KC Confidential

Here’s a news story almost certain to result in zero shedding of tears…

Because at long last Wilks Broadcasting has reportedly struck a deal to sell its cluster of local radio stations and exit the Kansas City market.  The stations include, Mix 93.3 FM, KFKF FM, KBEQ FM and KCKC FM.

The pending sale to Steel City Media in Pittsburgh couldn’t have come soon enough for many current and former staffers at Wilks’ Kansas City stations.

That’s because Wilks – which bought the stations in January 2007    – is known to purchase groups of underperforming stations, slash expenses, boost revenues and then “flip” or sell the stations for a profit.

Unlike Entercom which is known for buying and operating the stations long term. Continue reading →

The May 2014 radio rankings and ratings are in…

And by a slim margin country music station KFKF-FM continues to top the charts…even after a steady, three month decline. Speaking of country music, the combined ratings of the three top country stations in the market adds up to just over 18 percent. That compares to a combined 16.5 share for Kansas City’s three leading rock stations, supporting the contention that Country is King in Kansas City.

However the success of country is not limited to here in the hinterlands.

Hardly.

Rolling Stone magazine – the iconic bible of rock music – just came out with its “Country Issue” in which it announced the launch of a new website, RollingStoneCountry.com and the opening of a Nashville office. Serious stuff.

And check out the issue’s money quote by country crooner Eric Church: “If Bruce Springsteen came out now, he’d live in the country world.”

Meanwhile, back at the bottom of the barrel, KC’s five month old Adult Album Alternative station KRBG FM The Bridge is nowhere to be found, and not just in the top 20 stations. It isn’t so much as garner a mention in Nielsen Audio’s list of 16 “other stations located in the market.”

I know, I know, ratings don’t matter for not-for-profit stations, all they need to do is raise money via donations from listeners. To which I respectfully ask,  what listeners?

Anyway, on with the show… Continue reading →

John Oliver

Play it again, Bob…

Seems some of you have been pointing your thumbs up to the occasional weigh ins by entertainment lawyer / blogger Bob Lefsetz. It’s definitely a little inside baseball on much of his writings and as Matt Donnelly pointed out to me at Wakarusa last weekend while complimenting Lefsetz, he’s no spring chicken, but he does have some thought provoking takes.

Here are a few highlights from Lefsetz sum up of  sat week’s most provocative topics:

BEST CLIP OF THE WEEK

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Climate Change Debate”:

“I watch no television other than Bill Maher. Oh, I pay for it, just call Time Warner and they’ll remind you if you excise TV from your bill, your Internet price will soar. But I’m now going to tune into John Oliver‘s program, all because of this clip.

He substituted on the “Daily Show” when Jon Stewart went off to make a movie, what a mistake that was, TV reaches everybody, films reach nobody, but still, I wasn’t paying attention.

Until this.                                                        

I used to say only animated characters could speak the truth, but today we rely on comedians too. Continue reading →

Look around, there’s not a lot of optimism where the U.S. Men’s National Team is concerned for this year’s World Cup…

The games kick off tomorrow with host country Brazil taking on Croatia and the U.S. team going against Ghana Monday in a field being referred to as  the “group of Death” (with Portugal and Germany).

So it makes perfect sense for USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann to field the best 11 players available, right?

Not so fast.

In a controversial move Klinsmann cut what some believe to be the best player ever to play for the United States, Landon Donovan. The news late last month came as a shock to many soccer fans, however from October until the late May cut by Klinsmann, Donovan scored zero goals for his LA Galaxy against lesser quality MLS players. Far lesser than the ones he would likely have faced in the World Cup.

So was cutting Donovan a good move, the right move? 

“Well no, the thing is he’s one of the best 23 players in the United States undoubtedly,” says KCC soccer scribe Matt Donnelly. “It comes down to a personality conflict between him and the coach. I don’t think that anybody can say he’s not in the top 23 and he’s probably in the top 11.” Continue reading →

Jason Whitlock is the sportswriter Kansas Citians loved to hate…

Until his propensity for burning bridges and getting fired lead to a nasty split with the Kansas City Star four years back. The falling out left a twisted trail of acrimony and ugly accusations, similar to how most of Whitlock’s media divorces have gone down.

Whitrlock continued to blog for Fox Sports – albeit sans the seven figure paycheck he was rumored to be receiving – until ESPN recycled him last August with the intention of Jason lording over a blog for promising young, black sportswriters.

“It sounds like an unrealistic concept,” a former Star editor told me at the time. “Pretty bizarre to set Jason up as mentor/role model, unless he’s matured some. Hopefully Jason will put  these  younger  writers  on a good path, not a path to getting off-track.”

A year later and Big Sexy has yet to debut the so-called Black Grantland and the term Uncle Tom is beginning to surface among fellow black sportswriters. Continue reading →

What’s in a word?

Plenty when it comes to sorting out the nuances of alternative and/or investigative journalism. Because in order to excel at either of the above two, one needs to bring to the table what amounts to – let’s just call it – a suspicious mind.

In yesterday’s Star Magazine, my pal Cindy Hoedel – one of the world’s nicest human beings – writes about a study published by the American Academy of Neurology that found that cynics were two and one-half times as likely to develop dementia.

“As a card-carrying optimist, I have two reactions to the finding: Relief at not being in the high-risk group, and surprise that no one hit on the connection between cynicism and dementia before,” Cindy writes. “I’ve always thought of cynicism as its own type of dementia, a self-administered toxic drip that skews perception and stunts learning.”

Now back to the journalism connects…

There’s a fine line between what some people view as cynicism and skepticism. Continue reading →

Oldies acts can be disappointing, seriously disappointing…

Trust me on this, I’ve seen my share. The worst maybe was a Guess Who show at the Uptown years ago with only the lowly bass player remaining from the original cast. For the record, it wasn’t my show – nor did I buy a ticket – I was consulting on promotions for a former Uptown Theater owner. Otherwise, no way would I have been there.

I digress.

To call the TV show born band The Monkees a super group would be a gross exaggeration. That said, a combination of  widespread exposure on a popular television sitcom (that ran for two years starting in 1967) and a string of – let’s call it, seven hit singles – elevated the fatuous foursome to dizzying heights that many would categorize as iconic.

Especially Baby Boomers transitioning through their teens and 20s in the late 1960s as well as subsequent watchers of the show’s ubiquitous reruns.

All of which made for a packed house – and a seated show – last week at the Uptown.  Continue reading →