KC Confidential

From the ever short annals of Groupon – the email discount biz I’ve long defended – comes an unusual proposition…

Look, in spite of what some readers have groused and grumbled about, there are sound reasons for businesses such as restaurants and oil change artists to go the way of the Groupon. It’s a great way to advertise and you reach a ton of potential new customers. And the discounts – when well thought out and properly structured – make total sense.

So as often as not, it’s win-win proposition for both the issuer of the Groupon and the customer buying it.

And now that everyone under the sun is in the game, the question becomes, what won’t they Groupon?

The answer being, nothing. There’s pretty much nothing Groupon won’t stoop to selling.

Not after its hawking of long term parking at KCI airport this past weekend.

That’s right, it’s come to that – they’re hawking $7 parking deals at the airport now.

Naturally, Groupon sicced its ever-obtuse deal describers on it.

“When neglected for long periods of time, cars may act out by sleeping in the street and consorting with tractors,” the KCI descripto begins. “Give your car attention while you’re away with this Groupon.”

Huh?

What’s getting a parking discount at the airport have to do with pampering your Mustang?

It’s not like somebody’s going to detail the car while you puddle jump to Des Moines for Comi-Con.

The brains behind the airport parking Groupon wouldn’t be happen to be KCI marketing main man Joe McBride would it?

“It was not,” McBride says. “It was the Holiday Inn at the airport.”

However, it’s not as though McBride didn’t entertain the notion.

“It’s been a while since we looked at it but it just didn’t make sense,” he says.

And while at first blush, it may not appear to make much sense to lots of people, it apparently did to a couple thousand local airport parkers who snapped up over 480 of the $7, three-day parking and shuttle service deals, more than 670 of the five day, $12 deals and more than 1,000 of the $15 seven day deals. Saving, $8, $13 and $20 respectively.

So much for consorting with tractors…

Who doesn’t love a good, old-fashioned train wreck?

And for the past four months, the wreck that won’t go away involves Kansas City’s leading jazz club Jardine’s. But hold it a minute before we go any further.

I hereby promise not to bog down in the endless stream of details – the few ups and many downs of this pathetically sad, ridiculously lame tale of musical chairs.

Suffice it to say, there are plenty of losers and villains in this jazz soap and precious few good guys and gals. But after making contact with Jardine’s owner Beena Raja and most of the key players yesterday, I can now report that…

It’s still a nightmare of monumental proportions.

Where to begin?

How about that despite a dearth of living, breathing, club-going jazz heads, cheerleaders like the Kansas City Star and oldsters of a certain stripe like little more than to pretend that Kansas City Jazz remains an important art form. Cherished by the masses who somehow are nowhere to be found in numbers greater than 20 to 50 – sometimes maybe 100 – on any given night.

Don’t get me wrong.

Having personally witnessed dozens of up-and-coming jazz musicians here  (and their substandard counterparts in other cities), Kansas City is in a league of its own for quality jazz talent.

But in a city of 2 million people Jardine’s was lucky to lure a hundred or two on the best of its nights.

Leaving amazingly talented musicians like Mark Lowery, Hermon Mehari and Mark Southerland to play tiny, often ill equipped venues and chain restaurants and hotel lobbys before audiences more interested in polite conversation than revering KC’s live art form.

Jardine’s was the exception to that unfortunate rule, but since late last year it’s gone dark.

A number of people stepped up to try and save the club but one by one they fell by the wayside.

Until a pair of gay dudes with few connections to jazz came to the rescue. Or so it seemed. However none of the local jazz players seem to have a clue what happened to them, and they’ve not returned calls or texts requesting a comment for weeks.

More recently landlord American Century put the club up for lease to any and all.

The latest? At least three suitors hoping to buy Jardines remain in play.

Beleaguered Jardine’s owner Beena Raja says they include a member of former local band The Nortons, the owner of the Phoenix jazz club, former Sprint exec Paul Wilson and possibly the two dudes who pulled the wool over Fox 4 and The Pitch, announcing last December that they’d purchased the club.

The current state of the club according to Raja?

"American Century still has not given me a repossession notice yet so it’s still up for sale," she says. "And they’re taking the position now that they’re not asking for any back rent."

Until recently sources say American Century’s leasing rep was asking for back rent in the neighborhood of $25,000 to $30,000 for parties interesting in reopening Jardine’s as a jazz club.

"The position they’re taking as of last Monday is the property managers are allowed to show the space to anybody and negotiate a new lease," Raja says. "So they’re cutting their losses."

New owners would have the option but not the obligation to pay former owner Greg Halstead for Jardine’s innards – tables, chairs, fixtures and restaurant equipment. Because Raja defaulted on a $50,000 note still owed to Halstead and secured by the club’s contents.

They wouldn’t have to pay Raja either except for one thing.

They would have to pay her if they wanted to retain Jardine’s the 3 am liquor and Sunday licenses which they would be foolish not to hang onto while the getting’s good.

"I guess they could rent the place but if they want the 3 am license, they’ll have to come to me," Raja says. "I mean, they can apply for a new liquor license and they’ll have to pay the back taxes, but they’ll never get the 3 am license and the Sunday license will be hard to get."

For the rights to the Jardine’s name and to transfer the licenses before the time to do so runs out, Raja is asking $20,000.

As for the dudes who claimed ownership of Jardine’s last year and later told KCC they planned on reopening by early February, "They’re just complete fakes, I don’t know what they want to do," Raja says. "The Phoenix guys are interested in buying it, I’m meeting with them…"

The gentlemen did not return requests for comment for this and the last several columns.

Raja’s take on who the best bet to get Jardine’s is?

"I don’t want to predict that and jinx myself again," she says. "But I don’t think the gay guys are gonna get it – it’s just a mess."

Radio can get messy at times…

It’s pretty much a bloodsport anymore with kickass air talent having to work for pennies on the dollar with precious little support.

And if you think the nearly 1,500 people that have bought the farm at the Kansas City Star in recent years is an anomaly, think again.

Stroll through the ghost town headquarters of local radio stations here and count the empty desks.

But let’s move on, shall we?

To the under-reported mess at the Entercom-owned station at 1660 AM.

You may know it as classical radio station KXTR-FM. Or the hastily conceived Radio Bach (a name change enacted last year so Entercom could prevent its legendary call letters KUDL from being pirated by the competition.

That after Entercom somewhat foolishly blew up KUDL FM last spring in order to simulcast KMBZ News Radio 980 AM on the FM dial to try and pick up the more affluent, FM listeners.

Just one problem…

Not only did Entercom kiss hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues that KUDL was billing goodbye, the combined ratings of KMBZ on both AM and FM not only failed to increase – they declined!

In short, the move backfired because not only did Entercom lose revenue, it lost listeners.

In its latest gamble, Entercom announced recently it would kill off Radio Bach and launch an all-business, KMBZ sister station March 5th on 1660.

However, in one of the most under-reported local business stories in years, the poster boy for KMBZ’s new business station – Mike Shanin – reportedly refused to go on the air hours before the launch. Placing Entercom in the embarrassing position of having to find a new lead host and delaying the station’s official launch an additional month when Krista Klaus steps in for Shanin. Klaus will debut Monday, elevating the station out of its current "soft opening" status.

After Entercom can locate and hire a producer for her show. Radio Bach and KXTR main man Patrick Neas had reportedly been offered the producer job at the new KMBz biz channeled but had turned it down after being offered only a fraction of what Entercom had been paying him on Radio Bach.

Entercom was able to do damage control by getting a local media blogger to gloss over the mess.

Allowing KC Confidential to share with you now what radio insiders have been saying about Shanin’s puzzling behavior for weeks.

"Supposedly two hours before Mike’s show was scheduled to launch, he said he was not going to go on the air," says one source.

The reason being?

"Well, it wasn’t because he wanted more money, he wanted Entercom to hire a producer for his show to do show prep and schedule guests, freeing him to come in, read the prepared news and banter with callers."

In other words, rather than do the leg work, the stodgy septuagenarian reportedly only wanted to show up and showboat.

Cutbacks in radio revenues had largely forced KMBZ and other stations to eliminate the producer position leaving only what in the trade they call "board ops" to answer, screen calls and make sure commercials, news and the like are properly embedded.

Prior to Shanin’s recent demotion from co-host of KMBZ’s embattled afternoon drive, his partner Scott Parks was the dude mainly responsible for acting as the show’s producer, sources say.

As part of Shanin’s new gig he was to do morning, mini business reports on KMBZ.

Shanin also was reportedly pissed because the first two VIP guests he’d book were unaware that Entercom hadn’t really promoted the show – opting for a soft opening – and Shanin was embarrassed they’d be going on the air with fewer listeners than I have IQ points.

And as might be imagined, Entercom head Dave Alpert was reportedly furious with Shanin and checked with Entercom’s lawyers about firing him. However with large advertsing cutbacks in the wake of Rush Limbaugh‘s stunningly sexist blunder a few weeks back, KMBZ could ill afford to risk pissing off and losing Shanin advertisers, so it reportedly decided to keep him on for the time being at KMBZ, says another source.

"So they cancelled Mike’s contract with KMBZ and kept him on on an hourly basis," says the source.

The odds of Entercom keeping Shanin on for long now that he’s bitten the hand that feeds him?

"Not very good," says the source. "When you know you’ve pissed off Dave Alpert, the odds of Mike hanging onto that job very long are slim and none."

Now here’s a little reward for readers who waded thru this long and wearisome mess:

"If this new KMBZ business station works, the tentative plan is to move it from 1660 AM to KMBZ 980 AM’s signal which is much stronger. So it will be KMBZ FM’s business partner and Entercom will leave the main KMBZ on FM."

As Jayhawk fan extraordinaire Brett Mosiman eloquently stated last week that many, if not most, KU basketball fans have moved beyond their bitter hatred since being cruely jilted by North Carolina coach Roy Williams nine years ago…

I’ve got a slightly different outlook on the subject.

When someone lies to, pledges eternal devotion and then summarily dumps their significant other it can get ugly. Starting with the five stages of grief, which I unfortunately experienced first hand the hard way three years ago courtesy of my ex.

You know, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

I messed up in 2008 – my mom died in July, my dog in August, my job in November  and my marriage in December. Not exactly the kind of roll many people would relish going thru, especially in such short order. And that doesn’t EVEN count the ridiculously dumb dating and romantic misadventures that ensued.

But life goes on right?

Three years later, my ex’s polished off four out of five but she’s hanging on to anger for good measure.

Make no mistake it was a difficult time.

But let’s get back to Roy Boy and the tens of thousands of KU fans who hated his guys.

The all-knowing sports media types love to pretend that they and they’re all knowing and KU fans are over hating Roy Williams. But I’m going to offer up an other point of view, then you guys can rip me for not having a clue.

So hang with me here…

Your wife, girlfriend, husband or boyfriend drop you for somebody else like a bag of boiling hot peanuts.

That after vowing eternal, undying love. You hate their guts, right?

No way parting is anything approaching sweet effing, dad gum sorrow.

So it was in the case of Roy Willimas – for years KU fan hatred towards him was palpable.

As it generally is with the spouse on the losing end of the romantic stick.

Until maybe the dude or woman who stole your significant other loses their life savings and/or job or gets crotch cancer or whatever. That kinda closure can ease the pain and suffering.

Making it far easier to move on and not look back.

But if the low down, no good departing scumbag lives happily ever while you go to heck in a handbasket, screw ’em. Chances are you’ll carry that grude for a while.

In the case of Roy Williams and his replacement Bill Self, KU’s beating Roy and winning a National Championship in 2008 went a long way towards taking out the sting of Roy bailing. As did beating Williams and North Carolina yesterday and heading to the Final Four.

But why pretend, no way KU fans didn’t relish laying the pipe to Roy and North Carolina.

And we don’t need media suck ups to tell us differently.

Clearly Roy wants to be remembered as a totally cool guy – not half hero and half you-know what hole.

I can tell you this because I’ve experienced and talked to others who’ve seen the flip side of Williams personality that most fans will probably never see. Because with rare exception sports fans only see what they wanna see – the winsa versus the losses and the carefully meted out aw shucks comments.

There’s a reason why they seldom see that other side..

Two, actually. First because beat writers NEVER want to piss off their sources – especially popular ones like Roy Williams.  Because it handicaps their ability to get much needed quotes and behind-the-scenes scoops from the pissed off party. And that affects their job ratings and thus their paychecks.

Secondly, most sportswriters and broadcasters are groupies at heart.

Don’t think for one minute they don’t relish having cozy relationships with rock star like players and coaches. And to cement those relationships they try their darndest not to hound or piss those people off.

There are exceptions but…

I can tell you that behind the scenes Roy Williams has an explosive temper and he won’t hesitate to unleash it if one goes so far as to ask him a tough question he doesn’t want to answer. And since reporters seldom do – Williams has become spoiled over the years and has little tolerance of those who do.

Want an example?

In the early years after KU athletic director Al Bohl had come to KU I was up in the newly redone football press box and high dollar donor suites area at Memorial Stadium during a football game.

Williams had a nice schmooze suite to recruit basketball players and when I politely ducked in to say hello, he was very cordial. After a bit of small talk, I asked the question I really wanted the anwer to; was the talk about KU wanting to tear down Allen Field House and replace it with a state of the art venue that could hold thousands more fans and bring in beacoup bucks something he was in agreement to.

At that point it appeared like to be on a fast track to becoming a reality.

In the blink of an eye Williams face grew red and he snapped out a very angry answer to the effect that it would be over his dead body before that happened. That ended our cheery talk.

William knew I was a reporter with The Kansas City Star and that he’d lost his temper and there was a good chance he’s his angry answer dissing KU management. So he trioed to nip it in the bud.

Uncomfotable as it had suddenly become, I thanked Williams and exited his suite.

That was on a Saturday,

In Monday’s mail a letter to my editor at the Star arrived saying I had no business being in the press box and KU greatly resented that I’d come there and invaded Williams space.

Bear in mind I’d shown my Star credentials and been invited in. I’d also touched base immediately with KU’s sports media main man and had been given a warm welcome.

However Williams had reported me to his PR protector and made sure my editor knew I’d tresspassed. She was in the early morning news meeting of editors and I was instructed she wanted to see mean immediately aftre the meeting adjourned.

Naturally I gulped, knowing as most Star reporters do that you’re was pretty much guilty until proven innocent when a local big shot complains you did something wrong.

However the mail arrived when I waited on Death Row for my dressing down and lo and behold in it was a personal note from KU AD Al Bohl thanking me for coming up the the press box and basically saying I was welcome any time.

Uh, saved by the Bohl!

In other words, Williams tried to get me in trouble at the Star but had narrowly missed.

When the editorial meeting at the Star was done, I handed my editor my get out of jail free card, she smiled a smile of relief and the matter was resolved without Williams having laid a glove on me.

As for what Williams told me that fateful Saturday about tearing Allen Field House was, it would be over his cold, dead body.

That’s the Williams I and others got a glimpse of. A short tempered control freak who liked to play the, "Well, I’ll be dad gummed" card with the public as long as the media played along – which they largely did.

So hey, don’t mind me – go ahead and forgive the due – even you "wine and cheese’ ticketholders.