Tag Archives: Hearne Christopher Jr.
Today: Kansas Speedway Rock Festival Will Be a Lollapalooza; Primus, Girl Talk, Flaming Lips?
Seems everybody’s lips are sealed until 2 p.m. today…
Well, almost everybody’s lips. That regarding the queer-sounding music fest called the KanRocksas Music Festival. Talk of more than 20 acts August 5 and 6 at a local venue that some say could be Livestrong Park. Others the Kansas Speedway.
On a scale of 10, how big a deal is it?
"It’s a 12, dude," says one area entertainment exec. "This is the biggest thing in Kansas City this summer!"
Here’s the deal: It will go down at the Kansas Speedway with the lineup that reportedly includes Primus, Flaming Lips & Girl Talk.
Other possibile acts in a 20-plus band lineup include the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters.
Reportedly, it’s a mad plan by a recent millionaire who sold his company and wants to host a kickass concert.
Hearne: KanRocksas Fest to Become Kansas City’s Bonnaroo
It’s like this…
The dramatic announcement of a geeky sounding music fest – KanRocksas -at Kansas Speedway this summer may seem haphazard, but that’s not the case, says promoter Chris Fritz.
"There was some logic to it," Fritz muses. "The idea here is to make this an incredible music experience for the music fans."
More to the point, an annual experience…
Today: Radio Ratings Shocker! Funny 102.5 Yuks its Way Towards Top
There’s really only one word to describe new Cumulus radio station Funny 102.5, Wow!
In a single month of existence, the 24/7 comedy station exploded onto the scene in the No. 7 slot – with a 4.7 share – for adults ages 25 to 54 during the prime listening hours of 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday .
To put that in persepctive, that’s nearly double News Radio KMBZ’s 2.7 share and 17th place finish.
Here are the March Top 10 ratings in the key adults 25-54 demo for Monday thru Friday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Hearne: Radio Ratings Mop Up; Johnny Dare, Nick Wright & A.M. Heavy Hitters
The days of the radio giants may be fading fast…
where are the up-and-coming Johnny Dares, Mike Murphy’s or Kevin Kietzmans these days? In the PPM metered ratings world of today, success seems to be based more on music format and programming than personalities.
So how are the few we have left faring?
Let’s start with morning drive, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. with men 25 to 54. Numero Uno: Who else, Johnny Dare with a 14.5 share
Today: Happy 420 Day! Proceed at Your Own Risk
Just how widespread is 420 Day nowadays?
So much that a mere mention of the national holiday for pot smokers in the checkout line at Sam’s Club in Topeka elicited a comment from checkout dude Nick.
"What high school kid hasn’t heard of 420 Day?" Nick quipped. "Half the students at school would take off on that day."
Meanwhile, back in KCMO, Coffee Wonk owner Micah Riggs has seen better 420 Days…
Today: Groupon & The Hard Fought Battle for Daily Deal Dollars in Kansas City
The Golden Age of Groupon is upon us…
The question is, for how long?
Comments section skeptics aside, businesses across Kansas City have taken advantage of Groupon’s email blast, deal-of-the-day marketing propostions. It’s not about undermining the value of a product by giving away the farm for half price. In less than two years here, Groupon’s forged the image as a proven means of reaching hundreds of thousands of locals with offers they can’t resist. Offers that work for both the biz and the customer.
It’s that simple.
However we may be nearing the turning point.
Today: Kansas City Command Arena Football Team Off to Stealth Start
Are you ready for some football?
Where the new Kansas City Command is concerned, the answer appears to be no. Four games into the Arena Football League team’s inaugural season there’s almost zero buzz. The Command won its first home game last weekend against the Iowa Barnstormers – after losing three on the road – but attendance was a far cry from its forebears, the Kansas City Brigade.
In 2006 the Brigade packed Kemper Arena for its home opener with an announced, sellout crowd of 16,523.
That was then…
Today: PPM Radio Ratings Shakeup No Laughing Matter
Local radio will never be the same…
The advent of PPMs, portable people meters – electronic devices replacing handwritten diaries used by Arbitron to gage radio listener’s actual listening habits – have turned the media world upside down the past two years.
Stations & personalities that loomed large have been humbled.
While wallflowers mired in Cinderella-like shadows have been tongue-kissed like frogs, rising to star-like status.
Winners, KCFX FM, KCMO FM and 97.5 The Vibe – love PPMs. They’re on Cloud 9, doing fine.
The opposite is the case for Urban stations like KPRS FM.
So with millions of dollars on the local line, let’s take a look at today’s PPM ratings world
Car: Kelly Blue Book’s Top 10 Green Cars & Fiat Delays KC Opening
This just in…
Far be it from me to write something that might cause Car section comments dude Rogger to burst into tears (or flames) but here goes. I’ve been feeling a little down since getting my new Fiat 500. Because by giving up my Toyota Prius, I’m going from nearly 50 miles-per-gallon to 40 – if I’m lucky.
That is if I drive so slow bluehairs in 20 year-old K cars wanna run me off the road. I let my lead-footed Asian girlfriend drive the Fiat a few days and got just 36.8 mpg on my first tank. But I did get some good news today.
Kelly Blue Book came out with its Top 10 Green Cars and the little Fiat made the grade.
Star Search: Reading Glasses, Trick or Dole, Sprightly Seniors & That Damn Plane
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A quick check of the Kansas City Star…
When baseball buff Craig Glazer told me he hadn’t read Sam Mellinger‘s front page interview with Royals owner David Glass Sunday, I figured he probably wasn’t alone. And while I’m bullish on Mellinger, I think the story could have been reduced to a tiny fraction of its size.
Here’s why. Because who really cares about the minutia Mellinger had to wade through just to get the interview?
That’s just the way the sports journalism game has to be played with an out-of-town owner getting along just fine who doesn’t really give a rat’s ass what folks here think of him. As long as it’s nothing wildly embarrassing, that is. I mean, think about it. What sort of a presence does Glass really have in this town?
Heck, his son Dan Glass – the team prez – is a nice enough dude, but who knows or hears much of anything about him? And he lives here.
A former Star publisher once described Dan Glass to me as "nebbish."
Star Search II: Hurry Up & Wait, FYI’s Sleepy New A & E (Wednesday)
Almost forgot…
Unless I missed something, the Star‘s FYI Section unleashed a new creation today called "A & E (Wednesday)." How to describe the single page (plus jump) insert in the paper’s all-important food section?
Columnist insert
Frankly, it’s kinda hard to be kind.
Today: Joe Miller on City Hall Sex & How It All Went Horribly Wrong
The apology has been offered…
Now it’s time to learn what author, scholar, former Pitch top gun and one-time political operative Joe Miller really thinks. Starting with, does Miller think KC mayor Mark Funkhouser could have delivered the goods – "a city that works" – if he’d not had to deal with the neverending controversies and distractions of wife, First Lady Gloria Squitiro?
"My sense is to say no," Miller says. "But if he didn’t have her up there and got rid of me and Kendrick Blackwood and got someone who knew politics instead, maybe. But he’s a real uncooperative guy."
Quick detour…
What about the talk that Hizzonor and his wife had sex in the mayor’s office – true or false?
Today: Star Staffers Braced for Possible Quarterly Layoffs / Cutbacks
Here we go again…
The first quarter of the year being up, staffers at the Kansas City Star are braced for another round of cutbacks and/or layoffs. Nothing’s been announced but after four years of cuts, a pattern’s emerged. Parent company McClatchy‘s newspapers are given quarterly financial targets. Those targets must be met or at quarter’s end cuts made.
The talk on possible pending cuts among insiders at the Star:
"Just that it’s coming is all I know," says one staffer.
Hearne: Overserving & Drinking Deaths; Brian Euston Jason Wren
The parallels are freakishly familiar…
The settlement last week of a lawsuit by parents of a KU student who died after a night of binge drinking two years back has striking similarities to Kansas Citian Brian Euston. Euston, 24, died last fall after a night on the town at Kelly’s.
Jason Wren, a 19 year-old KU freshman, was found dead at a frat house after a night of heavy drinking. Euston died after an altercation in Westport and a night of even heavier drinking. How heavy?
Wren’s fatal blood-alcohol level measured .362, more than four times the legal limit to drive in Kansas.
Euston took it to even further extremes with a BAC of .387
Hearne: Love On The Rocks Doggie Style
Too much of a good thing? You make the call…
The train wreck that is Craig Glazer’s confessional regarding the ins and outs of his serialized sexcapades unleashed a firestorm of comments. And face it, what more could anybody say on the subject that hasn’t been said?
Enter KCC rabble rouser Tracy Thomas…
"Maybe you need to visit Craig to get a bevy of glamour shots of Junior," Thomas says of Glazer’s trusty dachshund. "Even one with Black Barbie and someone else in his bullpen? Or maybe Junior by himself in various poses including, of course, roll over and down. Craig hugging Junior. Craig illustrating the sit or down positions. Craig trying to play Tug of War with Junior with a sex toy."
Today: Hal Brody Dispels Tired KC Myth About Oakland Raiders Fans & City
Fact; Chiefs fans love to hate those dastardly Oakland Raiders….
How venomous is it? There’s even a Wikipedia page on the subject. No kidding.
"The Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League are considered to have one of professional football’s most bitter rivalries," it begins.
The teams first met in 1960, but "the rivalry did not become so apparent until the Kansas City Athletics baseball team moved to Oakland, California in 1967," Wikipedia adds. "The move was met with considerable distaste in the Kansas City area and much of the frustration was put upon the Raiders when they played in Kansas City."
Car: First KC Fiat in 28 Years Sparks Harrowing Flashback
The eagles have landed…
For the first time in 28 years – most of the ’80s, the ’90s and well past the first decade of Y2K – a new Fiat was been sold and delivered in Kansas City. It went down around 10:30 a.m. today when chef Jasper Mirabile helped peel the wrapper off a 2012 Fiat 500 Prima Edizione in front of Jasper’s Ristorante, clambered aboard and sped down 103rd Street in Watts Mill.
Fortunately, Mirabile’s virgin victory lap was less eventful than his previous heart-pounding Fiat fling…
Today: Critics Stub Toes on Rod Stewart Two-For-One Ticket Sale Diss
What to make of yesterday’s Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks two-for-one ticket offer…
Was it a desperation move, as the Star‘s Tim Finn implied (carefully avoiding criticizing a major advertiser)? A dumbass move by promoters, as music biz blogger Bob Lefsetz harangued?
"You make tickets 2 for 1 in the beginning, not when you realize you’ve got a stiff and can’t sell tickets and the acts are embarrassed about playing an empty hall and are having their managers lean upon you," Lefsetz groused.
Au contraire, promoters have been "papering" arenas since the days of Old Blue Eyes (more on that later).
Car: Fiat 500 Primas Hit Kansas City for Better & Worse
It’s not about me – it’s about modern automotive history….
And as of yesterday – for the first time in 28 years – new Fiat cars were for sale and on the ground in Kansas City. That’s right, eight Fiat 500 Prima Edizione cars landed at the dealership soon to be known as Fiat of Olathe just off 119th Street and I-35. They’re lined up as we speak, awaiting conclusion of their sale by Fiat of Olathe’s sister dealership in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Star Search: Misleading Headlines & The Case of the Missing Royals Promotion
Ah, the Kansas City Star….
For all that it should be and what it is, let’s take a quick look at a few obvious shortcomings. Starting with its partial front-page headline Firday about the Kansas City Royals season-opening loss at home; "The future looks bright."
Now contrast that with a headline buried deep inside Sports Daily: "KC has smallest payroll."
That the Royals are fielding a team of largely young unknowns (again), likely to leave if and when they reach their peak playing levels, is underscored in the underplayed report. That New York Yankee‘s star Alex Rodriguez makes nearly twice as much as the entire Royals payroll for its starting lineup is the point the Star should be pounding home, rather than trafficking in statistics and naive optimism.
