{"id":3837,"date":"2008-12-19T07:36:34","date_gmt":"2008-12-19T12:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3837"},"modified":"2009-01-13T19:03:27","modified_gmt":"2009-01-14T00:03:27","slug":"circling-the-drain-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3837","title":{"rendered":"Circling The Drain"},"content":{"rendered":"

KSTP-AM tubes Willie Clark and Jeremy “Kodiak” Kienitz.<\/p>\n

I got this internal memo from a KSTP fan. The writer is KSTP’s program director, Steve Konrad:<\/p>\n

\n

Staff,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Effective today, Willie Clark<\/span> and Jeremy Kienitz are no longer with AM1500 KSTP.<\/font><\/p>\n

We are appreciative of each of their efforts and hard work. We wish them only the best.<\/font><\/p>\n

In the coming days, expect an announcement of a freshly re-structured morning-drive show, including who will be sharing the airwaves with Jay Kolls, Kenny, Bergie and Patrick Hammer as soon as some external details get wrapped up.<\/font><\/p>\n

Steve Konrad<\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/strong><\/a>
\nProgram Director
\nam1500 KSTP<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Four years ago, KSTP got the memo from the consultants; “conservative talk is dead”. So they moved to a kinder, gentler, more WCCO-like format; they largely ditched politics, they got the Twins, they hired the somnolent Clark to do mornings.<\/p>\n

And things fell rapidly apart.<\/p>\n

Of course, Kienitz was one of the station’s few links back to its glory days. A sharp, capable producer who could probably host his own program in a just world, “Kodiak” was the producer the night I filled in for Bob Davis in January of 2003. The station’s immense prosperity when it was hitting on all cylinders (Rush, Soucheray, Jason Lewis, Mischke and Bob Davis) allowed it to do something it’d never tried before; invest in solid, capable support staff. Producers had always been pretty much disposable at AM1500; the station’s long-belated success allowed it to start investing in good,capable support staff. Joe Hansen, “The Rookie”, Kienitz and others had the kind of job security (and money) that previous generations of KSTP’s control room galley slaves didn’t even bother dreaming of. And they were worth it; Hansen was an important factor in the chemistry that made Lewis a success; Rookie has been for years just about the only entertaining part of Soucheray’s show.<\/p>\n

And Kodiak? Lileks – for whose “The Diner” show Kienitz was the original producer – says it best<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Jeremy has been a voice on the station for every ten years. I repeat this to program directors everywhere: PRODUCERS ARE TALENT. If they\u2019re good. PRODUCERS ARE PERSONALTIES. If they\u2019re good. And he was. You want to attract a younger demo, by the way? Don\u2019t axe the only person at the station with a foot in geek culture. Don\u2019t become the all-grumbly-geezer station.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

KSTP-AM has backed away from the one thing that dragged it out of the pack – conservative talk in all its dyspeptic, fun, angry, hilarious variations – and trying simultaneously to “aim young” and <\/em>be all stations to all people, sort of a WCCO of the 21st century. It’s not even working for WCCO anymore. Indeed, as the recession gets its claws into advertisers, the only part of talk radio that’s close to making money is…<\/p>\n

…conservative talk.<\/p>\n

Best of luck, Kodiak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KSTP-AM tubes Willie Clark and Jeremy “Kodiak” Kienitz. I got this internal memo from a KSTP fan. The writer is KSTP’s program director, Steve Konrad: Staff, Effective today, Willie Clark and Jeremy Kienitz are no longer with AM1500 KSTP. We are appreciative of each of their efforts and hard work. We wish them only the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-talk-radio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}