Seafair '13 + No Blue Angels = Don't Mix (and a review of 7's coverage)

[crainbebo]

KIRO 7 keeps reporting tonight about how Seafair was a disaster this year due to much fewer people watching than last year, due to the sequester and the temporary "death" of the Blue Angels. I think some of these "Boo hoo!" people are spoiled. The main problem was PARKING. Who wants to pay $20+ to park their darn car to watch a hydroplane race? $5 parking, max, in my opinion. Keep the prices up and no one will come, Seattle!

KIRO's coverage was good - Angela and Steve don't really mix however. Steve was great and Angela was boring and monotone with interviews. I did see Pat O'Day, although briefly. Unfortunately Oh Boy Oberto! (Steve David) ended up in 2nd, but the Graham Trucking boat did great with that 1st place win. How did everyone else think of Seafair this year?

P.S. I still got a 25-year-old VHS tape of the 1988 Seafair boat race with all the commercials and a young, mustached, dark haired Steve Raible.

-crainbebo

 

[dunno]

The most boring ever. Pat would have made even the Air show better. Can't see this going on much longer.

 

[Mike Brewer]

Agreed. The fact that the airshow tanked the weekend speaks volumes for the disinterest in hydros.

 

[formeraa]

Sounds like the Blue Angels are currently more popular than the hydros!

 

[crainbebo]

Spoiled brats. "Waa waa waah my blue angels are gone, I have no one coming to buy water and snacks!! Boo hoo!" We pay MILLIONS for those Blue Angels. The government didn't have enough money so they were "banned". Yes I enjoy them, but it seems that 6 people will arrive without them compared to 6,000...
Again, parking was another problem. Am I crazy to spend $20 on parking?!?! What a terrible price! $5, max, IMO.

-crainbebo

 

[AQH]

KIRO 7 keeps reporting tonight about how Seafair was a disaster this year due to much fewer people watching than last year, due to the sequester and the temporary "death" of the Blue Angels. I think some of these "Boo hoo!" people are spoiled. The main problem was PARKING. Who wants to pay $20+ to park their darn car to watch a hydroplane race? $5 parking, max, in my opinion. Keep the prices up and no one will come, Seattle!

Funny how the Seahawks can not only charge a fortune for parking, but can also limit access to season ticket holders and still sell out every game.

C'mon, do you really think $20 parking is the problem?

 

[Mike Brewer]

Funny how the Seahawks can not only charge a fortune for parking, but can also limit access to season ticket holders and still sell out every game.

That's because there's 10,000x more interest in the NFL than there is in watching boats act like race cars.

And no, $20 parking isn't the problem.

 

[iamarussianpirate]

Again, parking was another problem. Am I crazy to spend $20 on parking?!?! What a terrible price! $5, max, IMO.

-crainbebo

$5 parking? really? when was the last time you saw $5 parking anywhere? especially in Seattle. it isn't 1985 any more.

this is exactly what is wrong with this board. obviously, 90% of the people posting here remember where they were when kennedy was shot. that's a problem for the future of the medium I love.

no posts about streaming radio and the dash...no posts about how radio can innovate and embrace new ideas. for years all i see are posts about robin and maynard being the greatest morning show ever, or that (insert classic rock station here) isn't playing enough 70's or too much 70's. Christ, can we please have some substantive conversations about RADIO every once in awhile?

 

[Bongwater]

I agree. $20 for parking is entirely too much.

I knew it wasn't going to be the same without the Blue Angels. It's like expecting The Rolling Stones and getting Nickelback instead. I just wish they'd stop this damn Sequester nonsense......

And I'm sorry but when they threatened to A) Keep Pat O'Day out and only backtracked a WEEK before Seafair B) Gave us a fourth rate imitator of the Blue Angels and finally C) Charged us $20 bucks for parking.

No wonder people didn't bother to show up. Seafair deserves better than this......

 

[dunno]

No Bud to root against, no swashbuckler drivers, no Pat O'Day to make it larger than life, and yeah, those Blue Jets were missing. Not to go down mememory lane, but there was a time that this was the Seattle event. Where stations, TV and Radio fought to get to the drivers. Can't say it was the only thing in town, because even in the 80's, with the Hawks, M's, Sonic's, and even soccer, this was still a big deal. Yes, 7 fell flat.
Seafair needs to get smart and open up the radio rights to all.
I doubt they make that much off them. I'm sure Pat, who knows this race and event better than anyone has some good idea's. Seafair should listen.

 

[crainbebo]

No one covering it on the radio either. KJR was in Fox Sports A-Rod suspension talk, KIRO had no coverage after the Mariners, and KFNQ is just a satellite-fed station. Disgusting for Seafair.

-crainbebo

 

[searadiofreak]

As a Seattle native, I have noted SeaFair since I can remember, probably around 8 years old. So, admitting my age, some 46 years now.

As I may have mentioned previously, there was a time in the 70's when all three affiliates covered the races live. Of course, this was before the Seahawks and Mariners. I write it off as exuberent tv producers wanting to be where the excitement was, and trying to outdo each other. So be it.

As the decades turned, the races became more of a single affiliate event, probably on purpose to get a highest bid.

Today, the relevance of "Seafair Sunday" has been maintained, but not because of the hydros. Less care about them anymore, more care about the party atmosphere during our short summers, and yes, the Blue Angels have become the main attraction. 24 arrests this year, not sure if that is above or below average, but it does prove this is a party, more than a spectacle.

Perhaps the Blue Angels will be back. Perhaps there will be an increased interest in the unlimiteds. I wouldn't count on it. Perhaps organizers should re-think this event and offer other attractions, whatever that may be. This event shouldn't go away, but it shouldn't remain stagnent either. I'm sure there are some creative minds who can make this event more popular and important.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Radio rights this year, I believe, went to Sandusky which is why KIRO, KJR weren't covering it.
Even then the coverage usually relegated by ANY station that wins the bid to their "least affected" AM property.

searadiofreak will remember the year that Golden West (KVI/KPLZ at that point) lost the rights, but our GM Shannon Sweatte was still so much of a Seafair fan that we chartered an Argosy boat, tied up to the boom, hung some big station banners, and broadast a lot of music and talk about "those boats". Dancing all around that "competitive coverage of Seafair" line without crossing it. These days, I bet most GM's would actually be ELATED if they lose the bid (or wouldn't bother submitting one at all).

Biggest standout from the day of TV coverage for me was that the anchor had to be told by the guest commentator when the Patriots air show was over...though I guess that falls under their "straightforward" part of the slogan.

 

[crainbebo]

KIXI would NEVER, EVER air hydroplane coverage. Same with that waste of signal KKNW.

-crainbebo

 

[Wonderfulwino]

The hype and rah rah rah just wasnt there this year, or for that matter a few years going back. Most of the locals who grew up and lived here and ultimately worked in media are mostly all gone. Its been left to the Cals that imported themselves into the market to get the job done. And it wasnt. The KIRO 7 coverage was sleepy. They would have been better off running Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons between the heats. Another station with a bit more of a local zing needs to put this show on... Ever since the turbines showed up and took all the noise and racket off the course, the sport has been in slow decline. JP Patches is dead. Maybe Seafair is as well..

 

[Radiogui71]

Does anyone here actually CARE who wins the Hydro races?
I mean do you follow the standings and when these boats race at different events outside of Washington State?
Or are the hydros just a cool thing that happens to be a part of "Seafair" and you're more of a fan of Seafair than anything?
I only ask because not being a native but living here for 10 years and actually going to Seafair 4 years ago I just didn't get it and didn't get into the hydro races.

 

[searadiofreak]

Does anyone here actually CARE who wins the Hydro races?
I mean do you follow the standings and when these boats race at different events outside of Washington State?
Or are the hydros just a cool thing that happens to be a part of "Seafair" and you're more of a fan of Seafair than anything?
I only ask because not being a native but living here for 10 years and actually going to Seafair 4 years ago I just didn't get it and didn't get into the hydro races.

Yes, there is this guy named Don in Lynnwood. He is 64 now, and has stats on every race since 1960. But my research has concluded he is the only one left.

 

[AQH]

Does anyone here actually CARE who wins the Hydro races?
I mean do you follow the standings and when these boats race at different events outside of Washington State?
Or are the hydros just a cool thing that happens to be a part of "Seafair" and you're more of a fan of Seafair than anything?
I only ask because not being a native but living here for 10 years and actually going to Seafair 4 years ago I just didn't get it and didn't get into the hydro races.

Yes, there is this guy named Don in Lynnwood. He is 64 now, and has stats on every race since 1960. But my research has concluded he is the only one left.

And that's why $20 parking (still laughing at the one) isn't the problem at Seafair.

 

[AQH]

I only ask because not being a native but living here for 10 years and actually going to Seafair 4 years ago I just didn't get it and didn't get into the hydro races.

The hydros back in the day really were a spectacle. It was before political correctness ran amok and it was a giant, yet controlled, party atmosphere.

It's easy understandable why transplants like yourself don't get it. There are more and more transplants here in the area, and while some might get it, most don't. And a lot of those transplants are having kids, and they don't care. Now, there are probably more people irritated that I-90 is closed for a few hours on Seafair Sunday than there are people interested in the races (back in the day, it was the other way around).

The hydros aren't special anymore. Whether they can be marketed or hyped back into something special remains to be seen.

 

[Wonderfulwino]

Spectator sports continue to struggle..Nascar as an example is big but it's not big everywhere. If you dont have a local team, the NFL, NBA and MLB are non events in those citys except perhaps during the playoffs or championships.
The great recession knocked the crap out of a lot of them. No one was going to dump a giant wad of money down to sit in the stands and speculate whether the show was going to be entertaining or not. The hydro circuit is a scant shadow of what it once was. We once had several races just in Washington State.. Once the beer boat money left, it was like the air was running out of the balloon. Imports from other states shouldn't try to understand it because you cant. Like other local icons, you'll never get what all the hoopla is about. The problem with Seafair is that there isnt much hoopla left..