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First, ignore anyone who disses Ed Schultz. I don't care if he sounds like Rush Limbaugh, that's an advantage. He's carving out territory in the political center, and that's an important job, even in Portland. I don't always agree with everything he says, but I don't agree with everything the other hosts say either. That's not the point. He's the "mainstream" of Midwestern Democrats, and needs to be heard as much as the East Coasters.
Second, the three-hour delay has got to go. Even if Randi polls better for the evening commute than Minority Report, we need a live show. Talk radio is all about audience interaction, and KPOJ's offset schedule cripples live interaction after 3pm. Ed's on from noon til 3pm. Randi would ordinarily play from noon until 4, so split the difference. Do the first 1:45 of Ed and the last 2:15 of Randi. At least while Randi's convalescing from the surgery and we're stuck with re-runs, eh?
Third, we should be building some local talent on the air to do battle with Lars Larson. First place I'd look: KBOO. These guys have been at it for years, and so far they've been doing it for free. So offer Joe Uris or Ani Haines or Steve/Teresa Mitchell a late-night gig; they're all experienced enough to pull it off. Also, there are other regional liberal talk shows from the Seattle and San Francisco areas that deserve a shot. By moving Randi's show up, KPOJ would be making room for more voices and a more diverse flavor with local relevance. Who knows, maybe some of the other AAR stations will want to pull down a feed from KPOJ instead?
Fourth, do something about the freaking local/AA feed mix on the traffic report/commercials. I swear, about half the time I'm listening when the traffic lady comes on at the top or bottom of the hour, there's some dick-hardener "herbal supplement" ad finishing up at the same time. Then the ad wraps and the news comes on while the traffic report is ending. For some reason, I find this schizophrenic blend of road rage, commercialism, and national news extremely unsettling when heard in parallel.
Fifth, the whole javascript/applet/activeX/whateverthefuckitis thing for bringing up the "liquidviewer" player on the "official" KPOJ site has got to go. Just give a simple link to the stream, cos what was up there the last time I checked breaks some popular browsers for no good reason. After the first time it hosed on one of my systems, I've been opening the URL to the actual stream and that works fine. :shrug:
Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate the shows. KPOJ is performing a valuable service, and this market in particular has been starving for the product. Hell, the ratings from the first quarter alone bear this out. I just want you guys to have the best format possible. I want KPOJ to become a power broker!
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