Testing a blog entry from my iPhone

For those thy don't know we have a blog now on our website....KZIQ.com but it just doesn't have the feel of this one. So if this in fact is true (that I can literally post from my phone) perhaps I can get this bad boy up and running again. I have two other blogs here and would probably merge them all. We'll see.

Sent from my iPhone with a really tiny keyboard.

The Fairness Doctrine

This from Wikipedia....

The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that required the holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced. The United States Supreme Court upheld the Commission's general right to enforce such a policy where channels were limited, but the courts have generally not ruled that the FCC is obliged to do so.[1] In 1987, the FCC abolished the Fairness Doctrine, prompting some to urge its reintroduction through either Commission policy or Congressional legislation.[2]

Now I haven't boned up on this, but best I can tell, having a talk station,one that is pretty conservative, I believe if this comes back, we will have to change the way we do business. Does that mean tit for tat on each issue, or in spirit. Do I carry three hours of Stephanie Miller to equal out Rush Limbaugh?

This is already on our new President's radar. I'm torn about the whole issue. On one hand, it's more government regulation and oversight, on the other, the media has become totally one sided. Of course depending on who you listen to. Fox News is hardly fair and balanced (on TV that is) and neither is MSNBC. You have to watch a lot of CNN but they are hardly unbiased. It seems it's more an issue by issue situation. On the radio conservatives may hate the product, but some of the most balanced news is on NPR.

As I put together our newscasts it is daunting every day to keep your own personal feelings out it in any way shape or form.

Sometimes it's not Comedy...It's Real Life

There is a comedy writer I use for the show. I use him (his name is Tim Mizak) because he and I have a lot in common including our sense of humor. I didn’t realize how much we had in common until this little morsel…The dark print is the story….the indented part is the “humor”

Being in your 40’s makes you miserable. Researchers conducted a study of over two-million people in 80 different countries and discovered it’s the same the world over – people in their 40’s are more likely to be depressed. In fact – they narrowed it down to the age of 44 – when you’re most likely to battle depression. They found it’s a normal part of aging…and really can’t be blamed on your job, your spouse, your kids or your lack of money.

-Or your lack of friends…or your pets…or the fact your car is starting to smell funny. Or the fact you went up two pant-sizes last year alone. Or the fact you suddenly have to hold restaurant menus out to…here. Or…you’re getting up a lot more to pee in the middle of the night. Or…you suddenly have hair growing out of your ears. Or…you’re starting to make that funny noise when you try to get out of a chair… Or…you can no longer put your underpants on…without bracing yourself on something…

-Not that I have any problems like that…

Sheesh…

E

The RC Blvd Adventures of Rite Aid....

We have talked about it on the air a little. Have you ever been through our intersection here? It is crazy. And to be totally honest, I have truly been shocked at how few accidents there have been here. Already there is a left turn lane from EB RC Blvd to Balsam and to China Lake, now they are going to add a left turn to Rite Aid. Then they are putting in a median to block WB RC Blvd access to B of A. So now folks will be trying to either A: turn left into our place or B: Make a U-turn to go back to B of A.

The great thing about this? The city signed off on it without a traffic study. Hmmmm. They now say if it proves to be too dangerous, they will take it out.

Wonder how that's going to play to the family that gets t-boned pulling into Rite Aid.

So for cheap entertainment in 2008 get some popcorn and a drink and sit on the bench out front and watch for the accidents.

IWV Radio Survey Results...well sort of

The reason why I say sort of is this survey was done in all of the high Desert and of course we only reach the IWV, with both of our stations. Amazingly with about 1700 calls made we came ion #1 with KZIQ and #2 with FoxTalk 1360. I am trying to get a breakout of the phone calls but with one of our competitors on the survey not even listenable in the IWV, it looks like we kicked some major butt here. Our country competitor was seriously in the cellar.

Ratings are a weird duck. You make a big deal out of them and the next time the survey may not go your way. In the major markets there is a little more science to them because the survey more people more often. Here it's occasionally. Arbitron, the Big Kahuna of radio surveys does an annual East Kern County book. What makes it unusable, to me anyway, is the fact that they send a majority of the diaries to everywhere BUT Ridgecrest. With Ridgecrest being the most populated city in East Kern County that doesn't make it valid in my mind. Even when I was down the street and we dominated that book, it never felt right. But this survey was done by a couple back east, with a lot of passion for it and knowing that small market ratings are so valuable if done correctly.

So we celebrate (cautiously) our victory and while I knew the Coyote listening family was a big one the biggest (pleasant) surprise was finding our sister station at #2.

As always thank you SO much and please continue to give us the feedback we need to give you more of what you want!

Eric

Happy Holidays Ya'll! Now Let's Get Caught Up!

Obviously, if you regularly check in to the web site you know we have had some problems. Turns out that our syndicated feed (the news headlines) provider went bye bye so the page basically refused to load. I have it working although I am not very happy with the speed. We're still working on it. For the AM fans out there, I should get that bad boy fixed tomorrow.

Things have been great here albeit very busy. The Coyote Cruise was a huge success and we all had a ball. We'll be announcing a new cruise that will probably happen in May. We have our last Coyote party of the year Friday night at Tommy's. All country form 6-10 and we'll have some cool stuff to give away.

We have added a ton of new programming. Thursday nights it's The Road, some great live concert moments form your favorite country stars. It runs form 7p-9p. Friday evenings at 5pm we have the CMT Insider. Kind of an Entertainment Tonight for country fans. Saturday nights Catfish Hunter's 25 Years Of Country Hits moves to 5pm followed by our NASCAR Show Thunder Road at 7p At 9 it's New Music Nashville sponsored by Wal Mart (have you seen our cool sign in the store?).

Sunday's are busy busy. After Bob Kingsley at 2 we have The CMT Country Countdown. At 5 it's Country's Cutting Edge, 6pm the Stars of Country and then Jim Ed Brown's classic country show hanging in at 7pm.

We're not done by a long shot. We have our new meteorologist John Wetherbee who is totally tuned in to the IWV weather scene. We have daily updates from CMT and the CMT movie minute as well as Jay Leno's nightly monologue. (of course just in time for the writer's strike.

Check the web site for some new contests, with new ones on the way and we will be back here with more info. (I know I know)

Love ya'll!

Eric

Okay Kids...Enough is Enough!

This secession thing has to go away. But let me embellish that. It is up to the council to get this done. We're not going to let it go silently in the night because we need to make sure it doesn't happen again. Ever. Nothing even remotely like this. We don't need half baked schemes coming from the Council. No ulterior motives. This is small town America and you get more done by BUILDING relationships than by tearing them down. And let me tell you we did some real damage here. I say we, because we elected all of these guys. After hearing them talk last night it's almost like they are really disconnected from the community. What happened to talking to us FIRST?

And while I am all for everyone chiming in, pro or con, please, please, read up on this. There has been no yellow journalism. Not here, or either newspaper. I mean, come on Council! You hear it, you read it, and yet you still act like WE'RE the idiots?

We need forward thinking council members. No more complaining. The economic situation is what it is. Let's figure out how to make it work. Okay? We're here to help to. Quit being the victim. Work WITH the county! To see some of the diatribes from the dais made me more embarrassed of our city than at any time in my 15 years here. Get it together, re-connect with the community and represent us. It's why we voted for you.

Oh Yeah, This Cruise Thing is For Real...

We are stoked. There has been a lot of talk since way back in '94 when the old KLOA crowd took off on a similar cruise. We played something country music and had a blast on the ship. We met new people, that whole dining thing was cool. Now the ships are cooler, with more toys, gizmos and gadgets. Let's go huh? I'd like to thank High Sierra Travel for teaming up with us to make this possible. Now let's fill this thing and take a huge IWV crowd out on the high seas. Send me an e-mail or check out the web site for more info.

The 4th of July Celebration at the DEF...A Ridgecrest Tradition

It's always good news and bad news at the fairgrounds for the big 4th bash. We have great food, cold beer and live music from the IWV's best band, The Burners. But does it have to be so freakin' hot? It's 110 at 7:30. We have the music in place both here and on the radio. Your feedback, as always, is appreciated!

3 Months? Busy is not the Word

So I am trying to post with my Crackberry. If it works, maybe I can post more. I have so many stories to tell. Our press club award, our American Idol trip and our take on secesiongate!

So keep checking back, I promise it won't be three months!

-Eric