I grew up in Oregon, but I’ve lived in Idaho now for almost 17 years–so I suppose that means I do not have Idaho ‘Values’ and cannot consider myself ‘Local’…dang, I had NO idea. So what DOES constitute ‘Local’ then? I’m just curious, ‘cuz it sounds that by Shadows definition, unless everyone who is employed is also a ‘native Idahoan’, then they just aren’t ‘Local’ at all.

It’s too bad that we have to split hairs in order to drive a point home here. Let’s be clear: ANY station that continues to hire during the economic slump that our state seems to be currently in (have you heard about the recent bloodletting in Twin?) is taking a significant gamble…whether or not the company is smart enough to promote themselves–and their community properly is yet to be determined, but I sure wish them–and the rest of us–all the luck in the world.

Darrell Calton
Chief Poser and GM

Editor’s note: Everyone did that… and I mean everyone down to the KZMG morning show. Covering local events is routine and everyone should be doing it. This is no different than the item about Paul Harvey – except this does have a local tie. Chill out everyone… this really isn’t worth a battle.

My problem is simple. Half the people work at Impact are implants. Most of them are from California. They have nothing to do with Idaho values or have any real local presence in the Boise market.

When Wendell Stark starts hiring LOCAL people and talent to produce LOCAL radio, then all the LOCAL claims the brass make at Impact and on this website will be…pardon the pun…”Impactful”…

Until then, they are just posers in our market that makes false claims.

Piolin is a syndicated show, based out of California, delivered to our market via a satellite. There’s nothing LOCAL about that at all.

That’s like reporting if Mancow or Imus had Obama on and it just happen to be rebroadcast over a satellite here in Boise.

Get it?

Editor’s note: The Shadow seems to miss the point. The fact that Obama did an interview with a Spanish-language radio outlet is a big deal. The fact that it was on a Boise station is incidental. I set and make the editorial direction here – you can disagree all you want, but this is a valid item and I’d run it again in a heartbeat.

More than local….please identify with your local community. When stations licensed for some smaller community move their offices to Boise…..all local identity is gone. Quite frankly if Wal-mart can survive nicely in a smaller community like Caldwell….I really think a LOCAL Radio Station can survive there as well. Will it be a tough fight…YEP!!! You might have to get down to the street fight level. You might not have a “SEXY” address or be well known in all of the Ad Agencies in Boise. You might however, have a bank account that is nicely in the black.

Your salespeople might have to spend less time creating handouts. They may actually get out and go door to door to door, using a new concept, ASKING FOR THE BUSINESS. They won’t be seen at the latest hip eatery, buying some BIG client lunch….but they just might come back at five p.m. with a fist full of orders.

Just my thoughts…….

Your posting was right on target. First, thanks for the nice remarks about my participation on IRN. Second, I think IRN is a very valuable tool for all of us if used correctly. I encourage broadcast professionals to post their opinions. However, in the past I feel the posting here is far to negative. We are all in this business together and should be supportive of the positive things the local broadcast community is doing. Please don't take this wrong, everyone should be allowed to post their positive and critical comments. I'm not for sensorship, I am for resonable restraint with critical and negative comments. Let's keep the competive attitude on the streets and on our air but not here.

I agree with ALL your comments, as the only way free on air radio will survive is to return to its roots by broadcasting to the community in which its located, being involved in the community and putting as many local live programs on the air as possible and communicating with the listeners. We need to get back to more interactive programing and local personalities on the radio period.

The new computer technology is now running us. A good example of the use of new automation technology is some “local” jocks voice track a portion or all of their shows once in a while. That in itself is OK as it allows someone to have a day off to take care of a family matter or something else like that. We should be running the technology. We should use it in a beneficial manner by using it to get as many local shows and programs on the air as possible instead of …….OH at the last minute I forgot to track my show for this afternoon, hurry into a production room and voice track a local 5 hour show in 30 minutes or less blowing through the 5 hours with very little if any show prep, local content or anything else that engages the listener. Many companies have let this happen and if they do this on a regular basis then why not run satellite programing and forget about “trying” to be local at all. We need to use the technology as I first described and not use it as a crutch to reduce the staff to the point where there is no local content anyway.

I've been in broadcasting since I was 14. I'm just a radio geek that got very lucky. I am humbled and privileged to be an operator in a great market like Boise, Idaho.

I realize radio has got to do several things to survive.

We need to get back to serving our local communities with real people on the radio.

We need to embrace new technology and market these new technologies in a local manner with interactive web sites for our stations and we need to develop and use texting platforms that help our listeners become more involved and interactive with our stations like the old request lines did a long time ago.

We need to keep the listener ENGAGED with our stations on as many levels and platforms as possible. This includes being out in the community doing remotes, fundraisers and other appearences interactive with the public.

If we don't the industry that you and I love will die, its just that simple.

Finally, thank you for keeping the passion of broadcasting alive in your heart and soul. I'm right there with you!

I would also like to encourage management from the other stations in town to participate in a positive manner on IRN.

Elliott Klein,
Managing Partner
Impact Radio Group
Boise

Was this interview conducted on a locally hosted show? Since when is Piolin based in Idaho? If the interview was conducted by Mike and Kate or Tracy and Margo, then it would be real Idaho Radio News. The interview was done by some guy on a satellite, based out of California.

NPR sat down with Obama a week after the election and it was broadcast on a local radio station but I didn't see a story about that interview?

This interview had nothing to do with Idaho, Idaho's issues and wasn't even conducted by someone who is even in the state of Idaho.

You're “local” claims are severely flawed.