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Seafair Coverage..

Yeah, I know this is a radio forum but the opinions here are usually a bit more genuine. What did you think of KIRO's local/live coverage of today's Seafair races??
 
I didn't watch most of it, but the coverage was good during the times I watched it [10-12:30ish]. I'm glad that Oh Boy Oberto! U-6 won!

I used to have an old VHS tape with the 1988 Seafair Hydroplane Race, again taped off KIRO/7. All uncut with original commercials. Now it's in a box in storage.

-crainbebo
 
Went to the Seattle Times' website, and they didn't even mention the races. I remember the 70's when the city seemed to shut down to watch the races on TV. (I was always a Pay n' Pak fan.)
 
With the exception of KIRO, the media coverage was pathetic. So much for A Puget Sound Sports tradition. It's gone dead in the water...again. The whole Seafair season was essetially ho-hummed by all media, electronic or otherwise. THe only way the hydros as a sport can get any coverage is for the drivers to be involved in a drug bust, wife beating, DUI, fraud or any thing that ball sport guys seem to get away with.
 
Let's face it: no one cares about the outcome of the races. The whole thing is a participatory celebration of boats and booze. Why anyone would sit inside on a sunny day and watch it on TV is beyond me. It used to be that you would bring your radio with you and hear the play-by-play of what you were watching, but did anyone even broadcast it on the radio this year?
 
I tried tuning into 102.9/950 around 1PM, but all I heard was Fox Sports Radio off the bird. :mad: Then around 4PM, I heard the finals coverage.

-crainbebo
 
The Seafair Races have blown a quill shaft in the first turn, first heat. KIRO TV has always done a pretty good job. Remember when all three TV stations covered the races It's just that the Seafair program sucks. They need to run the Jets and Planes on Saturday and the Boats on Sunday. I for one am kind of tired on the Jets anyway after all these years. And I'm a pilot for 35 years too.
 
KCRadionut said:
The Seafair Races have blown a quill shaft in the first turn, first heat. KIRO TV has always done a pretty good job. Remember when all three TV stations covered the races It's just that the Seafair program sucks. They need to run the Jets and Planes on Saturday and the Boats on Sunday. I for one am kind of tired on the Jets anyway after all these years. And I'm a pilot for 35 years too.
I don't know, maybe it's because I'm not a NW native or from Seattle but I got so sick of hearing about Seafair!
I also don't see the interest in the Hydro races, I've been down on the banks of the Lake at Genesee park with my wife's family and found the whole event so enthralling I fell asleep!
I don't get it, just like the "Sea Fair pirates" don't get that either.
The "coverage" I mean how good can it get watching boats go in an oval on Lake Washington it's not as if it's an NFL game with multiple camera angles and high production values.
 
I can understand the quizzical reaction to our annual water party from outsiders. There are so many factors in all this but the easiest way to explain is to recall how it once was. Growing up in the Crossroads area of Bellevue I could hear the boats and those V-12 Rolls engines every day during Seafair week from my house 15 miles away. Pat O’Day and Lan Roberts hyped the heck out of it every morning and afternoon, plus put on the best play-by-play bar none on race day. For a kid in a town that didn’t yet have pro sports it was magical. You couldn’t buy marketing like that. We all towed wooden hydros behind our bikes. There never was much competition on the lake, just a loud and rockin’ way to celebrate summer, that now seems oh too quiet, except for the memories.
 
Bottom line is this WAS our major league sport in the 1950's when Seattle sports scene was VERY different.
We since added (and removed) an NBA team, an NFL team, an MLB team, I think even the Hockey franchise came after Seafair.
That explains a HUGE part of the "so what" attitude.

Then there's the Rick issue...if you don't have the nostalgia foundation a lot of us had, it wouldn't have the emotional connection.
Since Seafair happening this week during Olympics ... it got me wondering if post-race coverage would be preferable ... much like NBC is doing. Tape the hell out of it...then edit down to a 2-hour prime-time summary with back-to-back races, air show highlights, etc. No question there are LONNNNNNGGG gaps during live coverage when not much else is going on...
 
I like live coverage of the hydros and Blue Angels. It's been that way for decades on Seattle TV. And I remember reading in an old TV Guide that KOMO, KING, *and* KIRO aired the Hydros in the early 1970s.

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
I like live coverage of the hydros and Blue Angels. It's been that way for decades on Seattle TV. And I remember reading in an old TV Guide that KOMO, KING, *and* KIRO aired the Hydros in the early 1970s.

-crainbebo

That was true, especially in the 60s. They even aired the time trials live on TV!
 
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