Too Beautiful to Live
| Too Beautiful to Live | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Presentation | |
| Hosting | Luke Burbank |
| Genre | Talk/Comedy |
| Language | English |
| Updates | Daily (weekdays) |
| Length | 45 minutes-1 hour (approximate) |
| Production | |
| Audio format | MP3 |
| Publication | |
| Debut | January 7, 2008 (radio) September 14, 2009 (podcast) |
| End date | September 11, 2009 (radio) Ongoing (podcast) |
| Genre | Talk/Comedy |
| Website | http://www.tbtl.net |
Too Beautiful to Live (often abbreviated to TBTL) is a podcast originating from Seattle, Washington, hosted by Luke Burbank of Seattle's KIRO-FM. The podcast originated as a radio show on KIRO [1] which aired from January 7, 2008 to September 11, 2009.
Fans of the show are often referred to as "The Tens", stemming from an early radio episode where Luke would mention how they only have "tens" of listeners, rather than "hundreds" or "thousands".[2][3]
Format
The show begins with the song "Catch My Disease" by Ben Lee, underneath a number of audio quotes from movies or viral videos. Burbank welcomes listeners and starts the show by giving his weight, followed by introducing his on-air partner or partners for the show. Recurring partners include fellow KIRO radio host Andrew Walsh and former TBTL radio show producer Jennifer Andrews and engineer Sean DeTore. In addition to the daily lives and thoughts of the Burbank and his co-hosts on pop culture and current events, the show often contains guest interviews.
Radio show
TBTL aired on 97.3 KIRO FM (and 710 KIRO AM before the station moved to FM) from 7:00 to 10:00 pm weeknights and at the same time on Saturdays for the "Best Of", which includes clips from the past week's shows. The format was similar to that of the podcast, with Luke Burbank joined by Jennifer Andrews and Sean DeTore. TBTL was a non-caller driven program; listener phone calls were accepted on an infrequent basis. Instead on Wednesdays the shows had a "Call Makers" feature where listeners who previously sent in a phone number and question(s) were called and the question(s) discussed live on-air.
News reports about the show characterized it as an attempt by KIRO, and its owner Bonneville International, to add a younger audience to KIRO's older listener base,[2][3][4] however, the Seattle Times noted that the show had only managed to draw 1.4 percent of 25-54 year-olds - the program's target sales demographic - who were listening to a radio at 7:00pm.[5] While the program was Seattle Weekly's choice as "Best Radio Talk Show" in July 2009,[6][7] after a poor showing in the Arbitron ratings, KIRO cancelled the program in September.[7]
Conversion to podcast
While TBTL was an over-the-air ratings disappointment, it had attracted a national download following.[8] In its final month of broadcasting, it had attracted more than 225,000 podcast download hours.[8]The Stranger noted that "the younger listeners were, in fact, tuning in... they just weren't using the same equipment that KIRO's general audience uses."[8] Thus, when the radio program was cancelled, Burbank and KIRO announced that the program would continue as a daily podcast.[7][8][9]
References
- ^ AM Radio fills niche markets. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. January 10, 2008.
- ^ a b Hood, Michael (June). "Can Luke Burbank Make A.M. Radio Cool Again?". Seattle Magazine. p. 38. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ^ a b Sanders, Eli (9 December 2008). "Beautiful Thing — The Best New Radio Show in Seattle Is on... KIRO?". The Stranger. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
- ^ Davila, Florangela (9 January 2008). "Luke Burbank is hip, vain, back in town and back on the air". Seattle Times. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
- ^ Lacitis, Erik (September 11, 2009). "KIRO radio's Luke Burbank show canceled over low ratings". The Seattle Times.
- ^ Hobart, Erika (2009-07-29). "Best Radio Talk Show: Too Beautiful To Live". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ a b c Lacitis, Erik (2009-09-11). "KIRO radio's Luke Burbank show canceled over low ratings". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ a b c d Sanders, Eli (2009-09-17). "Too Beautiful to Litigate". Retrieved 2013-04-15.
- ^ http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=78&sid=211108
