KRMG Changes?

[Ed Thomas]

You seem to be so anti-KRMG that you are tripping over youself at the opportunity to rip them. While I can certainly understand this desire, and I appreciate the passion in your approach, you just come off as a guy with an ax to grind. And maybe you are.

I have no ax to grind, have never worked there and I'm not going to banter in personal attacks. What I know is what I hear, on and off air. What I've said about the quality of the product stands. If you can cash a paycheck and live with extending your 'ethics goal line' day after day, year after year like some people in the industry and some people at KRMG (I don't have to mention names because its obvious), then I guess you have nothing to worry about. I personally can't and won't do that.

[OKCRadioGuy]

Yup.  And unfortunately these days the harsh truth is anyone that doesn't say "how high would you like me to jump sir?!" proably either won't be hired or won't survive cuts.  Today's medium and major market radio isn't about quality anymore.  It's all about mulitasking talents and keeping one's head very low.  Sadly, that's the reason our industry is becoming more irrelivant by the day.  About the only place in the comm band real radio seems to be happening anymnore is in smaller market clusters, for the most part.  Places like Ada, Ponca City, Weatherford/Elk City/Clinton, McAlester, Ardmore, Lawton, etc. still play real radio the best they can.  They are still involved with their communities and relivant.  The big boys keep trying to shoot themselves in the foot instead.  I say if they want to ruin their business, that's their own problem.  The next hickup in the industry might shake out some of their lesser stations to be sold to people that actually care.  The sooner the better IMHO.

[ionosphere]

You seem to be so anti-KRMG that you are tripping over youself at the opportunity to rip them. While I can certainly understand this desire, and I appreciate the passion in your approach, you just come off as a guy with an ax to grind. And maybe you are.

I have no ax to grind, have never worked there and I'm not going to banter in personal attacks. What I know is what I hear, on and off air. What I've said about the quality of the product stands. If you can cash a paycheck and live with extending your 'ethics goal line' day after day, year after year like some people in the industry and some people at KRMG (I don't have to mention names because its obvious), then I guess you have nothing to worry about. I personally can't and won't do that.

I'm simply saying that the manner in which you are crafting your messages seem to have a personal lean.

I can't disagree with anything you are saying about KRMG's on air product (if you've read this board often, you would know I've said the same thing myself before), but I do think it is more than a little curious that you are only pointing the finger at 71st and Yale when KFAQ has been doing the same thing since they flipped to News/Talk nearly 10 years ago.

And while I am in no way defending KRMG, I will say that they are only following industry trends and listener demand. At the end of the day, radio is like any other business. To stay relevant, you have to stay competitive. And the only way to stay competitive in radio these days is to push the envelope. It isn't a good thing, but that's the way it is.

We need to remember that KRMG is no longer a "news" station. They are a talk station that airs some news. Since they are no longer a news station, there is no need for a true news staff, including a journalistic News Director. The writing is on the wall...Marshall Stewart, John Durkee, Richard Dowdell...they're all gone. Replaced with TV has-beens and market climbers. And while I'm sure there are people at KRMG who are trying to walk an ethical path, the Joe Kelleys and Drew Anderssens of the world (the folks who really run things there) simply aren't interested...and the ratings are, unfortunately, on their side.

KRMG and KFAQ do what "news/talk" stations do now. It isn't anything new. Talk radio is filled with hate, misinformation, half-truths and, yes, lies. Hosts (local and syndicated alike) do what they can to generate interest in their shows, and listeners buy into it. Hosts like Larry King and Bruce Williams can't survive in today's talk radio landscape because they aren't controversial enough. It isn't right, but it isn't illegal. And honestly, the only thing you or I can do about it is pick another station.

[Glenn Quagmire]

You seem to be so anti-KRMG that you are tripping over youself at the opportunity to rip them. While I can certainly understand this desire, and I appreciate the passion in your approach, you just come off as a guy with an ax to grind. And maybe you are.

I have no ax to grind, have never worked there and I'm not going to banter in personal attacks. What I know is what I hear, on and off air. What I've said about the quality of the product stands. If you can cash a paycheck and live with extending your 'ethics goal line' day after day, year after year like some people in the industry and some people at KRMG (I don't have to mention names because its obvious), then I guess you have nothing to worry about. I personally can't and won't do that.

I'm simply saying that the manner in which you are crafting your messages seem to have a personal lean.

I can't disagree with anything you are saying about KRMG's on air product (if you've read this board often, you would know I've said the same thing myself before), but I do think it is more than a little curious that you are only pointing the finger at 71st and Yale when KFAQ has been doing the same thing since they flipped to News/Talk nearly 10 years ago.

And while I am in no way defending KRMG, I will say that they are only following industry trends and listener demand. At the end of the day, radio is like any other business. To stay relevant, you have to stay competitive. And the only way to stay competitive in radio these days is to push the envelope. It isn't a good thing, but that's the way it is.

We need to remember that KRMG is no longer a "news" station. They are a talk station that airs some news. Since they are no longer a news station, there is no need for a true news staff, including a journalistic News Director. The writing is on the wall...Marshall Stewart, John Durkee, Richard Dowdell...they're all gone. Replaced with TV has-beens and market climbers. And while I'm sure there are people at KRMG who are trying to walk an ethical path, the Joe Kelleys and Drew Anderssens of the world (the folks who really run things there) simply aren't interested...and the ratings are, unfortunately, on their side.

KRMG and KFAQ do what "news/talk" stations do now. It isn't anything new. Talk radio is filled with hate, misinformation, half-truths and, yes, lies. Hosts (local and syndicated alike) do what they can to generate interest in their shows, and listeners buy into it. Hosts like Larry King and Bruce Williams can't survive in today's talk radio landscape because they aren't controversial enough. It isn't right, but it isn't illegal. And honestly, the only thing you or I can do about it is pick another station.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Unfortunately the radio/tv/media product most of us grew up with, went to college/paid our dues to study/work in has changed. Radio isn't what it was. When I turn on "Tulsa's modern rock station" and hear a song in heavy rotation that was popular almost 20 years ago I know things have changed. I imagine myself 20 years ago tuning into the "modern rock" station only to hear songs from the early 70s. It never happened. But, 1992 was a time when things were different.

Sadly, things have changed. Radio hasn't changed for the better. I could wax poetic about the reasons why.

There is more competition for ears (cell phones, IPOD, SiriusXM) combined with the inability of new music to reach critical mass. 20 years ago everyone my age listened to the radio. Today everyone who's in their teens has a million different things tugging at their attention spans. Fewer people listen, thus fewer songs become "hits." When fewer songs become "hits" you're stuck with previous hits.

This is why Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and .38 Special's "Hold on Loosely" are played on Tulsa radio with such frequency. Visit DFW, Wichita, Little Rock, Memphis, and you'll find the same thing. 

Radio stations like KRMG are in survival mode. Thus a station once known for its news relies on Rush, Hannity, Boortz, and Savage. That is KRMG's bread and butter. The news while important comes in second.

[tulsarick]

I'm curious. So many people claim talk radio spouts "hate". Can anyone provide one quote from a mainstream conservative backing that up? 

[Glenn Quagmire]

I'm curious. So many people claim talk radio spouts "hate". Can anyone provide one quote from a mainstream conservative backing that up? 

Really Tulsarick? Really?

[OKCRadioGuy]

The whole Savage show?  I could transcribe it I suppose, but why?  Seriously, I'm a financial conservative that agrees with the majority of what Savage says, but he's about a caustic as they get.

[Glenn Quagmire]

(In response to the President's Wednesday speech on Afghanistan)

"What better way to fire up the Democrat base than to announce you intend to lose the war in Afghanistan?" he said. "What do General Petraeus and Gates, the Defense Secretary, what do they know? ... you know, Hitler's generals tried to argue with him too."

Rush Limbaugh on his show Thursday on your station Rick.

[ionosphere]

I'm curious. So many people claim talk radio spouts "hate". Can anyone provide one quote from a mainstream conservative backing that up? 

Let's be clear, Rick. It's CONSERVATIVE talk radio that spouts hate. Not all of it, but a vast majority of it. And when I say "hate", I don't mean that anyone is saying "Let's go out and kill people!" (although Michael Savage did once say we should kill 100 million Muslims so that there will only be 900 million of them), but they speak in very devisive words.

And, incidentally, I consider myself conservative.

[Ed Thomas]

Let's not change the subject, Rick (if that really is who you are).

KRMGs stations news coverage has fallen off dramatically and some of the things we're hearing internally from their experienced (and I use that term loosely) News Director leave doubt to the balance of the product. If KRMG starts calling their own local news fair and balanced it will be laughable.

And as for Rick Couri's news experience, he can't even do 'man on the street' pieces without infecting them with his one-sided slant. The people inside the KRMG newsroom are cringing at his pieces. As one reporter there told me last week, "his pieces are an affront to what the rest of us try to day everyday."

Forget what my personal opinion is of their product. That comment from a person who works there speaks volumes.