, it just says you made a bad choice of where to live if you like to listen to over-the-air Seattle radio.
 
Great points, AQH....also, perhaps Bongwater is not aware, but Bellingham is not part of the Seattle market---ARBITRON's definition (and the only one that counts)...it has no bearing on ratings or revenue and even if someone commutes in from there, they do not count, since your home address is where you are recruited from to participate. As for Olympia, Thurston County is in the metro, but as a county, it represents less than 10% of the market's population....so while it counts, it's one of the smaller population units and tends to have little impact on the overall numbers. As for Bongwater's assertion that "news-talk" was tried before on "The Buzz", I'd argue that was just FM Talk, not "news-talk" in the sense of KIRO or KGO in SF. It was not news/topic driven, it was more or less male oriented FM talk with what could generally be seen as rock station-styled morning shows in most dayparts...hmm, weren't one BJ Shea, now on ROCK KISW mornings and The Men's Room, now on ROCK KISW afternoons on the Buzz?
 
I've pointed out to Bong the realities of Bellingham not being in the Seattle Tacoma DMA on more than one occasion, but if it doesn't play well on the boom box in his trailer, then the station is doomed to fail or is failing.

In a somewhat related topic; on a plane ride from Boston to LA this morning, I was reading that like Canada, Mexico is considering or will soon allow AM stations to apply to move to FM channels. Even the US is considering allowing expansion of the FM broadcast band so AM stations can move to FM. So perhaps this whole nostalgia for AM thing won't have much of an effect on the switch of KIRO to FM? Me thinks so!
 
Couldn't agree less.

FM has been the future for some time, notice the NPR FM stations that dominate here in the ratings? Hello? Newsy, talky NPR?

KIRO is late in this regard not early. KOMO is in increasing trouble, they better go downstairs and kick everyone out of Star and take over that channel! Quick! Run!
 
Some things just aren't meant to be -

Coke found out that messing with the brand (New Coke???) was a bad idea.

Wendy's without Dave just ain't the same.

To most Americans, soccer is a goofy sport. So far so good in Seattle but give it a few years.

There have been endless experiments designed to get us to watch TV on our computers. Doesn't work - at least so far. We may do the hulu thing for old TV but getting network or cable on computer has been a no go. We like to watch TV on TV and use our computers for net stuff or games.

And personality-driven talk sounds odd to most ears. Matbe in a few generations it will be different, but for now what was at least a vibrant sound has disappeared. NPR is more intimate and personal, more in-depth and well suited for minimally processed FM. Most of the voices on KIRO-FM sound thin as soup, to the point of strained. Even Dave Ross (who, IMO, has less than dulcet tones) sounds strained. Has nothing to do with content - more to do with perception. Ratings may prove me wrong but, for now - good luck, kids.
 
TVradioguru said:
I've pointed out to Bong the realities of Bellingham not being in the Seattle Tacoma DMA on more than one occasion, but if it doesn't play well on the boom box in his trailer, then the station is doomed to fail or is failing.
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Me don't live in trailer Guru. Me actually live in very nice $210,000 house on a hill...all paid for.....So is my Sony 7.1 surround sound receiver w/ HD with outdoor rooftop antenna

Coming from a so-called "professional" like YOU. I'm actually flattered that I piss you off so much that you just can't come up here without taking a personal swipe at me every chance you get. It's good to know you're so jealous. My wife thinks it's cute.......
 
I have listened to 100% more of KIRO since they've been on the FM. I have discovered, over time, a real affinity for Ron & Don. Which shocks even me to say, because Don's voice really grates on me and for the longest time I couldn't stand to listen to them long enough to appreciate their witty banter and fun sense of humor. And I am blushing as I also admit I've listened to a little bit of TBTL and a couple of times kind of almost liked it. Moment of Truth: I now have KIRO FM tuned in on my clock radio so I wake up to Greg & Jane.

So they've increased listenership in at least my case.
 
The original KIRO-FM 100.7 was from the Queen Ann Hill tower and that was a rather sketchy signal. As an example south of Tukwila it was nothing but multipath. Wasnt' that about the time 7 tried the "TV In A Box"?
 
boiseengineer said:
The original KIRO-FM 100.7 was from the Queen Ann Hill tower and that was a rather sketchy signal. As an example south of Tukwila it was nothing but multipath. Wasnt' that about the time 7 tried the "TV In A Box"?
Click to expand...

Oh yes, February or March 1993 in fact "News Outside The Box"....

It was a crazy time at 3rd and Broad, Choreographers from the Seattle Ballet were training everybody to virtually dance around the news set of TV, KIRO AM and FM (100.7) were simulcasting (with morning video of the KIRO radio news via KTZZ).....

It was too much hell on many female TV newscasters in high heels in the virtually chairless set and many departed. Nerissa Williams and Susan Hutchinson namely....

KIRO-TV news went back to the box a few months later......

Queen Anne was only slightly better than Capitol Hill in FM transmission......at least 100.7 and 98.1 came in decently in Lynnwood whereas anything on Capitol Hill gets multipathed bad outside of Seattle proper......
 
I see both sides of this issue, but have to come down on the side of placing KIRO on FM. With PPM, the struggle for younger demos and the future, they had no other choice.

Nevertheless, as a creature of habit, I definitely prefer the AM dial. Voices sound so much warmer without the awful pre-emphasis of FM. Until recently, I never ventured out of the AM dial for listening (even though I have worked at some FM stations in the past.) I still prefer AM, but I have to admit, I am in the minority.

I was talking to my wife the other day(we've been married a few months now, so she's not been around me nor radio for long, and is several years younger than I am)and she seemed to personify her generation's view of AM. She asked me why I bothered to tune into AM, "when it sounds so awful, is full of static, plays awful music and is only heard for short distances!" I wanted to cry! I have spent the majority of my career at AM facilities, am an avid DX'er, and simply prefer its sound! But my friends, her view represents what the majority of the 35 and younger crowd believes. You can thank the FCC for not instituting an AM Stereo mandate and giving the green light to an inferior digital system known as I-BUZZ, I mean, IBOC, which denigrates the sound even further. You can also thank the manufacturers for awful AM tuners. At any rate, the band is all but dead. Yes, I still work for an AM (albeit do some FM news as well), but reality is reality. It is inescapable.
 
TVradioguru said:
Lynwood is inside the Seattle/Tacoma DMA whereas Bellingham is not. :D
Click to expand...

...and your point is?.....
 
elchupacabras said:
I see both sides of this issue, but have to come down on the side of placing KIRO on FM. With PPM, the struggle for younger demos and the future, they had no other choice.

Nevertheless, as a creature of habit, I definitely prefer the AM dial. Voices sound so much warmer without the awful pre-emphasis of FM. Until recently, I never ventured out of the AM dial for listening (even though I have worked at some FM stations in the past.) I still prefer AM, but I have to admit, I am in the minority.

I was talking to my wife the other day(we've been married a few months now, so she's not been around me nor radio for long, and is several years younger than I am)and she seemed to personify her generation's view of AM. She asked me why I bothered to tune into AM, "when it sounds so awful, is full of static, plays awful music and is only heard for short distances!" I wanted to cry! I have spent the majority of my career at AM facilities, am an avid DX'er, and simply prefer its sound! But my friends, her view represents what the majority of the 35 and younger crowd believes. You can thank the FCC for not instituting an AM Stereo mandate and giving the green light to an inferior digital system known as I-BUZZ, I mean, IBOC, which denigrates the sound even further. You can also thank the manufacturers for awful AM tuners. At any rate, the band is all but dead. Yes, I still work for an AM (albeit do some FM news as well), but reality is reality. It is inescapable.
Click to expand...

KIRO-FM's audio processing is very good, it handles the all-talk programming very well.

I do understand, respect and agree with many of your AM thoughts. It's refreshing to see someone who has an open mind and understands today's radio on this board.
 
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