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South Sound radio - sign of the times?

B

bossbill

I'm saddened to hear of layoffs and a skeleton crew at KMAS, one of the few remaining stand-alone small market AMs in the area. As difficult as it is for the displaced employees, I also empathize with my fellow small market owners who take the risk and hope for the rewards. The bigger picture is that most small markets are now under the giant umbrellas of nearby metro markets. Local merchants suffer from the growth of chains and box stores, and agency revenues go out the window as national advertisers focus on the metro and ignore the peripheral markets.

The South Sound is an extreme example of the rise and fall of AM stations, along with the proliferation of new FM signals.

KMAS had its beginnings in a converted home as a daytimer on 1280, about 50 years ago when small market AMs were able to fill a need for local service.

We're also hearing of a programming change in the near future.
 
Truly sad indeed. Hadn't heard about the recent developments. It's getting harder every hour it seems for those of us running small market stations to make it work.

KMAS has/was been a gem for the Shelton area and certainly filled a local niche. It's too bad to see another one go down, as the local community will suffer. What do they say: "you're going to miss me when I'm gone"

Last time I checked, Seattle stations weren't doing a lot of community coverage in Shelton/Mason County these days!

Any further details on the KMAS situation?
 
Looks like streaming has been turned off.
 
Missing from the staff listing are Air Personality Randy Roadz and News Director Dedrick Allan
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Missing from the staff listing are Air Personality Randy Roadz and News Director Dedrick Allan
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm MIA but hopefully not forgotten. There's never a good time to be let go, but being let go at the holiday time after being a dedicated, loyal, on the clock 24/7 employee is a hard pill to swallow. Any time a station switches to a nationally syndicated news format, there's a need for a much smaller staff.

I know there are a lot of pros on the beach right now, but if anyone needs any help with anything, I have more time on my hands. There are a couple of opportunities bubbling under, we'll see.

Bill and Todd... congratulations on the continued success of your local operations. You know what it takes to win and to be a public trustee and to broadcast in the public interest, that much is clear, based on everything I've seen and heard.

RR
 
What a shame! KMAS was sounding really good, and it didn't seem to have a shortage of spots. Good luck to you, Randy, and to Dedrick and anyone else who has been displaced.
I remember the end of my last small-market radio gig; when the owner had to pay an air staff of four plus part-timers, and the satellite folks offered him a format virtually for free, he couldn't jump at the chance fast enough, even though the format wasn't to his liking.
He got what he paid for; the format was awful. But he'd be selling the station soon anyway.
It was the town's loss, but listeners never get a vote.
Hope all affected land on their feet soon.
 
Randy Roadz said:
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Missing from the staff listing are Air Personality Randy Roadz and News Director Dedrick Allan
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm MIA but hopefully not forgotten. There's never a good time to be let go, but being let go at the holiday time after being a dedicated, loyal, on the clock 24/7 employee is a hard pill to swallow. Any time a station switches to a nationally syndicated news format, there's a need for a much smaller staff.

I know there are a lot of pros on the beach right now, but if anyone needs any help with anything, I have more time on my hands. There are a couple of opportunities bubbling under, we'll see.

Bill and Todd... congratulations on the continued success of your local operations. You know what it takes to win and to be a public trustee and to broadcast in the public interest, that much is clear, based on everything I've seen and heard.

RR
Click to expand...

Wow Randy sorry to hear about KMAS and even more so the timing... Back in December 2003 10 days before Xmas while managers were comparing xmas bonus checks we were shown the door and as you said what made it such a hard pill to swallow was the timing.

We hope you find success wherever you land, we respect what you do a great deal.
 
TheX-KXRX said:
Randy Roadz said:
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Missing from the staff listing are Air Personality Randy Roadz and News Director Dedrick Allan
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm MIA but hopefully not forgotten. There's never a good time to be let go, but being let go at the holiday time after being a dedicated, loyal, on the clock 24/7 employee is a hard pill to swallow. Any time a station switches to a nationally syndicated news format, there's a need for a much smaller staff.

I know there are a lot of pros on the beach right now, but if anyone needs any help with anything, I have more time on my hands. There are a couple of opportunities bubbling under, we'll see.

Bill and Todd... congratulations on the continued success of your local operations. You know what it takes to win and to be a public trustee and to broadcast in the public interest, that much is clear, based on everything I've seen and heard.

RR
Click to expand...

Wow Randy sorry to hear about KMAS and even more so the timing... Back in December 2003 10 days before Xmas while managers were comparing xmas bonus checks we were shown the door and as you said what made it such a hard pill to swallow was the timing.

We hope you find success wherever you land, we respect what you do a great deal.
Click to expand...


Funny you'd mention that. I was talking with another Radio pal this morning. We were laughing at how karma is a real drag. She rears her head sooner or later.

RR
 
In an open letter Randy Roadz submitted to the local Shelton newspaper, he took the time to thank several community businesses and individuals he met during his tenure at KMAS. Despite his unexpected departure, he still had enough appreciation for the community to provide some insight to his on-air absence.

Mr. Roadz, my hat off to you. A class act. You brought your brand of professionalism to our small town for a brief period of time, and you will be missed.

Best of luck seeking your next great adventure. I for one, will be watching for your re-appearance somewhere on the radio dial.
 
Radiodope said:
In an open letter Randy Roadz submitted to the local Shelton newspaper, he took the time to thank several community businesses and individuals he met during his tenure at KMAS. Despite his unexpected departure, he still had enough appreciation for the community to provide some insight to his on-air absence.

Mr. Roadz, my hat off to you. A class act. You brought your brand of professionalism to our small town for a brief period of time, and you will be missed.

Best of luck seeking your next great adventure. I for one, will be watching for your re-appearance somewhere on the radio dial.
Click to expand...

Radiodope-

Thank you for the ever so kind words. The wheels certainly turn slower than we'd like in finding a new gig. I have a couple of face-to-face meeting this week, including today.

As anyone could imagine, I've run the gamut of emotions from surprise to being downright angry at the way my former station handled this whole situation. It's sad to listen now... it's almost as if no one learned anything I brought to the table from a programming aspect. As the station owner said to me many times... "it's only Shelton"- LOL! Merry Christmas!

Roadz
 
Radiodope said:
In an open letter Randy Roadz submitted to the local Shelton newspaper, he took the time to thank several community businesses and individuals he met during his tenure at KMAS. Despite his unexpected departure, he still had enough appreciation for the community to provide some insight to his on-air absence.

Mr. Roadz, my hat off to you. A class act. You brought your brand of professionalism to our small town for a brief period of time, and you will be missed.

Best of luck seeking your next great adventure. I for one, will be watching for your re-appearance somewhere on the radio dial.
Click to expand...

Radiodope-

Thank you for the ever so kind words. The wheels certainly turn slower than we'd like in finding a new gig. I have a couple of face-to-face meeting this week, including today.

As anyone could imagine, I've run the gamut of emotions from surprise to being downright angry at the way my former station handled this whole situation. It's sad to listen now... it's almost as if no one learned anything I brought to the table from a programming aspect. As the station owner said to me many times... "it's only Shelton"- LOL! Merry Christmas!

Roadz
 
The "NEW" NewsRadio 1030 KMAS debuts on Monday 1/2/11. Syndicated news Radio. Local news provided by Virtual News Center out of Witchita KS. Hang on kids... should be compelling...
 
Randy Roadz said:
The "NEW" NewsRadio 1030 KMAS debuts on Monday 1/2/11. Syndicated news Radio. Local news provided by Virtual News Center out of Witchita KS. Hang on kids... should be compelling...
Click to expand...

Oh I am warming up the big boy antenna now in hopes of finding out what the folks in Kansas think might being going on in the South Sound...
 
TheX-KXRX said:
Randy Roadz said:
The "NEW" NewsRadio 1030 KMAS debuts on Monday 1/2/11. Syndicated news Radio. Local news provided by Virtual News Center out of Witchita KS. Hang on kids... should be compelling...
Click to expand...

Oh I am warming up the big boy antenna now in hopes of finding out what the folks in Kansas think might being going on in the South Sound...
Click to expand...

The Kansas folk can't pronounce half of the location names, not to mention some of the locals names. Hell, as long as Dale is paying the bills, they will continue to screw up what little local flavor is left on the mighty 1030.
 
Bongwater said:
Well, they're back online.....

http://www.kmas.com/kmas.asx

It appears like they have some sort of online newspaper operation too.

http://masoncountydailynews.com/

Now if they have people there to WRITE the news, why can't they READ it?.........
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly... it's flat out outsourcing. You hear "shop local", "buy local"... "hire local" and now a person's salary is going to Virtual News Center in Witchita, Kansas? Really? The butchering of local names and places is embarrassing... or should be...

RR
 
Randy Roadz said:
Bongwater said:
Well, they're back online.....

http://www.kmas.com/kmas.asx

It appears like they have some sort of online newspaper operation too.

http://masoncountydailynews.com/

Now if they have people there to WRITE the news, why can't they READ it?.........
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly... it's flat out outsourcing. You hear "shop local", "buy local"... "hire local" and now a person's salary is going to Virtual News Center in Witchita, Kansas? Really? The butchering of local names and places is embarrassing... or should be...

RR
Click to expand...

Poor farmers in Kansas have lives too... I mean the government is paying them not to farm so they have to do something with all that free time on their hands... So why not read stories off the wire to folks way up their in Seattle they to busy chopping down tree's, killing salmon runs, and drinking coffee to notice a little twang botched name in our delivery....

I don't understand why on earth it is okay to pay folks in Kansas to do a job that can be and should be done by somebody local who needs that job every bit as much...
 
In January 2011, TRN began rolling-out an all news network service for stations, called America's Radio News Network (or ARNN). ARNN began with a three-hour news block airing from 12 noon to 3 pm (Eastern Time) and has since added blocks broadcast from 3 pm to 6 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm, five days a week.[2] ARNN calls these news blocks "long-form" coverage, similar in format to NPR's morning and afternoon news magazines. ARNN says the format is designed to be flexible to all stations to take the entire package or include local news segments within each news block. ARNN is a non-partisan radio network.
 
Randy, despite what they claim, America's Radio News Network is _not_ nonpartisan; or more accurately they're as nonpartisan as TRN's other offerings: Michael Savage, Rusty Humphries, etc. Politically charged words and phrases slanted toward the right are used in abundance. Some of its anchors are former Fox News folks, and it has the same bias.
Really, it's talk radio without the callers. Unless something's changed very recently, you won't hear correspondents who file reports, just interviews and discussion/commentary.
I don't know if ARRN's promotional material compares itself to NPR, but if they do, they shouldn't.
It isn't news. They talk _about_ the news, they read some news stories, but at least as far as I'm concerned, news outlets have reporters and correspondents who try to deliver an unbalanced presentation.
I don't think I listened for a minute before I heard an anchor refer to "OBamacare," which is a critics' buzzword. An unbiased presentation would say, "President Obama's health-care package" or "plan." If a health-care plan critic is being interviewed, then that's acceptable; not from an anchor at a reputable news outlet--_any_ reputable news outlet.
Granted, this is my opinion and my bias, but it's also elementary journalism.
When I worked for a news organization, I routinely flagged writing which contained bias from the left as well as the right.
Of course I do realize there's a market for coverage that caters to people's political persuasions; many people consider objectivity as biased reporting because it doesn't validate their mindset--hence Fox and Pacifica cater to specific audiences who share the worldview of those outlets.
My main issue with Fox and ARRN isn't their bias, but rather their claim not to have one.
I'm not trying to write a political diatribe, just pointing out that organizations that promote their lack of bias often have more of it than some who don't. My philosophy: don't make claims; just prove your objectivity to the audience with your content.
I hope ARRN's content has improved, but it hadn't by September when I spent lots of time listening to its Baltimore affiliate.
At that time, and in earlier listens, I thought they were bland.
By the way, I'm a news junkie, but _not_ a news-talk junkie. That's probably the reason ARRN doesn't apeal to me.
It's the same reason that I'm listening to KOMO less and less--many important stories happen in the daytime, and for six hours they're doing more discussing and less reporting.
It's pretty sad that Seattle has a "news" station, but I have to go to another news outlet online during the day just to hear news.
I doubt that it'll be KMAS.
 
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