Wednesday, November 23, 2016

THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE FAMOUS WKRP “TURKEY DROP”


As God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly!
Arthur Carlson, GM, WKRP, Cincinnati

Almost anyone who has worked in radio has a story about a station promotion that went off the rails. Perhaps the most famous “splat” was in the classic WKRP episode Turkeys Away. In that episode, WKRP gave away turkeys by dropping them from a helicopter over a Cincinnati shopping mall.

Here is the key scene from the famous 1980 episode:



 Turkeys Away was loosely based on an incident that actually happened.

THE WQXI JOCKS BACK IN THE DAY
Hugh Wilson, the creator and producer of WKRP worked several years at WQXI, Atlanta. WQXI was a powerhouse Top 40 station. After WQXI, Wilson moved to Los Angeles. 

Many of the people and plots seen in WKRP are based on Wilson’s experiences at WQXI.

According to an interview with Classic TV History [link], an associate of Wilson at WQXI, Clarke Brown, told the story:




The turkey drop was actually a real incident.  It was at a shopping center in Atlanta; I think it was Broadview Plaza, which no longer exists.  It was a Thanksgiving promotion. 

We thought that we could throw these live turkeys out into the crowd for their Thanksgiving dinners.  All of us, naïve and uneducated, thought that turkeys could fly.  Of course, they went just fuckin’ splat.

People were laughing at us, not with us.  But it became a legend. In reality, the turkeys were thrown off the back of a truck.

So, the real story is not as glamorous as the WKRP version but the lesson is the same: Turkeys can’t fly.

SPARK! returns with new posts on Monday, November 28th.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

MEET ANDY LAPORTA & “LAS VEGAS PUBLIC RADIO”


I keep a file I call Angry Messages. It contains emails and internal memorandums that probably shouldn’t have been distributed. But alas, they were.

Such is the case with a comment we received from Andy LaPorta, CEO of KIOF-LP d/b/a Las Vegas Public Radio. KIOF is a new LPFM station that signed on in March 2016. LaPorta is angry because the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) did not provide the funding he assumed he’d get for his new station. (I have posted LaPorta’s complete comment at the end of this story.)

ANDY LAPORTA TALKS WITH HIS LAWYER
ANDY LAPORTA: On Agugust 20, 2016, Las Vegag Public Radio KIOF-LP 97.9 FM (www.lasvegaspublicradio.org) a new start up 501C3 local community charitable organization and veterans voice, reached out to the Office of Inspector General at the Corporation of Public Broadcasting for help in determining funding for fiscal year 2016.

KEN SAYS: LaPorta does say why he contacted CPB’s Inspector General.  Also August isn’t probably the best time to inquire about FY 2016 funding because the end of the fiscal year is September 30th.

ANDY LAPORTA: We requested a waiver of the NFFS and Audience Voice Criteria (AVC) based upon pure facts, that the CPB has impermissibly erected a barrier to the Community Service Grant (CSG). To date we have not received a reply or even a status update. So much for transparency

KEN SAYS: Perhaps LaPorta would have had a better response if he had hired a consult who knows CPB procedures and terminology.

ANDY LAPORTA: This is not indicative of the mission or goals of the Inspector General's office and casts a shadow of doubt on the validity of the office of IGCPB. [CPB has] a corrupt system of discriminatory, confiscatory and exclusionary practices and policies, which are despicable.

KEN SAYS: This sounds like sour grapes to me.

ANDY LAPORTA: [CPB makes] false promises to aspiring new Low Power FM (LPFM) radio station operators.

KEN SAYS: I am not aware of CPB making ANY promises to new LPFM operators, particularly a blanket offer of funding.

ANDY LAPORTA: Instead of standing for the Freedom and Prosperity that our Veterans and their families fought to defend, the Office of Inspector General has abdicated to large pubic radio stations and their special interest groups and lobbyists to bolster their financial holdings, when there is no apparent need to do so.

KEN SAYS: I am glad you got this off your chest, Andy. For the sake of discussion, lets see if CPB screwed up by not getting money pronto ro KIOF.

FACTS ABOUT KIOF-LP a/k/a LAS VEGAS PUBLIC RADIO

• BASICS:

KIOF is a LPFM station that serves Las Vegas at 97.9 FM with a power of 250-watts. It is one of hundreds of new low-power stations that are sprouting up across the country.

KIOF might be called a family business. According to an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal [link], the President and CEO is Andy LaPorta, a Navy veteran and former mortician originally from Connecticut. Andy’s son, Gregory LaPorta is credited on the station’s website as the founder of Las Vegas Public Radio. Greg oversees the station’s day-to-day operations and leads the company’s broadcasting and content strategy. Andy’s wife, Joanna LaPorta, is Secretary/Treasurer of the organization.

Andy, Gregory and Joanna LaPorta are apparently the only paid employees. Volunteers mainly operate the station

KIOF is not affiliated with Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) or National Public Radio.

• PROGRAMMING

There is something for everybody on KIOF. You can hear Democracy Now! Followed by prosperity preacher Joel Osteen, followed by an hour of and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, followed by Big Picture Science from the SETI Institute. KIOF’s news comes from the Voice of America. You can see the complete program schedule at [link]. 


Do you miss Car Talk? KIOF has the answer for you. Every Saturday KIOF airs THE C&C AUTO SHOW with Aaron Clements and J.R. Mooney [link] a commercial program.

Most of the week is filled with unremarkable  automated rock oldies.


• PUBLIC SERVICE PROGRAMMING

KIOF makes a big deal about its programming for veterans. In his comment to SPARK!, Andy Laporta claims KIOF is the veterans voice.

But there is no veterans programming on KIOF’s schedule. None. Total bullshit!

My conclusion is that CPB got it right.

______________________

VERBATIM COMMENT FROM ANDY LAPORTA

ANDY LAPORTA: On Agugust 20, 2016, Las Vegag Public Radio KIOF-LP 97.9 FM (www.lasvegaspublicradio.org) a new start up 501C3 local community charitable organization and veterans voice, reached out to the Office of Inspector General at the Corporation of Public Broadcasting for help in determining funding for fiscal year 2016.

We requested a waiver of the NFFS and Audience Voice Criteria (AVC) based upon pure facts, that the CPB has impermissibly erected a barrier to the Community Service Grant (CSG). To date we have not received a reply or even a status update. So much for transparency

This is not indicative of the mission or goals of the Inspector General's office and casts a shadow of doubt on the validity of the office of IGCPB. Since, silence is golden and indecision is a decision, we have no other choice than to reach out to hopefully The new U.S. Attorney (Maybe Jeff Sessions) and the DOJ to distinguish your corrupt system of discriminatory, confiscatory and exclusionary practices and policies, which are despicable

The OIG has created an image of a protective shadow organization exhibiting false promises to aspiring new Low Power FM (LPFM) radio station operators.

The OIG and staff continue to milk the U.S. Taxpayers via fraud, abuse and concealment of information regarding the very funds they were to distribute to others. Apparently, their violation and trust doesn't man anything to them..It is apparent that millions of dollars meant to help new public radio stations were squandered by the CPB on excessive salaries, rent and othe luxuries, which any federal audit will reveal.

The CPB has used the program as a "cash cow" for every expense imaginable , while all but stopping admitting new stations. That is the textbook definition of waste and abuse.

The need for funds by large CSG grantees (who's sustainable liquid cash assets has increased substantially) should have plummeted from 2010 to 2016. Still the CPB "continues to spend millions" in administration expenses to shore up nothing,other than crawl back marketable securities and investment opportunities using taxpayer funds to pay the freight.


Since, ethics and rules of Professional Responsibility at the CPB are deplorable, the CPB and OIG are reminded that the OIG is not supposed to be the show horse, but show plenty of results to help those in need of it the most.

Instead of standing for the Freedom and Prosperity that our Veterans and their families fought to defend, the Office of Inspector General has abdicated to large pubic radio stations and their special interest groups and lobbyists to bolster their financial holdings, when there is no apparent need to do so.



Monday, November 21, 2016

“LATINO PUBLIC RADIO” FIGHTS TO STAY ALIVE IN PROVIDENCE


A decade ago Rhode Island Public Radio (RIPR) helped create Latino Public Radio (LPR) to serve Rhode Island's growing Spanish-speaking community. RIPR leased WRNI (1290 AM) to LPR. Now, according to an article in the Providence Journal [link], the lease is up and RIPR wants to sell the station and LPR doesn’t have the dough to buy it. The result is an existential crisis for LPR.
 
RIPR has given LPR six months to purchase the station. If they can’t raise the money WRNI will be sold to another party. WRNI’s appraised value is $500,000. Last year LPR had annual revenue of around $230,000. The station has three paid employees.

Dr. Pablo Rodriguez
Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, LPR President and CEO described the situation to the Journal:

"We have to raise an enormous amount of money in order to buy the frequency the station sits on from Rhode Island Public Radio. If we can't raise funds, then the frequency, 1290 AM, will be for sale and we will likely be off the air.”

“LPR is the sole public bilingual radio station in the Northeast. The programming is trailblazing and essential to the Spanish-speaking Latino community that is in dire need of services we provide."

“We’re trying our best to save the station. It's just difficult to think that we can raise the amount of money necessary to buy the signal in six months.”

LPR is trying to leverage its political clout by appealing to the governor's office and the Rhode Island congressional delegation for help. The National Latino Public Radio Consortium has also pledged its support.

Torey Malatia, executive director of RIPR said the decision to sell WRNI is financial:

“We bought it [from WBUR] for $1.8 million; it’s worth about a few hundred thousand now. We just can’t keep operating it. We are in fact clearing the field of potential offers to give Latino Public Radio an exclusive opportunity to negotiate to purchase [WRNI], should they choose to do so."

WFIU ASKS LISTENERS TO SUGGEST PROGRAMMING FOR SECOND FM STATION

101.9 FM coverage area
In July 2015 we reported [link] that WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana purchased FM translator W270BH – 101.9 FM for $45,000.  WFIU upgraded the facility to 250-watts. 101.9 FM repeating the Classical music schedule of WFIU’s HD2 channel.

Now WFIU wants listeners to decide what programming they want hear. WFIU Operations Director John Bailey told local media:

“We have audiences that either listen to mostly news or mostly music. They’re sizeable, but distinct.

Bailey says 101.9 FM will offer complementary programming -- meaning that when WFIU plays music, 101.9 will have talk programming and vice versa. Previously, this feature was only available to listeners if they had a way to tune in to the station’s HD radio channel.

KEN SAYS: I don’t understand why WFIU is doing hour-by-hour "complementary" programming. Consider having two “pure” program streams: 24/7 news on WFIU and Classical on 101.9.

DEAR WBUR, PLEASE SHARE THE PODCAST LOVE WITH RADIO LISTENERS

As I write this I it is nice and warm inside my house on Twin Cities' first winter day. 

I just finished listening to Dear Sugar Radio [link] from WBUR, Boston. However, it is not on radio, is a podcast. Why is something this good not heard on radio?

Dear Sugar Radio is the kind of audio that SHOULD be available on the radio platform. Sugar has the kind of edgy excitement that public radio needs. Public radio needs to be more bold and sassy.

I know the economics are different for radio and podcasts but I think it is wise to invest in new radio programming at this time. An edited version of Dear Sugar Radio is too good to deny it to radio listeners. If we want broadcast radio to stay vital we need to create a pipeline of new programming. Radio versions of podcasts like Dear Sugar Radio are a good way to start.