Chris Baker takes on the Chronicle
Yesterday the Chronicle ran a story on the changes occurring at KPRC-950 (AM) and KTRH-740 (AM). To recap, Chris Baker's show is moving from KPRC to KTRH, with a slight time change, and Sean Hannity's show will move from KTRH to KPRC, all of which takes place November 15. The Chronicle's Clifford Pugh interviewed Baker, and gave us the story:
Chris Baker, a former stand-up comic whose talk show currently airs on KPRC-AM (950), will move to KTRH-AM (740). His show will air from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays.
Baker started his show yesterday with both barrels blasting - at the Chronicle. The first problem, he said, is that he's not a former stand-up comic - he still is a comedian, which I think faithful listeners can agree with. The guy is funny. The second problem (I hope I get this right as I don't want both barrels aimed at me!) is that Baker feels Pugh missed the point of the soon-to-be changes and wrote the story in a way that put the emphasis on the negative:
The moves are an attempt by Clear Channel, which owns both stations, to cement an identity for each one. With its new lineup, KPRC will focus exclusively on conservative talk radio, while KTRH will mix news with broader-based local talk shows.
[snip]
In making the changes, the station dismissed five news staffers, including afternoon news anchor Jerry Hudson and longtime reporters Darryl Azar and Gail DeLaughter.
Clear Channel regional director of programming Ken Charles said even with changes, KTRH remains committed to news.
He said the station retains the largest radio news staff in the state, with 19 employees, and will offer news reports twice each hour during Baker's show. It will also interrupt regular programming when breaking news occurs.
"All the (news) elements are still there, but the packaging is different," Charles said. "KTRH will still be the station of record on radio."
Charles said the changes reflect the changing nature of radio. Only a handful of cities retain all-news stations; with so many alternatives, such as the Internet and cable TV, it makes it difficult to be a straight news radio station, Charles said.
Baker said now that KPRC has a proven and successful format, the goal is to do the same with KTRH. He said that when Ken Charles came in to run KPRC, everyone assumed he would fail, by changing what was a successful format. Now, however, KPRC is at the point where the Ken Charles-plan has paid off and KPRC is number one during the afternoon hours. And the goal is to have Baker move to KTRH to anchor a new focus for that station. The Chronicle story doesn't really convey that. Pugh made sure he mentioned the laid-off staffers, but the Chronicle has lots of experience with that lately, right Jeff Cohen?
It's interesting (and totally unsurprising) that the Chronicle got the story's focus wrong. Baker wondered why someone wasn't sent to do the interview who actually knows something about radio, like perhaps Ken Hoffman. Oh please! The Chronicle doesn't need reporters who actually KNOW the subjects they are writing about. This is a one-paper town and we get what Jeff Cohen gives us. Besides, I have already nominated Ken Hoffman for other writing assignments.
What is interesting is that Ken Charles is aware of the changing dynamics of how people get their information, and he's doing something about it so his stations stay relevant and interesting. The Chronicle, when faced with changing dynamics, dumbed-down the paper with a redesign, got rid of Texas Magazine (one of the best reasons to read the Sunday paper), and began advocacy programs for Jeff Cohen's favorite liberal causes. Like, makeovers for death row killers. Baker tore up the Chronicle for its neverending sympathy stories on these murderers - something blogHOUSTON has noted, too. It is disturbing that these guys, who brutally killed others, are painted, in the Chronicle's pages, as sweetness and light.
The Chronicle IS out of touch. The Chronicle IS a shoddy paper. And those facts gave Chris Baker a whole hour of material yesterday - an hour I am sure he would have rather spent talking about something else. But since blogHOUSTON is continuously dismayed by what that paper puts forth, we are not surprised it messed up this story.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/11/04 07:32 AM | Print | Comments (5)
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