On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 12:58 AM, Dave Sikula<dsik...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > On Aug 10, 12:33 pm, "Mark J." <mjeffr...@marcrealty.com> wrote: >> After 42 years, LA's CBS-owned KFWB will not be "all-news, all the >> time" as of Sept. 8 > > If what I heard while in LA a couple of weeks ago is any indication, > it's not much of a loss. KFWB was less all-news than all-weather, > sports, traffic, and what's happening in the Industry. I'll take KNX. > > --Dave Sikula
In the '90s, KFWB was on par with CNN's Headline News which, at the time, delivered a steady steam of solid news, sports, and weather every half hour. Then, much like Headline News, KFWB slowly backed away from the format. Now, it seems, they've turned tail and are running headlong in a whole new direction. After the glorious one-day excitement of the return of KMET to the LA airwaves a few weeks ago, I really wanted to hold out hope for the medium. But, like television, radio has become homogenized and lobotomized. I listen to BBC radio and podcasts from all over the world, and I wonder why they succeed and we Americans fail. And I think it boils down to what Harlan Ellison said in an interview more than 20 years ago. Paraphrasing: As long as art is for profit, it will not be art. It will not inform or entertain. It will not challenge or provoke. The airwaves used to belong to the public, but our government sold them to corporations. Even if we could somehow wrangle the airwaves back into a public trust, they're damaged goods. KFWB used to be a place to go to find out what was going on. Now, as another talk station, it'll be a place to go to find out what other people think about what other people think about what is theoretically though unsubstantiatedly going on. We'll get our fill of Jon & Kate, Michael Jackson's postmortem antics, and the octomom. And the zany morning crew will discuss the latest reject from "American Idol" or "So You Think You Can Dance." And in another five or ten years, the station will be shut down, just like all the others, due to lack of advertising revenue, due to lack of anybody listening. And station owners will not understand that if you provide a public service and do so in a unique and entertaining manner, people will sing your praises. If you feed the people nothing but audio gruel, they will revolt. Frankly, given what the public does seem to be interested in these days, KFWB is probably giving us more of the world they want to know about now. How sad for the world. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
