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Sinclair selling KOMO, KVI & KPLZ
- Thread starter DN14224
- Start date
They reserved the KNWN calls, might be waiting for the new imaging package. The new web page is being set up. I think it will be on soon. Looks like they're just putting the pieces together for a mega relaunch. Which makes sense because you really can't transition out of the KOMO name without a zillion complicated audience questions. They have to make a fresh start.
*TSL, rather.
I give them props, as I’m an advocate of expanding playlists. But it has to be done properly and methodically.
Exactly. How many times have we read on this very forum: 'Their playlist is too small!' 'Cookie-cutter', 'Needs to play more than just researched music'. KPLZ expands their playlist and now we see out-of-the-gate comments like "The consultant needs to be drug tested."
This!
Hopefully whatever consultants Lotus has working for them took one listen to KOMO's imaging and said "this has to go." It's truly awful.
I never cared for KOMO AM’s imaging. Hopefully they will bring in stronger and bolder reimaging.
I just tuned into 1000 on my phone and they are doing a live KOMO radio newscast. Who knows what is really going on?
Could it be a (cue dramatic music) radio newscast???
Of course I was referring to the continued use of the KOMO calls, but thanks for the chuckle.
I can tell you exactly what's going on. Sinclair and Lotus are figuring it out between them. If you owned a TV station would you like your calls or branding said on the radio 100 times a day? I sure as hell would. Now, what are the details of how that might work? That's where the lawyers come in.
I agree with this. ESPN and ABC discovered this 20 years ago. They didn't want to own radio stations, but they loved the promotion they received from radio. So they figured out how to own their brand but lease it to radio in a way that promoted the TV channel.
Sinclair would be utterly foolish not to strike up a brand licensing deal to continue using the "KOMO" name (it IS pronounced "Como" after all!), but the callsign remains their property. KNWN can be buried in the TOH ID... “NWN” is “OMO” but one letter advanced on the ends and the M is upside down.
Then again, it IS Sinclair we're talking about.
There's KBOI AM 670 and now KBOI-FM 93.1 owned by Cumulus.
Also a KBOI-TV in Boise ID. owned by Sinclair.
KDSH Radio (1947) owners put on KBOI Ch 2 in 1954.
In 1955 the radio became KBOI.
KBOI-FM 97.9 went on in 1962.
1975 they sold KBOI AM/FM and the radio stations kept the KBOI calls while TV used KBCI.
The "Channel 2" was more important than the call letters to the TV people.
In 2010 KBOI Radio & KBCI TV signed an agreement to restore the KBOI call letters to the TV station. TV would promote the radio station and radio would get news from the TV.
Eventually Sinclair purchased the TV group with KBOI-TV in it. The KBOI-TV call letters continued on.
Also a KBOI-TV in Boise ID. owned by Sinclair.
KDSH Radio (1947) owners put on KBOI Ch 2 in 1954.
In 1955 the radio became KBOI.
KBOI-FM 97.9 went on in 1962.
1975 they sold KBOI AM/FM and the radio stations kept the KBOI calls while TV used KBCI.
The "Channel 2" was more important than the call letters to the TV people.
In 2010 KBOI Radio & KBCI TV signed an agreement to restore the KBOI call letters to the TV station. TV would promote the radio station and radio would get news from the TV.
Eventually Sinclair purchased the TV group with KBOI-TV in it. The KBOI-TV call letters continued on.
Sinclair is a TV company, full stop. Rightfully, they want to protect their newscasts and the KOMO brand. If Lotus either did a poor job of news, got into some sort of controversy, whatever, the last thing Sinclair would want is KOMO-TV being sullied by something they have zero control over. Besides, over the years KOMO Radio benefited more from the relationship/cross-promotion of KOMO-TV, than the other way around. Remember, the original purchase and sales agreement specifies that Lotus will provide a whole bunch of radio promotion to KOMO-TV.
Playing semantic games with call letters is a pointless and childist pursuit. Lotus got the deal of the century with this purchase. The last thing they would want to do is play games with sounding like 'KOMO'.
It's all part of a sweetheart deal. Their final choice of call letters has nothing to do with Sinclair as a company.
And KOMO’s laughable “Seattle is Dying” documentary—a direct carbon copy of WBFF’s “Baltimore is Dying”—wasn’t controversial and damaging to the “KOMO” brand? Ooooookay.
Which will be fine once all three stations are eventually blown up for Spanish-language formats that are totally in Lotus’s wheelhouse. It’s a perfect growth market for them. Enjoy all-news on 1000/97.7 while you still can.
With all due respect, I was being sarcastic.
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Only political hacks of a certain bent were offended by the KOMO documentary. The rest of us don't mind when a news station tells us of the emperors lack of clothing. Should a news station appease a certain political side just because it dominates a small highly concentrated area of the overall market? I personally am not offended that a documentary told an unpleasant story.
The point being that Sinclair has different justification for how they program local news as opposed to every other major broadcast chain remaining. And like it or not, it is heavily polarizing by design and heavily political.
They’re more likely to sully the brand equity of KOMO than Lotus ever could have.
Interesting www.nwnewsradio.com is live and shows up as KVI
Well then to your sunny and optimistic views about Sinclair, changing call letters is that much more important, isn't it?
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