Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher

Sometimes stories spring from odd and unusual circumstances…

Take the latest on fading-fast, KCTV weather wonk Katie Horner. I was recently asked to profile her for a local magazine. Nothing controversial, mind you. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. So I made several attempts to contact her at Channel 5 and at what I believed to be her home phone number.

Nada.

After not hearing back for more than a week, I thought the better of it and given the rumors that KCTV was not renewing her contract and moved on…profile-wise.

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Who better to ride to the rescue of a beleaguered P&L Irish pub than the dudes in the green hats at O’Dowd’s?

That’s the rumor, anyway. Based in no small part on the fact that the Power & Light District is suing upscale pub and restaurant Raglan Road for more than $600,000 in back rent.

The $64 million question: should O’Dowd’s takes the plunge, will it become the third area O’Dowd’s, joining the ones on the Plaza and at Zona Rosa?

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Missing in action on Fox Sports Kansas City…

Former Kansas City Star sports gossip columnist Jeffrey Flanagan. Flanangan’s column – Flanny’s Take – more-or-less dropped from site the latter part of May. He did however post a "Minor League Report" after a month or so writing hiatus.

So what’s the deal? Word is Flanagan pulled up stakes and moved back to from whence he came.

"Steve Penn at the Star told me that he was called back home several weeks ago to Minnesota or Wisconsin," says Stanford’s Craig Glazer. "And the word is, he’s not coming back. Steve said he saw him the day before he left and that (Jeff) told him that, given the situation at the Star, there really wasn’t much here for him anymore. He told Steve he had a couple sports books he wanted to write."

Flanagan declined to comment.

For Glazer, Flanagan’s departure marks the end of a remarkable, at times bizarre, bittersweet era.

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There’s no shortage of copper stealing stories in the news…

Reports abound about bad guys breaking into buildings and ripping off copper from air-conditioning units and the like. The object of the game; raise some quick cash from the resale of the metal to recyclers.

TV news and the Star cover these sort of stories regularly. Just last week for example, the newspaper reported, "Kansas City is taking aim at the thieves who prey on vacant houses and cause thousands of dollars of damage while stealing $50 worth of copper pipe."

But here’s a bizarre, embarrassing story the Star – for some reason or another – forgot to report.

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Anybody can access and look at Arbitron’s 6-plus radio ratings online…

Do a Google search – they’re all right there.

And they’re the only ratings widely available to the general public for a reason. To provide a broad, generalized view of local radio rankings, generate media attention and chit-chat and help keep Arbitron’s name in the game.

That said, everybody in the biz knows that the 6-plus numbers are the least important of all the ratings.

To that end, Arbitron requires radio stations to pay big bucks to access to the critically important ratings that provide the far more specific listener information that advertisers require.

It’s really that simple.

Now let’s take a look at the rivalry between sports radio powerhouse WHB and up-and-comer 610 Sports

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You got it, you double it, you don’t got it…

That’s pretty much what has happened to KMBZ 980 AM, Kansas City’s so-called, news-radio station. Two months into KMBZ’s plan to grow listenership by simulcasting on former sister station KUDL’s 98.1 FM signal, the local talk station has gone nowhere fast. Actually, its combined ratings have plummeted

Check out the digits.

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They don’t get any better than Greater Kansas City Sports Commission point man Kevin Gray...

Gray died today of cancer, only having learned he had contracted it in March during the Big 12 tourney .

Make no mistake, I had my differences with Gray over the years. Nothing huge. But he was always a gentleman and a good sport throughout. There was just no getting around Gray’s likeability factor – no matter the disagreement.

Did Gray blow smoke up the city and voter’s you-know-whats with a ginned up feasability study about a new arena certain to bring Kansas City an NBA and/or NHL team? Of course he did!

Did we land either one or are we any closer than we were before Sprint Center got built? Of course not!

Hey, but Gray got it done. And while I’m somewhat loathe to admit it, it’s been a great thing for KC.

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Ah, the incredible lightness of daily deal making…

It’s one thing to be late to the party. Like a year and a half late. Quite another to stagger out of the starting blocks with a weak-kneed effort. Yet that’s exactly what the Kansas City Star did Monday with the launch of its new Groupon-like, dealsaver.com daily deal.

Affiliated – as once rumored – with Groupon?

"It’s not," says one local daily deal expert. "It’s their own – their own misguided product."

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This just in….

Any minute now – any second even – the Kansas City Star will announce the name of its new publisher. The dude who will replace the dearly departed Mark Zieman. The guy who will decide the fate of embattled Star editor Mike Fannin.

A gentleman who – surprise, surprise – is coming in from outside the newspaper. From another market.

Stay totally tuned!

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From the Idaho Statesman – the Idaho Statesman? – Mi-Ai Parrish!

That’s right. Forget about the dude part. Blessed mother of god, they hired a hottie!

The $64 million question: will touchy-feely Star editor Mike Fannin be able to resist keeping his mitts off of her?

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Who’s minding the movie store at the Star?

One has to wonder. Especially after reading exiled Kansas City Star movie critic Robert W. Butler’s story last week about the demise of the founder of the AMC Kansas City FilmFest. A report that came out a handful of days before the newspaper’s watered down version of the tale appeared on Sunday.

"Longtime KC film fest leader steps down," shouts the Star‘s headline. "Jubilee founder Fred Andrews cites health reasons; board promises to continue his mission."

Hold it right there!

I’ve seen some news coverups, but this baby takes the cake.

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In the words of Rodney King, "Can’t we all just get along?"

That’s how Westport businessman Bill Nigro feels about the recurring weekend night raids on bars and restaurants in Westport spearheaded by KC Liquor Control and backed by uniformed members of the Kansas City Police force.

Totally unnecessary, Nigro says.

Task forces of police and badge-toting officials descend on local establishments during prime time weekend business hours, demanding to examine their liquor, food and health licenses. All the while, scaring off customers, interrupting the flow of business – and in at least one case – not allowing a customer to enter the business.

"I know the doorman at The Union of Westport has had to produce his liquor card for either police or Liquor Control at least three times in the last three weeks," Nigro says. "How often do you get asked to see your driver’s license? Places in Westport get checked almost every month. They want to see our business licenses. They want to see employee’s liquor cards. They want to close us down. I don’t understand."

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Maybe it’s just me…

But I strongly suspect lots of people in local TV news would be at least somewhat surprised to learn mild-mannered, former Channel 5 news director Don North just got back from spending three days with his wife and friends partying like banshees at the rock fest known as Bonnaroo.

Eminem, Arcade Fire, Widespread Panic, Buffalo Springfield, The Strokes, Henry Rollins, Lewis Black, Bela Fleck, Loretta Lynn, Scissor Sisters, String Cheese Incident and about a zillion other bands. A four day camping and music wilding, spread out across 700 acres in Manchester, Tennessee.

Forgive me in advance for asking, but how much dope did North smoke on the three day rapture?

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This just in…

Legendary KC crooner Marilyn Maye was rushed to a hospital earlier today and her weeklong series of sold-out shows at Jardine’s for Fathers Day week – slated to begin tomorrow – will have to be rescheduled.

"I’ve got bad news," says Jardine’s owner Beena Brandsgard. "Marilyn’s in the hospital. The shows are all canceled. She has three kidney stones."

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About Stanford & Sons comedy club’s unofficial new mascot…

You know, baby squirrel Hope that office manager Christy has been caring for and bringing to Stanford’s in the Legends.

"Oh, now she can’t come to work because somebody in the comments section said it was illegal," grouses Stanford’s Craig Glazer. "So the squirrel’s not at work anymore. I mean, she’ll be back at some point but my secretary got upset and didn’t want to risk it."

There’s more…

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In a perfect world, KanRocksas music fest would have ads running every which way but loose all over radio station The Buzz...

After all, The Buzz is the one local station that caters to most of the artists booked for the two-day festival August 5th and 6th at Kansas Speedway. However, Buzz owner Entercom has refused to allow KanRocksas to buy ads for the event on its airwaves.

Because two weeks later, the station is selling tickets to its own single day Beach Ball competing event at nearby LiveStrong Park.

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So much for focus groups…

It’s no secret that KSHB TV, Channel 41 has been on the lookout to hire a replacement for veteran, outgoing news anchor Elizabeth Alex. Alex is slated to bail at month’s end for a position at a local children’s shelter and to spend more time with her souvenir, boy toy husband from Romania.

So who’s gonna get the gig?

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I’ll make this brief because, as many of you know, I’m bullish on Star sports scribe Sam Mellinger…

And I know that being a columnist with a finite beat like sports is a mixed blessing. On one hand it’s a somewhat sexy subject, a lot of people follow the local teams and and you can say almost anything you want because they’re public figures. On the other, you’re stuck writing about the Royals for six months.

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Here we go again, but this time for all the money…

Talkers Magazine – the talk radio trade pub for folks like Tom Becka and Chris Stigall – has unleashed its list of Top Talkers to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the magazine.

Think of it, 20 years of talk radio dating to the year 1991. And that’s just for the magazine.

Guys like Dave Dawson, Mike Murphy and Mike Shanin rummaging around local airwaves well before that.

I can’t recall the exact date, but I remember when a young freelance writer named C.J. Janovy, working then as an office temp, had the bright idea in the early days of the Pitch to round up a blowhard by the name of Rush Limbaugh and hang him out to dry.

Did she ever.

C.J. taught El Rushbo a lesson he’d never forget.

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Whatever became of the nobler aspects of rock ‘n’ roll?

You know, the part where the promoters, radio personalities and stations actually cared about the artists, fans and listeners? As opposed to declaring war on one another over small-minded, petty, percieved self interests?

Remember the "Save the Buzz" campaign several years back to try and keep KC’s then failing, only alternative rock music station on the air? Parent company Entercom had marked it for extinction. Word leaked out. And no less than Entercom corporate overlord David Field rode to the Buzz’s rescue and vowed that it would continue.

Things like the radio station’s Church of Lazlo came to mean more than merely a repository for corporate cash.

Which brings us to Entercom’s fully declared war upon KanRocksas, KC’s largest two-day rock fest ever.

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