MediaMaven

July 5th, 2016 333 Dexter felt the wrath of the demolition crews on that day 10 years ago.   Massive buyouts had taken place just months earlier when broadcast giants like Dennis Bounds, Jeff Renner and Linda Byron, among others, chose to leave rather than stay with troubled Tegna, eventually replaced by a gaggle of short timers and a parade of news bosses  Now, KING rents space across the street from TMobile in SODO. Legacy lost.   Apple has built in that space    I happily worked in the building for 11 years at NWCN and, in my opinion, without rancor, KING has never been the same since the former GM engineered the move.   Ratings, credibility, sources, skills and institutional memory have been lost to some degree along the way.   

News anchors David Rose and Sabirah Radford hosted the Fox 13 Seafair Fireworks show after stealing the coverage from KIRO in a new three-year deal.   I think they are anchoring from the roof of 13 on Westlake instead of at Gas Works.  Bland background.  No energy.   Over graphiced.   #4 weather person in the field.  I would have used Garcia and Erin on the desk....more personality.   Abby in the crowd.     David was miscast. He's a serious anchor, not a fanboy hoop-dee-doo type.     Music and fireworks were old hat for a 250th.  Nothing meaningful.  It was supposed to be special this year...new station, new excitement.  Nope.  I found it all weak overall compared to KING and KIRO shows in the past.   Better luck next time with stronger show planning. 

KUNS was planning a Seattle Storm pre-game show with Sports Director Niko Tamurian and, I believe, Michelle Esteban, but a rain delay at a CW nationally televised NASCAR event bumped it on the holiday. Race resumed at 530 pm when the pregame was to start.  Surprised they didn't move it to the second half hour of KOMO news at 5.    PS...they moved the game to KOMO after the race ended from what I saw. 

Reporter Jeremy Harris gets a shot at the anchor slot on the Fourth of July.   Talked a bit too fast, which is his street reporting style, but nice to see him get an opportunity on the evening news. 

KOMO Senior News Reporter Chris Daniels has been elected to the Natas NW Board of Governors.  Nice honor, Chris, now work on helping the Emmys to be more meaningful, not over nominated, over categoried and over priced. 

Looks like Fox 13 is looking for a new newscast director on night side, possibly leaving for family reasons.  Also, hearing the new Digital EP has been hired, but waiting on a name.  Still looking for a morning exec producer there.  

KJR-FM's Chris Kidd, producer, sometime contributor and board operator for Gregg Bell's show has apparently been laid off in the latest iHeart media purge.    According to a Substack post by former KJR host Jim Moore, Jessamyn McIntyre has also been moved from the Ian Furness show to help Bell.  The station ranked 22nd in the latest PPM ratings with a 1.2, down .3 in a month and five full share points behind KIRO Sports Radio.