Here in Wichita I was upset a few years ago when our local sports station dropped BTL because 810 simply wanted too much money for syndication. Heck, I even spoke with the local on air personalities about it and had sympathy for them as the choice was between a station employee and keeping KK’s show.

Anyway, on good days, we pick up 810 here in Wichita so no harm no foul…of course that was quite a while ago and things have changed recently. KK is now only focused on making money and there is no content on his show worth listening to. I would tolerate him pandering to his local audiance of MU and KU fans by always railing on KSU because I understand his demographics and there was some pretty insightful coverage on area sports. Now there isn’t.

On other KSU sites I have seen a growing movement of people who removed 810 from their radio preset list and claimed peace and fullfillment followed…I must say I am now in that group. I hope the local sports station in Wichita is paying attention and moves to fill the gap, but they currently only have one personality worth a crud and he is in the process of selling out with 50 minutes of dedicated or on air sponsor kissing every hour.

Hopefully media such as this will continue to fill my desire for timely and interesting content on the organizations that I support. Thanks for being there to fill the void! Now, if you could only have content I could use while driving my car instead of wasting my hours at the office it would be perfect…

His son is enrolled at KSU and he is a fan, he would just throw his alma mater under the bus to make his listening audiance happy and I completely understand he needs to work his demographics. In fact, I was OK with that when there was content worth listening to.

It should be interesting to see if Radio goes the way of print media, and even more interesting to see who can adapt their programming to integrate new media formats into what is existing. Will radio go the way of blockbuster (dead and buried) or NetFlix (less via mail and core via on demand)? Wouldn’t on demand capabilities for your car radio be cool?

I. Curtis Kitchen has a unique perspective and skill that is truly missed and was something I greatly welcomed. Maybe it has something to do with his writing style being very similar to my own (albeit amateur), so to speak for myself, maybe that puts me in the minority. Maybe it’s not what all I see it to be cracked up to be. I have tried reading other blogs on 810 and rarely to I read one beginning to end, and I for sure do not read any as consistently as I did CK’s. That by and large has to do with the fact that I’m really only fanatical for Kstate. I would say next in line is the Royals, but even then there’s a huge drop off in what time I invest reading about my teams. Probably because of the length of a MLB season. Point is, I’ve found nothing out of their other personalities to ever hold a candle to CK’s writing, but maybe it has something to do with my passion for teams. CK kept me engaged top to bottom of every piece, and I accredit that to his style.

CK had a real knack for taking the same weekly press conf. quotes and finding a way to tell you at least one more thing that the Mercury, TCJ and Eagle/Star articles didn’t tell you. You know how it is, sometimes you feel like you read the same article three times over. Instead, CK would often times find that one thing, and shed some light on whatever it was about a player or coach or whatever, and I would never feel like it was anything that was too speculative, but more fact based.

Anyway, to do away with his talent is definitely short sided any way you slice it. Now the only time I spend on 810’s website now is to find the “listen live” link at work. Otherwise I read nothing. Someday, this guy will land somewhere, and be very successful covering K-state sports.

II.

Fans would understand the ads, I think, if only it wasn’t for the additional live reads and stumping in already-reduced segments. Fans will give, but it’s the station taking on top of it that irks many. Almost everyone has had their 10 minutes in the car where they don’t hear one minute of content

Sad to say I’ve heard worse. I can get in my truck at 5pm, tune into 580 as I leave to Topeka and it’s well past 5:12 before the 5 o’clock hour even starts. It’s often 5:15 or later some days. 810’s bad, but it could be worse.

III.

the sentiment wasn’t singular in nature as hundreds of people retweeted or commented that 810, Between the Lines specifically, had lost its bite, become out of touch with the listenership and come full negative circle in that it has become the exact replica of the stale sports talk Kietzman had succeeded in running out of town

I appreciate the variety between the 3 different shows on 810. I think the Program and BTL in a way are the most similar, but still different enough. I definitely feel like the Border Patrol crew are a bunch of guys I would hang out with in HS (maybe it’s because like everyone on there, I too went to Catholic HS…j/k, but it is ironic), even though I’m probably at best 5-6 years younger than the youngest one on there. Point here is, though you can tell KK is a little stubborn in his ways when you listen to all three shows all day like I do.

IV.

It’s not anything little and specific that needs to be addressed, and it’s sure not about the threat to change station…Things are not the same as they were 15 years ago when BTL started. To not change is begging to become stale, summer programming or not.

Totally agree. For sure 810 is still the best product out there, but KK ought to listen to himself sometimes. He goes off on enough rants on how he’s convinced he could improve the game experience of soccer, in America, or having a downtown stadium would be the best move for the Royals. I’m not here to debate or disagree with either of those topics, just trying to give an example. But c’mon man, listen to yourself about “the American way”. We haven’t built the empires we have today by being complacent. You have to always find a way to tweak and retool yourself to stay on top.

Instead, “don’t change what you do” from the conceptual standpoint, i.e. hardwork, striving to be on top, doing it by yourself and local networks. DO CHANGE what you do from your day-to-day comfort zone and routine, all the while sticking to your guns from the hardwork concept. Which I think is exactly what CK said:

The old guys, the ones with money, are just fine with golf deals and fancy dining. The teens and early 20s maybe aren’t thrilled but are okay with 610’s Nick Wright, Keitzman’s competition, because, well, at least he’s their age and mixes in pop culture world they can identify with even if they aren’t overly impressed with his show

 V. It bugs the hell out of me that he doesn’t read hardly any emails on the air (which I agree less is more, but there’s still room for a little more)…which I know if you want to say something, grow some balls and call up. I personally average only probably 1 email a year to KK, so it’s not that I want myself to be heard over the air waves, I just have to believe there are more people out there with good emails to read that go un-read. It also bugs the hell out of me that they podcast hardly anything on that show. Which stinks because, the one segment a week I don’t want to miss is Stan Weber’s Friday spot. Well we usually have a happy hour at my work on Fridays from 4-5, so I usually miss it, or I end up being the anti-social one at my desk upstairs away from the conference room…a lose-lose, except I usually pick the free beer.

V.

The old guys, the ones with money, are just fine with golf deals and fancy dining. The teens and early 20s maybe aren’t thrilled but are okay with 610’s Nick Wright, Keitzman’s competition, because, well, at least he’s their age and mixes in pop culture world they can identify with even if they aren’t overly impressed with his show

BINGO. I hate 610’s lack of professionalism, crudeness and the Bazookas ads. I feel like I have to shower after listening to Nick Wright. I don’t remember him being as douchey when I first found out about their station as well 3 years ago after graduating college and commuting 1hr between Topeka and Manhattan daily for my job. Instead I think the morning show, the BP has that right mix of pop culture which is probably less than 10% of their show…I mean how could you not laugh at the “Harry Baals government center?” Nick Wright blows, but I’ve heard a few good segments (mostly interviews) of his because I’ve switched over during Chiefs talk. Instead I mostly mock NW’s annoying voice to entertain myself.

VI. If KMAN 1350 had a stronger signal, I’d probably switch over more during 810 Chiefs talk, but there’s only so much stutterriffic Rob Voelker you can take in one day too. And 580’s decent, but frankly I don’t have any interest in how Washburn is doing ever.

Conclusion: 810 is still the most polished and best out there, it’s just starting to feel like the pool party on Anchorman. It’s still a good time and guaranteed to have the best booze, it’s just we’ve been coming to the same party for 15 years.