A mere 200 thousand hertz--a flick of the wrist on the radio dial--separate the warring parties. It is too close for comfort, especially since there's no love lost between KVI's owner, locally based Fisher Communications, a regional player with three Seattle stations and $154 million in 2002 revenues, and national radio giant Entercom, owner of KTTH and seven other Seattle outlets, with $391 million in revenues.
While the day is young--the first three-month ratings book covering the new competition is not out until later this week--the early numbers show KVI, with its "More Stimulating Talk" tagline, handily winning the first skirmishes. In February, KVI posted a 6.4 rating, up from 4.7 in January and good for second place in the Seattle-ratings rat race, behind urban music titan KUBE 93-FM. Upstart KTTH, meanwhile, lagged back in 24th place with a 1.2 rating.
KVI morning host Kirby Wilbur crows over his station's February "big increase," adding that with the start of the war in March KVI's numbers should rise further in the upcoming ratings. "They picked the wrong time to come after us," he says, attributing the boost his station has received to its relentlessly effective promotion of its pro-war message. In recent months, KVI distributed 35,000 "Support Our Troops" signs and locally aired a slick pro-war TV ad, funded with more than $167,000 in contributions from listeners.
But the KTTH boys are undeterred. And with a big-name lineup in their arsenal--many formerly on KVI, including local big-name big mouth Mike Siegel (who competes head-to-head with Wilbur in the morning), local syndicated talker Michael Medved, and the heavy verbal artillery of controversial syndicated talker Michael Savage--no one can be sure that The Truth isn't poised to make gains in the future.
The competition is particularly intense during morning drive time. A recent morning found Wilbur scoffing at light rail and dismissing multilateralism--"The UN is a joke"--while Siegel excoriated the Seattle City Council: "These people are pablum and jellyfish who run this region."
Siegel producer David Boze, who also hosts on KTTH and jumped ship from KVI, says his station is just getting started and so far "things have been going great." So great that KVI has been playing copycat. KVI only gave out the "Support Our Troops" signs because KTTH gave away 1,000 first, he says, and when KTTH decided to throw a party celebrating Ronald Reagan's birthday, KVI suddenly revived a dormant tradition and threw a competing party.
Siegel praises the Entercom lineup, saying it took a year to put it together. No shrinking violet on air or off--"I could spend three hours telling you all the things I've changed in this town," he boasts--Siegel, who was abruptly fired from KVI in 1996 for airing a false rumor about then-Mayor Norm Rice, makes no bones about his desire to vanquish the competition. "I play to win," he says.
Medved producer Dan Sytman adds that in his view, KVI has gotten soft from going for years without direct competition. "KVI sounds a little sleepy and boring," he opines, whereas "KTTH really shakes things up and goes after the status quo in general."
But KVI's Wilbur counters that he's not sure whether Entercom is serious about turning KTTH into a top-rated station, or whether it's just trying to submarine KVI's ratings. In his view, Entercom's move to challenge KVI is payback for Fisher's successful effort against Entercom last year, when the company stole Mariners broadcasts (now on Fisher's KOMO 1000-AM) from Entercom's news/talk flagship KIRO 710-AM. "I don't know how much of it is spite and how much is a real effort," he says. "Our goal is to see The Truth switch to a different format by the 2004 election."
Wilbur admits KVI may have gotten a little fat-and-happy, but the competition has convinced Fisher management to let KVI return to its activist roots with a vengeance. Antiwar activists recently accused Wilbur of sending "liquor-laced bullies to beat up peace protesters" at rallies. "I liked that one," he says with a chuckle.
KVI afternoon drive host John Carlson proposes that part of KVI's ratings rise has come from peeling conservative listeners from Entercom's KIRO. "Entercom created The Truth to return the favor," he says. "The Entercom--Fisher rivalry has gotten personal." Perennial ratings champ KIRO trailed behind KVI in February.
And KVI evening host Bryan Suits, who switched sides from KIRO in November--"more little green rectangles," he explains--believes that KVI's real competition comes from liberal-leaning NPR stations.
One thing the two sides agree on is that there are significant differences of tone between the stations, with KVI being more deliberative and KTTH taking a more rabble-rousing, aggressive approach. KTTH's Boze says, for example, that while Carlson is more "policy-wonkish, subdued, deliberate," Savage, known for his signature rants against gays and immigrants, is "no-holds-barred, in-your-face, even tear-off-your-face."
And both sides, citing their conservative principles, profess to relish the competition. The battle has only made them sharper, they claim, and benefited the listening audience by providing more choices. But that enthusiasm may be tested when Salem Communications' KKOL 1300-AM, currently in temporary facilities with only 1000 watts of power, jumps to 50,000 watts. That should happen by early next year, reports General Manager David Fitts. KKOL has its own lineup of high-profile conservative talkers, including Oliver North.
