NevadaBrad

Just like Republicans occasionally do really stupid things (think Larry Craig and amnesty for illegals), Democrats can occasionally do good things. It’s rare, but not unheard of.

Yesterday, Shelley Berkley voted against the bailout plan along with Dean Heller. I’ve always liked Dean Heller, but I’m gaining a much deeper respect for him. I have to say that Berkley’s vote was even more impressive since it went against her own leadership. Having a proposal written by Reid, Pelosi, Frank and Dodd scares me to death. Even throwing some Republicans in the mix doesn’t decrease the fear factor.

Because Berkley and Heller did the right thing I have to commend them.

On the other hand, there are two big losers in this deal. First is Jon Porter. Second is President Bush. Unfortunately, Porter took the standard liberal line. I’m not sure what Bush is thinking.

Not long ago I contacted Sharon Zadra regarding the dangerous, obnoxious and illegal electronic billboard just north of Damonte on 395.

So what did Sharon say about this matter? Well, Sharon had someone else contact me regarding this issue. I couldn’t help but think how nice it would be if I had someone to do my job for me, but I digress.

I was contacted by Barbara DiCianno with the following information:

“In researching your question about the electronic billboard on the 395 Interchange, Planning Staff has advised that the sign in question is on Reno-Sparks Indian Colony property and was approved by that agency. Reno City Council will be reviewing revisions to the electronic billboard ordinance for signs located within the City of Reno jurisdiction.

“Please let me know if I can provide additional information. Thank you for your involvement in our community.”

So basically, if I read that right, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony is not beholden to local laws and can do whatever they want even if it impacts the non-Colony land around them. Does that mean that terrorists can throw grenades onto the freeway as long as they do it from Colony property? I mean, the Colony agency would have to approve that, of course. If not, then where does the line get drawn? I know there’s always the tobacco and gaming stuff, but seriously, where’s the line? Illegal drugs? Illegal weapons?

I guess I just don’t understand when they have to obey local laws and when they don’t. Or is it tied to federal law? Now I’m just rambling, so I should get to the point. If someone chooses to go to Colony land – here or anywhere else – to gamble or buy tobacco, then that’s a choice that person makes. To use Colony land to impose an unsightly billboard to people who have no choice seems wrong, especially when the citizens of the community have voted and made their disdain for billboards clearly understood. When it’s commonly believed that there is a safety issue with these billboards and the City of Reno chooses to look the other way then it’s borderline reckless.

Use your imagination and picture this scenario:

It’s been a long day. The kids are in bed and have finally gone to sleep. You’re winding down and starting to relax when the phone suddenly rings. It’s almost nine o’clock at night. For someone to be calling this late it must be something very important. By the time you get to the phone all the kids are now crying because the phone woke them up.

“Hello?”

It’s Dave Cook! Actually, it’s a recording of Dave Cook. You know, Dave Cook who is running for the hotly contested Nevada State Board of Education District 9 seat. He wants you to vote for him. He just paid a robot to call you at 9:00p to tell you to vote for him.

So, you hang up and jump on the internet to try to find out who Dave Cook is because he just woke up your kids with a late night  political solicitation on the phone. Of course, the first link that comes up is another person commenting on Mr. Cook’s use of “robo calls”. While the post is not complimentary nor critical, the comments are clearly not favorable.

Next, you decide to call Dave at home (you’ll wait until later in the evening, of course) but you can’t find his phone number. You finally find a number at TheVoterGuide.org, but it is listed as 775-85-1454. You don’t want to be a jerk to nine other people while trying to find the correct missing digit.

As a last resort, you send Dave a polite but blunt e-mail letting him know that calls at that hour are unacceptable and that he should not count on you to vote for him. He responds to your message the next day. Does he apologize? No. Does he acknowledge that robo calls may be an offensive campaigning method, especially in light of DoNotCall.gov‘s polularity? No. He sends the following message:

Brad,

If you send me your phone number, I’ll be glad to see that it is removed from the list.

Dave Cook

By now you may have guessed that this is not just the most interesting story you’ve ever read, but it actually happened just last Friday.

It would be silly to make a decision as a voter based solely on this experience, even though the hour of the call and the lack of apology bothered me. After researching this race a bit further I have been unable to determine who else is even running. Barbara J. Myers is definitely running – she’s the incumbent. I don’t know if Roy J. Casey is running or not. Apparently Myers barely won in 2000 against Dave Cook, who then the incumbent. Dave Cook ran against her again in 2004, but was handily defeated. He hasn’t been able to let go ever since.

So now, my analysis of the race. I read any information I could find and I can honestly say I agree more with Myers and I plan to vote for her. This decision is completely independent of any hostility that I feel toward Cook because of his campaigning strategy.

So, vote for Myers! And contact Dave Cook to let him know that you don’t want his campaign calls.

Note to Dave Cook: Expect one to two e-mails, assuming everyone who reads this e-mails you!

And then Ira came back like winged mustang bursting through the clouds riding a rainbow that led to our beloved 99.1 FM Talk. He warmed our hearts and tickled our fancies and then, like Tessie, he was gone in a flash leaving everyone wondering whether he was every really there at all.

Ira’s return was much-hyped and eagerly anticipated. It seems strange that he slipped away without any warning or explanation. Or maybe I just missed the announcement.

We had a pretty good thing going on in radio for that little while. Two local hosts on competing stations during the same time slot. It was even more interesting because of their contrasting hosting styles. Bill Manders tends to have a lot of interaction with callers. Ira tended to have very intellectual monologues and seemed to almost be distracted by people calling in. I’ve come to appreciate both styles, but I will admit that the quality of local callers is not always stellar (in fact, rarely terrestrial).

So what happened to Ira? Did Bill put a hit out on him? Did John Farahi finally shut him down? At first you would occasionally hear Lars Larson when Ira wasn’t on. It started happening more frequently, then it became permanent.

Ira’s web page hasn’t been updated since March. No trace of Ira’s name can be found on the KKFT web page. I can’t find any news stories or blog stories about what happened. Strangely, Ira’s biographical tag at the end of his columns still lists that “his radio talk show can be heard Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on 99.1 FM.” And that’s as recently as four days ago.

If Ira made an announcement that he was ending his show I would love to know what went down. If anyone has any information please let me know.

Almost exactly one year ago I posted an entry about the Reno radio market, specifically as it relates to talk radio. It’s time to post a follow-up review with more blatantly biased commentary.

There have been some interesting trends, some which can easily be explained and others that cannot. Let’s work our way through the stations…

KBZZ (1270 AM) – KBZZ seems to have made some significant changes since I last researched their station. They still want to flirt too heavily with the FM morning show format to be taken seriously; HOWEVER, their ratings over the last three periods have gone from 1.7 to 2.1 to 2.4. Even though these numbers are not insignificant, their station still tends to shy away from a role that I would consider to be inclusive with common perceptions of talk radio. Then again, maybe this is their goal.

KJFK (1230 AM) – KJFK surprised me with their ratings. After suffering a recurring drop in their ratings they suddenly jumped from 1.3 to 1.7 and then fell back to 1.6. I’m not sure whether something happened to cause them to suddenly be more popular, or if they were previously suffering a slump that they have now rebounded from. It doesn’t really matter, though. This station appeals to a very specific audience – those with BDS and those who listen to people with BDS for entertainment.

KKFT (99.1 FM) – KKFT has been steadily growing for as long as I’ve been watching their numbers. They’ve gone from basically 0 market share to 1.6%. Each ratings period has shown at least a .3% increase. They’ve made some odd changes to their programming, but their current lineup is apparently paying off. More about their programming later…

KKOH (780 AM) – KOH continues to be top dog for all Reno radio with consistently >10% market share. They seem to have ups and downs, but they don’t see gains like the other stations do.

When I first started writing this post I was somewhat perplexed that KJFK is enjoying as much success as they are. It finally occurred to me that KJFK has a very good location to transmit from that should ensure good saturation through Reno. On the other hand, KKFT transmits with even lower power (on FM, even!) from Washoe Valley and yet still has the same market share as KJFK. I think anyone can listen to KJFK for any length of time to get an idea of what they’re about. I tried it once and felt very silly for not turning it off sooner. But that’s just me.

For KBZZ, adding personalities such as Cory Farley can either hurt or help their ratings. If Mr. Farley chooses to discuss more common fare then I’m sure he’ll be a good listen. His non-political writings can be very good, even downright hilarious at times. If he chooses to go into maniacal-leftie mode then he becomes a local version of the bizarrely vitriolic personalities from Air America. And believe me, when it comes to politics he can say some pretty awful things.

For me the most interesting competition is between KKFT and KOH. At first glance I’m sure it seems laughable that KKFT might affect KOH at all. I don’t think it would be smart for KOH to discount KKFT and I can guarantee that KOH keeps at least one eye on this competitor. To summarize I would like to briefly point out the good and bad that each station has going for them.

KOH – the good: KOH has some excellent programming, namely Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Plus, they have a strong local voice in Bill Manders. They have an extremely powerful signal, which means that in addition to Nevada you can listen to them in parts of California, Oregon and Idaho.

KOH – the bad: They are basically stagnant. When they do make changes it’s usually for the worse. For example, they eliminated Bill O’Reilly and when they added Mark Levin they only gave him one hour. I personally don’t agree with their choice to keep Michael Savage. He was interesting to listen to at first, but once the novelty wears off (usually one to two weeks) you crave something more. I’m not sure what I can say about Coast to Coast AM. To me it seems like it would only interest a very specific group, but they clearly have a huge audience for that type of show at that time to keep it on for 7 hours each night.

KKFT – the good: The best programming put together anywhere right now, in my opinion. I start listening with Laura Ingraham in the morning, which is followed by Glenn Beck, Dr. Laura, Lars Larson, Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller. Each one of these hosts is outstanding. I don’t typically hear their other hosts, so I can’t comment.

KKFT – the bad: Based in Carson City with a fairly low power signal. This means that unless you live on the very south side of Reno you probably aren’t going to get their signal. They no longer have a local host in the afternoon (what happened to Ira anyway?). Although they take an active stance on some significant issues, sometimes it’s a bit too much. For example, the Jeremiah Wright/Barack Obama ad they play is almost scary. Do they think a lot of Obama supporters are listening to their station? There may be a few. It was also a little strange that they spent so much airtime attacking Rudy Giuliani during the primary. I guess when you understand their pro-second-amendment stance it makes more sense. I personally don’t really care if they play their own ads for specific causes. It just seems a little weird.