Mariners Fans Might Need To Move To Coeur D’Alene

A big Seattle TV shakeup will occur Monday, and yes, it does affect viewers in Spokane, especially those who like the Mariners.

After 37 years with KIRO-TV, CBS is swapping affiliates in Seattle. KIRO-TV will become an independent station and KSTW-TV, an independent station, will become the new CBS affiliate.

Since Cox Cable in Spokane carries KSTW-TV on channel 20, this switch raises the question: What will we be seeing Monday when we tune in to KSTW on cable?

Answer: A blank blue screen.

“About 80 percent of KSTW will be blanked out,” said Alan Collins, the Cox Cable general manager.

That’s because KREM-2 has first dibs on all CBS programming carried on Cox.

So Collins said it is “very likely” that Cox will drop KSTW as soon as it can, probably by July 1.

Collins also said that Cox has no plans to pick up KIRO, which means that Spokane will lose the Seattle Mariners flagship station, which is now KIRO instead of KSTW.

KIRO will broadcast 64 Mariners games this year. Ironically, viewers in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene will be getting those games, because KIRO has signed up KDQ-58 in Post Falls to be its Spokane-Coeur d’Alene affiliate on the Mariners network.

KDQ-58 is a low-power station carrying mostly family-oriented programming. It is carried on Cablevision in Coeur d’Alene (where it is channel 21). It can also be picked up over the air in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls.

However, Cox doesn’t carry KDQ-58. And the signal is too weak to cover Spokane.

Still, Spokane may not be completely Mariner-free. The Prime Sports Northwest, which is contracted to carry another 40 Mariners games, is offering those games to Cox Cable. Negotiations between PSN and Cox are now under way.

If the strike continues, this may be a moot point anyway. Nobody will care.

Is that an insult?

Author Sherman Alexie (“The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”) weighs in with some provocative opinions about Spokane in the March issue of Seattle magazine.

Alexie moved to Seattle from Spokane in September, at least in part because his wife, Diane, a Southern Californian, found Spokane to be “just too small for her.”

In the article, Alexie expounds on the differences between Seattle and Spokane:

“Seattle is quite self-impressed. Spokane is, too - it’s proud of being a backward-ass hick town. But at least Spokane doesn’t pretend to be multicultural. Seattle pretends to be this huge, multicultural city, but it’s really not.”

He said that, while in Spokane “conservatives may not like you because you’re brown or a woman or whatever, in Seattle, the liberals pretend that everyone is the same. Here, people have a romanticized view of what it’s like to be an Indian. In Spokane, they know how (crummy) it can be.”

These remarks sound like Spokane insults. However, upon closer inspection, I’m not sure. Sounds more like a reality check to me.

By the way, Alexie did not actually say “crummy,” but in conservative old Spokane, I can’t use the word he actually said.

Best year ever

I am hereby declaring 1967 to be the winner in Spotlight’s “Best Music Year Ever” poll, followed closely by 1966.

However, we received a late flurry of impassioned votes for the entire Big Band era, which lasted roughly from 1935 to 1948. Most voters had trouble narrowing it down to a single year, however.

“The decade of the 1940s was hands-down the very best ever,” wrote Doris J. Woodward of Spokane. “Not only was the quality especially good, but also the quantity … Miller and Goodman and Kenton and Herman and Sinatra … and let’s not forget Nat King Cole.”

We also got a vote for the entire decade of the ‘50s from Jack Anderson of Nine Mile Falls, who cited Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis, Ray Charles and Nat King Cole, just to name a few.

“With a few minor exceptions, there hasn’t been any ‘real’ music since,” wrote Anderson.

Pat Palmer of Spokane might disagree. He nominated 1980, the year of “London Calling” by the Clash, “Boy” by U2 and “Remain In Light” by the Talking Heads.

The only thing this poll actually proved was that there was no “best year ever.”

Art in the mall

Next time you’re shopping River Park Square, or just wandering it aimlessly, stop in to Indian Images: Art of the American West.

This Cheney Cowles Museum outreach exhibit contains 30 paintings and bronzes about the West. It’s worth checking out, and it only costs a buck, or 50 cents for students or seniors.

Family TV winners

The Spokane Academy for Family Television presented its 1995 awards on Monday for programs that promote alternatives to violence.

The categories and winners are:

News - “TV Violence,” a KHQ-6 news segment.

Documentary - “Agenda for Action: Growing Up Scared,” a KXLY-4 town meeting.

Dramatic program - “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” CBS.

Situation comedy - “Home Improvement,” ABC.

Family-friendly show - “I’ll Fly Away,” PBS.

Program for young children - “Barney & Friends,” PBS.

Programs for parents - “John Bradshaw On the Family,” PBS.

Interactive TV talk

KXLY’s Mike Fitzsimmons will host a new interactive talk show called “News/Talk Live” beginning Monday at 11 a.m.

The program will air live every weekday on KXLY-4 and KXLYExtra! and will also be simulcast on KXLY-AM, 920.

Fitzsimmons will have guests each day, and there will be a heavy emphasis on call-ins.

Topics this week include legalizing marijuana, welfare reform, the obsession to be thin and beautiful, what makes marriages work, and the effect of alcohol ads on social drinking.

The first guest on Monday will be Gov. Mike Lowry. Other guests this week include attorney Pat Stiley, psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lanz, marriage and family instructor Kathy Finley and professor of social work Jennifer Stucker.

Snyder comes to KXLY

“The Late, Late Radio Show With Tom Snyder and Elliott Forrest” will premiere on KXLY-AM Monday night from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

This three-hour live call-in show is actually two broadcasts. Forrest hosts the first segment live from New York, and then Snyder joins in from Los Angeles at around 9:30 p.m. for the remainder of the show.

The show premiered nationally in January. It features interviews with actors, musicians, authors and other celebrities.