Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher
Today: My Favorite Joe Posnanski Kansas City Star Column
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October 9, 1999…you are there:
"The grandest moment of my distinguished two-month radio career was no doubt that Tuesday afternoon in early August when the voice of my radio partner, Brooks Melchior, suddenly disappeared," Posnanski wrote of his brief broadcasting career. "He was in River Falls, Wis., at the time and his microphone had, in technical terms, gone dead or something. Those were the audacious, early days of 1250 AM, a time when it seemed that millions of dollars of sophisticated and delicate radio equipment had been installed by forest animals.
Anyway, Brooks’ voice cut off suddenly, and everything was quiet. I mean everything. The whole world was quiet. And I was left with the age-old adventure of filling time that has faced every great radio voice from Walter Winchell to Orson Welles to Mike and the Mad Dog.
Like those men, I rose to face the challenge.
"Uh, you’ve got to say something," producer Nate Bukaty said through my earphones.
Hearne: Crossroads Grows from Controversial Pipe Dream to KC Concert Institution
The concept of live music in the Crossroads started out as part controversy, part pipe dream…
But as they say, time flies.
"This must be year five for the Crossroads," says promoter Brett Mosiman. "Holy crap! That’s hard to believe. Who would have thought that we would have made it, huh?"
In addition to calming area loft dweller’s concerns, Mosiman and partner Stretch faced formidable competition for outdoor shows from established venues like Sandstone, Starlight, the City Market, Westport and more. But instead of playing it safe and booking a handful of concerts, Mosiman dived in full force and it’s been growing both in number and quality of the acts ever since.
Today: Jolting Joe Posnanski Exits KC Via Flowery Farewell
A few highlights and the between the lines on Joe Posnanski’s farewell ode…
It was a nice gesture for the Star to choke out a handful of hundred bucks to driveway deliver Joe’s farewell to KC column (he’s moving to North Carolina). That said, it would have been even nicer had the newspaper addeda little reporting to the mix. That way – in theory – readers wouldn’t be left with quite so many unanswered questions.
Like why’s Joe leaving KC and what exactly awaits him in NC.
Left to his own, Posnanski merely says he’s bailing "for many reasons, personal and professional."
What was that again?
Starsearch: Houston, We’ve Got a (Dead Soldiers & Noblemen) Problem
Geez, I take off for a week to Houston and all heck breaks lose at KC’s newspaper of record…
But no big surprises really on the layoffs and cutbacks KC Confidential forecast in early April. With a one-two punch of shrinking circulation and sour economy, the Kansas City Star and other print publications (like the Pitch) are trapped in a long term, downward trend – not a passing recession- as its publisher likes to imply.
Let’s look at it for a minute, then move on to the fleecing of dead soldiers.
Today: Morale Low at 18th & Grand Ghost Town
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This just in…
The psychological, post-layoffs state of mind among staffers at the Kansas City Star: disheartened.
"Everybody is waiting for their turn," says one. "We’re all bummed and it’s like, ‘When is it my turn?’ You look around everywhere and it’s so empty. There’s nobody around anymore. It’s the atmosphere. You come in every day with things looking like a morgue.
Today: NewsRadio KMBZ Unleashes Ratings Spin on Advertisers
To riff on the old Richard Pryor movie, which way is up?
An email blast from NewsRadio KMBZ to advertisers boasts, "Today we have the facts to prove it! KMBZ AM/FM sees over 25% audience growth in just the first two weeks!"
A bar chart included in the blast shows for persons 12-plus, Monday thru Sunday, KMBZ grew from 178,700 listeners the fourth week of March on AM-only to 231,000 listeners the second week in April broadcasting on 980 AM and 98.1 FM, the former home of KUDL FM.
That’s a 29 percent jump!
Today: Funk & Fam’s Last City Hall Stand – You Are There!
Take a deep breath, the car-crash, fun-to-watch era of KCMO politics is o-v-e-r…
It landed with a whimper – no bang – last week in a marathon, boring-beyond belief, last hurrah City Council meeting. Chaired, of course, by outgoing KC mayor Mark Funkhouser. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, by most accounts it was massively boring.
Thank god I was two hours late!
One reason: a two-hour circle jerk between outgoing pols congratulating one another for the piss poor jobs they’d done the past 4 years.
Which might have been interesting except…
Hearne: Really Bad Day at the Office for Star Movie Critic & Local Art Houses
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There’s more to the axing yesterday of Kansas City Star movie critic Robert Butler than meets the eye…
For starters, Butler is the first Star staffer of the newspaper’s layoffs era that I know of to take a double hit. Two years ago he was given the choice of bailing with six months pay and a year’s benefits or taking a 25 percent pay hit, loss of vacation and dialed back benefits.
He opted to stay at the Star.
So yesterday’s pink slip means Butler’s being fired from his parttime position.
"That means he has to wait six months before he can freelance any movie reviews for the Star," says a source.
It gets worse…
Today: Looking Back (And Ahead) at Monday’s Star Layoffs
It was a rough ride but life goes on at 18th and Grand…
I was traveling yesterday and unable to weigh in on the Kansas City Star layoffs first reported here April 11th. Upwards of two dozen staffers were released into the wild, according to publisher Mark Zieman.
Here’s what I was told by insiders.
First and foremost on the hit list was movie critic Robert Butler. Not a big surprise. Butler’s been on death row for more than two years since then Johnson County Sun columnist Steve Rose fingered him in 2008 as journalistically extinct.
Face it, people who like to watch movies for free, write about them and get paid to do so are an increasingly endangered species.
Today: One Hit Wonder; Will KC’s American Idol Winner David Cook’s New CD Strike Gold?
Down but not out…
It’s been three long years since American Idol winner David Cook basked in the limelight of a new major label album. Let alone enjoyed the kind of next-big-thing media darling status that lead the suburb of Blue Springs to post signs declaring itself his home.
Some have said the 2008 champ’s 15 Minutes were well past up.
Au contraire.
Today: Confessions of a Funk Fan & Look Back at The Past 4 Years at City Hall
Where to begin…
Sitting through yesterday’s final City Council meeting for outgoing KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser & council members like one-termers Cathy Jolly and Beth Gothstein unleashed a flood of bizarre recollections.
Like my former colleague at the Star, Yael Abouhalkah, I had been smitten by Funk’s off-kilter outlook four years back. And with a highly read column and an ultra-close election, like Yael, I clearly had a hand in helping elect Funk.
Unlike Yael, I thought much of the early on Funk sniping was contrived and somewhat bogus.
Today: Lezak on What Lies Ahead for KC’s Twister Season
Is Kansas City next in line for this year’s Twister Epidemic?
St. Louis, Tennessee, Alabama – the 2011 tornado season has started with a bang. Yet we here in Wizard of Oz country have yet to see hide nor hair of a funnel cloud.
Are we in the lull before the storms?
"This is going to be an all-time record for tornadoes for a single month for the month of April," says KSHB TV weather wonk Gary Lezak. "And the tornado outbreak we had today, April 27th, in Alabama, will go down as one of the worst in U.S. history. I know there were 140 tornado reports today as of 10 p.m. And there will probably be another 10 or 20 more by midnight."
As for KC missing out on the action thus far…
Hearne: (Almost) All Hell to Break Loose in Westport This Weekend
There’s a storm cloud hovering over Westport and it’s poised to break loose this weekend…
The bar formerly known as Stanford & Sons, more recently Johnny Dare’s, plans to reopen Friday or Saturday as the Hell Bar Rock Lounge. The new biker bar’s sign went up yesterday with a pair of trident-packing, nude, silhouetted devil hotties.
Today: KC Star Financials & Cutbacks Update, Monday D-Day Alert
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You read it here first….
On April 11th to be exact. About the seemingly inevitable quarterly Kansas City Star layoffs and/or cutbacks of the past 4 years that appear poised to go down Monday.
For two reasons; ongoing, declining revenues both advertising and circulation. Which are measured and marked to the market at the end of every financial quarter.
And with with parent company McClatchy‘s newly announced first quarter revenues down 9.5 percent from 2010, the handwriting’s on the wall.
The cutbacks go down the Monday after pay day. At least that’s the way the game has been played in recent years.
Trust me, I’ve played it.
There are a few wild cards in the mix, but first let’s read a few tea leaves in the just released financials.
Star publisher Mark Zieman likes to explain away the ongoing cuts based on a sour economy. But that’s just the tip of the newspaper freefall iceberg.
Today: Dust Storm Closes Jardine’s; New Digs Debut Wednesday, New Menu Next Week
Think of it as the post-remodeling storm, pain-in-the-butt lull…
Jardine‘s jazz club on the Plaza will close tonight and reopen Wednesday in phoenix-like form.
"We sanded all the floors yesterday," says owner Beena Brandsgard. "And we have to close tonight because there’s so much dust everywhere. But the place looks great – it’s completely revamped."
Jazz crooner Kathleen Holeman’s show tonight has been canceled and will be rescheduled.
As for Jardine’s improvements and new look…
Hearne: No Fooling, Plaza ‘Falloon Rises Tonight, Complete With Patio
There’s just no quit to rumors about the Plaza’s Granfalloon sports bar…
Yes, it did get its teet in a financial wringer two years ago via its here today, gone tomorrow Granfalloon North. And rumors that its vaunted Plaza local could take a hit were not entirely unfounded. However it made it through the storm and has signed a new lease.
As for its recent closing, not a problem. It actually is for remodeling, not one of those faux remodelings or plumbing repairs area bars and restaurants often use to hide their liquor license wrist slappings.
That said, when someone said they were concerned about the closing I popped by for a check. Remodeling, all right.
When will it reopen, I asked a worker? "Supposed to be tomorrow, " he said sarcastically.
Guess what? They made it!
Hearne: KanRocksas Feasts Off Lollapalooza, Misses Foo Fighters, Plays Name Game
About the music lineup for this summer’s KanRocksas Festival at Kansas Speedway…
Eminem and Muse are Friday and Saturday’s headliners, with Girl Talk. Flaming Lips, Perfect Circle, Kid Cudi, Black Keys, Primus and Arctic Monkeys backing the two-day camping fest lineup.
Any chance of rumored headliner acts Foo Fighters or Red Hot Chili Peppers being added to the bill?
"No," Fritz says. "Eminem and Muse are the two headliners. I mean, there’s going to be another 15 bands announced, but nothing on that level."
A front page Kansas City Star story today missed its mark in addressing a possible conflct Chicago’s Lollalpalooza.
Fact is, KanRocksas is feeding off Lollalpalooza by luring its talent while the bands are in the area.
Today: Kansas Speedway Rock Festival Will Be a Lollapalooza; Primus, Girl Talk, Flaming Lips?
Seems everybody’s lips are sealed until 2 p.m. today…
Well, almost everybody’s lips. That regarding the queer-sounding music fest called the KanRocksas Music Festival. Talk of more than 20 acts August 5 and 6 at a local venue that some say could be Livestrong Park. Others the Kansas Speedway.
On a scale of 10, how big a deal is it?
"It’s a 12, dude," says one area entertainment exec. "This is the biggest thing in Kansas City this summer!"
Here’s the deal: It will go down at the Kansas Speedway with the lineup that reportedly includes Primus, Flaming Lips & Girl Talk.
Other possibile acts in a 20-plus band lineup include the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters.
Reportedly, it’s a mad plan by a recent millionaire who sold his company and wants to host a kickass concert.
Hearne: KanRocksas Fest to Become Kansas City’s Bonnaroo
It’s like this…
The dramatic announcement of a geeky sounding music fest – KanRocksas -at Kansas Speedway this summer may seem haphazard, but that’s not the case, says promoter Chris Fritz.
"There was some logic to it," Fritz muses. "The idea here is to make this an incredible music experience for the music fans."
More to the point, an annual experience…
Today: Radio Ratings Shocker! Funny 102.5 Yuks its Way Towards Top
There’s really only one word to describe new Cumulus radio station Funny 102.5, Wow!
In a single month of existence, the 24/7 comedy station exploded onto the scene in the No. 7 slot – with a 4.7 share – for adults ages 25 to 54 during the prime listening hours of 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday .
To put that in persepctive, that’s nearly double News Radio KMBZ’s 2.7 share and 17th place finish.
Here are the March Top 10 ratings in the key adults 25-54 demo for Monday thru Friday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
