Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher
Hearne: Slacker & KCFX Widen Lead Over The Rock & Johnny Dare in July
Let’s narrow down one of the more hotly contested radio ratings contests, shall we?
One that raised more than a few eyebrows in the June rankings in men, 25 to 54 during morning drive, 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., Monday through Friday. Remember? KCFX FM‘s Slacker nosed out Rock 98.9 FM force-to-be-reckoned with Johnny Dare for the top slot.
A ratings fluke? Apparently not.
Star Search: Frink Alert; Dallas Shuts Down Its Version of INK Magazine
One journalist’s nightmare can be another’s dream-come-true…
Take the ongoing battle for survival between Ink and venerable local alt weekly the Pitch. Light as Ink‘s content’s been (and continues to be), the Pitch has been having the rougher go. It was, until very recently, for sale for years by its now-former out-of-town owner. Its longtime editor bailed for the paycheck-friendly seas of the healthcare industry. Its top journo took a powder this past spring. Its page and ad counts are at levels that caused its former owner to audibly wince.
Then there’s Ink….
It’s hard to imagine the content of the weekly Tony likes to refer to as an "ad rag," being any more inconsequential. Outside of its ads, of course – and there is something to be said for that. But now that the Pitch is cleaning up its act under new owners a possible new variable has reared its head.
Might Ink‘s parent, the Kansas City Star close it down?
Today: Westport Party Czar High Fives P&L District’s Cover Charge Controversy
There are those who say the Power & Light District’s credit card-only cover charge policy is racist…
That locals should boycott the downtown entertainment district because of it. Not Bill Nigro. Funny thing about it is, Nigro has every reason to look for excuses to bag on the P&L. As a businessman who owns and/or has owned any number of nightclubs and/or restaurants in Westport – Kansas City’s former leading entertainment district – Nigro felt former KC Mayor Kay Barnes screwed Westport by granting all those tax breaks to the P&L.
He’s got a point and he’s not alone in that thinking….
But what’s done is done and aside from leveling the playing field, Nigro (and Partner Bill George) want to connect all of KC’s entertainment districts via their KC Strip trolley shuttles for the betterment of partykind.
And that’s hard to do when you have to devote money and resourses to dealing with sprawling, unruly crowds of errant urban youth who gather on hot summer weekend nights causing disturbances and scaring off paying customers.
This summer, those crowds have shifted for the most part to the P&L District and grown in size.
Today: Kanrocksas Brings Chris Fritz Full Circle From Ozark Music Festival
The Pitch touched on it ever so lightly…
The year was 1974 and KanRocksas promoter Chris Fritz was about to unleash the unthinkable upon the unsuspecting city of Sedalia. The Ozark Music Festival. A three day rock fest a la Woodstock with a lineup that included the Eagles, Aerosmith, Lynryd Skynyrd, REO, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, BTO and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (who headline the Crossroads tonight with Brewer & Shipley).
"The whole idea was we would get a maximum of 50,000 people for three days," Fritz told me in the Star a handful of years back. "And we probably sold about that many in advance and at the door."
Hearne: Glass Called Out as Second Worst Major League Baseball Owner Ever
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Consider the sad state of our unloveable losers, the Kansas City Royals…
With pundits as far afield as Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly taking off-the-cuff potshots – telling Alan Colmes recently that further deficit spending would be "like telling the Kansas City Royals to lose more games" – its time to take a look at how the Royal’s owner ranks in the scheme of things.
It’s not pretty…
Zen College Life, a "leading source for college and degree information online," offers an interesting array of Top 10 lists ranging from the "10 Most Effective & Essential Self Defense Techniques" to the "10 Celebrities Whose Deaths Were Tragically Predictable."
As might be suspected, Royals owner David Glass rates quite highly on Zen’s "10 Worst MLB Owners of All Time."
Today: Hendricks Out as Star Does Away With ‘Local’ Section Columnists
It’s not easy dying a thousand deaths, sleeping off the killer summer cold Jack Poessiger just gave me…
Over a lunch date with zero spit swapped, no less. But, as I inch back to life, and read today’s Kansas City Star like thousands of you, I learn that columnist Mike Hendricks is o-u-t and a new wave of "local’ section columnists are on their way. Oh joy.
But wait, are they really? Let’s take a look.
The moves signal the end of a very long, unstoried era. Shortly before I came to the Star, the newspaper fielded a lineup of Art Brisbane, Jim Fisher and Charles Gusewelle. Brisbane transversed the town laying down pithy columns about the people, places and things that were Kansas City at the time. Describing publisher Tom Leathers as "a Johnson County pundit who weekly squires his readers into a snake pit of stunning personalities and typographical errors"
And blowing the lid off of a controversial decision by Overland Park "that citadel of good taste and expert city planning" to not just welcome the area’s first Hooters at 106th and Metcalf, but to change the center’s name from the Overland Station Shops to the Hooters Plaza.
Hearne: Is KCTV’s Gary Amble Worried About Gay Backlash Over Sister’s Comments?
The riding keeps getting rougher for KCTV weather wonk Gary Amble’s sister…
Channel 5’s done its part to milk that Amble’s sister – nut job Michele Bachmann – has blundered into the squared circle of presidential politics. Including a recent, "exclusive" interview with Amble, in which he dodged anything resembling a meaningful question about his controversial sister.
Not a big surprise.
Bachmann’s suffered more embarrassing revelations than all the other presidential hopefuls combined. At the end of KCTV’s puff piece, anchor Brad Stephens cautions that Amble would not be accepting any more media interview requests re his sister’s candidacy.
Which might sound a little funny until you consider a story in the August 8 National Enquirer.
Star Search: Beauty & the Beast, New Star Publisher Faces Awful Earnings Music
In a perfect world I wouldn’t be writing what I’m about to write…
I’d be recuperating from hanging out until 3 a.m. in the Power & Light District, taking the measure of those pesky African-American flash mobs that threaten the struggling downtown entertainment Mecca.
Then, depending on my findings, I’d likely face a quandry.
Should I hold the story for my Wednesday print column? Or unleash it on the Star blog I was poised to set up on KansasCityCom. In other words, should the news come first online, or should the people who pay the bills – print subscribers – get first crack at it.
Therein lies a key dilemma facing the newspaper and print industries of yesteryear.
Tonight: I’m Back, Joe’s Leaving, Take a Number…
Talk about one-two punches…
I don’t know what you thought about me being mostly MIA the past two weeks, but it’s clear you were thrilled by my brainstorm to have Joe Miller execute a 10 parter on his way out of Kansas City. I thought Joe did a kickass job, by the way.
He butchered some sacred (and not-so-sacred) cows and let his hair down just enough to incur the divine wrath of KC Confidential’s finest, our comments Hit Squad. For the vast majority of readers who never venture into our online mosh pit, I assure you Miller’s exploits here – journalistic and otherwise – were significant.
That said Kansas City is a barbecue town and clearly our comments crowd prefers its ends burnt.
WWE style…
Today: What Boycott? P&L District Cover Charge Sends Urban Kid Crowds Packing
About KC Confidential’s scoop on the Power & Light District‘s new credit card only cover charge policy…
Looks like it’s working. The crowds of urban youth that have been assembling on weekend nights this summer outside the P&L were down markedly Friday and Saturday, reports KC Strip point man Bill Nigro.
"I drove through there and I’d say there were less kids there this weekend than last weekend," Nigro says. "Maybe 200 or 300 total. Where the week before there were easily 500 kids."
Today: Watson’s Girl Preamble; Divorced, Single, New Boobs & Ready to Rumble
This just in….
Spoke with Family Leisure head Andy Prefontaine this a,m. in Asia. Family Leisure is the name of the biz formerly known as Watson’s and Prefontaine still runs it. He’s also the stepfather of Jennifer Eichler aka the Watson’s Girl.
Prefontaine gave me Jennifer’s cell number – she’s 30-something, divorced, single and no longer shilling for the company. And I have a call into her.
Meanwhile, allow me to share what Metromix Indianapolis laid down in an interview with Eichler last month.
Today: Arizona Getaway 2011; Lots More Joe, Lots Less Me
Everybody needs a vacation, whether they deserve it or not…
I obviously don’t, but I’m taking one anyway. And contrary to popular midwestern logic, that it makes no sense whatsoever to party in Tucson in July, I’m here vacationing without you.
A somewhat best kept secret; the monsoon season goes down in mid- July and August here, bringing clouds, rainfall and cooler temps. And Tucson’s temps are far cooler than Phoenix/Scottsdale – the totally yuppified areas most vacationers prefer. What heat there is, is dry and bearable, sans the merciless humidity of KC.
Here’s the really good part…
Hearne: Go Figure, KCFX’s Slacker Wins Men, Johnny Dare Women in June
Here’s a bit of a shocker…
Former KY102 and 99.7 KY personality Slacker has taken over as Numero Uno among men listeners, ages 25 to 54, in morning drive from 6 a.m to 10 a.m. weekdays.
Go ahead, squint, rub your eyes, stare in disbelief, Slacker nosed out The Rock 98.9 FM’s Johnny Dare for top ratings honors with a 12.5 audience share to Dare’s 12.3. Let the record show that PPM or metered ratings tend to skew more toward music format than personalities, but it’s a remarkable feat nonetheless.
Here are the rest of the Top 10 stations in morning drive in men for June
Hearne: The Odds of Jason Whitlock Returning to KC Airwaves on Sept. 5th?
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There are few things former Star columnist Jason Whitlock enjoys more than pimping people in KC….
So after putzing around with Nick Wright on 610 Sports a few weeks back, Whitlock let it be known he just might be returning to local airwaves September 5th. Coy Tweets to that effect aside, if Big Sexy’s living so large blogging for Rupert Murdoch in LA why is he entertaining the notion of returning to a gig he was fired from here that paid measily $100,000?
That’s chump change for a blogger of Whitlock’s stature, is it not?
Having spoken recently to both of Whitlock’s former radio bosses in KC – Kevin Kietzman and Bob Zuroweste – I can tell you neither see much more than a snowball’s chance of that happening.
The $64 million question: How good was Whitlock when he was on the air here?
Hearne: Stop the Complete Presses, Nick Wright Really Did Beat KK This Time!
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They said it couldn’t be done…
Step aside senior citizens and middle age haters, Nick Wright has done the unthinkable. He really has beaten WHB superstar Kevin Kietzman. And not via the aid of fuzzy math or the Kansas City Royals. The lowly Kansas City Royals, I might add.
Nope, we’re talking the real deal this time out. Check it.
In men, ages 25 to 54, Monday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wright had the right stuff.
Wright’s show on 610 Sports squeaked past Kietzman’s by a tenth of a point with a 6.8 share to KK’s 6.7.
Wright’s take on his big win?
Hearne: The Radio ratings That Actually Matter Get ‘Em While They’re Hot!
There’s something to be said for the 6-plus, seven day, 6 a.m to midnight radio ratings…
Starting with, anybody can get me. But the numbers that truly matter to the station and advertisers – the numbers that determine the air talent’s fates – are the demographic breakdowns that are quite a bit harder to come by.
Here are a few of them for June, released this afternoon…
The Top 20 Radio Stations in Adults Ages 25 to 54, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday:
1) KQRC, The Rock with a 9.3 audience share
Hearne: Read Her Lips; No More Ida McBeth @ Any Other KC Clubs but Jardine’s
Madonna, Shakira – entertainment giants like Live Nation have been signing artists to exclusive deals for years…
Now Jardine’s is getting in the game. The Plaza jazz club has inked an exclusive deal with the Queen of Kansas City Jazz, Ida McBeth. Meaning, no more club gigs at the Blue Room, Point or Phoenix downtown, if you wanna catch the Queen, you’ll have to go to Jardine’s.
"I signed an exclusive contract with her," says Jardine’s owner Beena Brandsgard. "Ida will only play at Jardine’s. No more Blue Room dates after her last gig there in September. And no other local clubs."
There’s more…
Hearne: And Now the Rest of the Radio Ratings; Top 10 Men & Women
Now it’s time to lay down the numbers most important to radio execs and advertisers…
The Top 10 highest rated stations in June for Men and Women, ages 25 to 54. In prime time – 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. – Monday through Friday. That’s where 85 to 90 percent of a station’s revenues are earned and its heaviest duty air personalities slug it out for the survival.
Let’s start with men…
Today: Star Columnist Takes One for the Team Ahead of 2nd Quarter Cutbacks
No more shaking in his shoes every three months for newly axed Star columnist Steve Penn…
While the rest of the newspaper’s staff stands braced for the next round of what have become almost inevitable quarterly cutbacks and/or layoffs, Penn got his walking papers over the weekend.
"For using material that wasn’t his and representing it as his own work," the paper explained to readers this morning.
A staggering loss? Not really.
Penn, along with fellow news columnist Mike Hendricks took a major hit two years ago and were converted to part timers in one quarterly cutback. Penn took it like a man, quietly suffering the hit while Hendricks brayed and whined on his Facebook page and inviting "friends" to help him find a better-paying job elsewhere.
But that was then; and now?
Star Search: The Truth & Nothing But the Truth Re Steve Penn’s Firing by The Star
I’m about to do the unthinkable…
I’m going to tell you exactly why and how Steve Penn was fired by the Star. In my humble opinion, of course. But trust me, I spent 16 years toiling in the belly of the beast and I know how things work at 18th and Grand.
Steve Penn wasn’t merely fired because he slipped up and got caught. He was fired because he wasn’t very good – which is being generous – and the paper stumbled on to an unimpeachable reason to rid itself of him.
