Blathering 2007: a year that was...
What a year!
Talk radio didn't lose as it has in recent years--but audiences didn't bounce back, or didn't grow, either--radio held its own this year.
BlatherWatch, on the other hand, has thriven like choke weed, running up the skirts of local radio and choking off the competition like a morning glory of righteousness.
That's because Seattle radio town has been right (and left) lively.
THANK YOU, THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU to the tippers, the sources, the insiders, the blabber-mouthing threep doats whose secreted, sensational and occasionally accurate information not only always checks out, but have made us more than just another screedblog or Air America fansite. 
With a new logo and a new time slot that gets them out of the stiff midmorning competition, The Commentators may do better for KVI in the afternoon drive (m-f,3-6p). But we ain't buying The tough guy logo, with Ken Schram looking like he just bit off your ear, and John Carlson with a lip-curl like someone just farted in the elevator.
BEST HEADLINE: Feckless beck flicks flecks of dreck
Glenn Beck, the pop-eyed, schmegegge-spreader with a penchant for mean, whom we've described as a "hypermanic, chubby-cheeked, arm-waving, spittle-spraying, grenade-launching, sex-obsessed, fag-baiting, right-wing cheer-king for violence against diversity" was moved to KTTH's morning drive. He will add luster and distinction to the Seattle mediascape, according to Bonneville. He's a native of Mt Vernon, and a CNN commentator. Look out Sean Hannity: Beck is the only person on the right who might knock you off your gravitas pedestal.
(photo: Goldy & Mayor Nickels join in on a rousing chorus of Where Have All the Republicans Gone? at Drinking Liberally in February).
SORELY MISSED: Tina Nole, Dave Ross's longtime producer, left KIRO on her own for CBS in New York where she hangs out with Walter Cronkite.
MOST VITALLY SIGNIFICANT RADIO TOWN EVENT OF 2007: Bonneville International's acquisition in January of Seattle's KIRO, KTTH, oldies KBSG, (and a station in Cincinnati) in a trade with Entercom for three San Francisco FM radio stations.
WHEREDAYGO?
Major firings this year: Bonneville cleaned out some deadwood this year: New York Vinnie from evening Sportstalk; Ron Reagan from his tentative one hour noon toe-dipper on KIRO; Dan Sytman and Teresa Joy (La Joie) from the medium evil, early morning Sytman & Boze Show.
Bryan Suits lost his longtime perch on the KVI afternoon drive, but may be making a rather rapid reappearance in Los Angeles.
DUBIOUS NEWBIES
Mike Webb is probably spinning, but after many months belaboring the airwaves on a temporary basis, passive aggressive Republican Frank "Shudder" Shiers finally got the nod for the KIRO late night (m-f, 10p-1a). We're best friends with Frank these days, but we still wish he'd go back to spinning oldies for the oldsters at KBSG, and give the infuriating, smarmy, nice guy right-winger shit a rest.
cRaZy! BrYaN sTyBLe's! Sunday night Tree Falling in the Forest Show (10p-1a) which
should perhaps be called Asperger's Corner; is, as always, embarrassing. We thought the neocon clinchpoop was gone, but he was given the off-the-grid Sunday show despite his penchant for arcane, non-stop, didactic monologues; endlessly aired personal grudges; fierce losses of temper, and his irritating way of never letting callers get more than 2 sentences in. What's more he sucks wind like a Briggs & Stratton. And oh yeah, since he's Michael Medved Jr, he promulgated The Cultural Crusader's "Slavery was good for The Negroes" argument delivered with moral racist superiority and less grace. Otherwise, he's a fine broadcaster.
NEW SHOWS WE LIKE
The David Goldstein Show (KIRO, Sat., Sun., 7-10p) is wonky and
liberal like us- and astoundingly-- the ONLY LIVE AND LOCAL LIBERAL ON THE AIR IN SEATTLE (not counting Dave Ross). Thine host has grown into his job, which is pissing off the righties as he closes the circle between talk radio and the new media. He never listens to us and still insists on doing whole segments on Oregon politics, Eastern Washington city council races, treading through the weeds of tax theory, and other arcana. But hell, it's his show, and the common good is served by his lonely presence as the liberal on Seattle radio.
David Boze was separated from his psychic twin, Dan Sytman, and was given an afternoon drive show of his own. As usual, the marketing dep't burned the midnight shoe leather dreaming up a snappy name: The David Boze Show. (KTTH m-f, 3-6p) Boze, who came to radio via a rock-picker job at a Xmas tree farm in Stanwood, takes it a little slower than some of his more urbanized cohorts, and still gives lip service to the bucolia of his rural upbringing. He's a helluva lot more conservative and serious than you are; but he has a good heart and even though he has a gun, and will use it, he probably wouldn't hurt your puppy or kitty even if you were a liberal, and he's running low on sausage.
We really like The Big Story @ 6 with Tony Minor, an hour-long block of news and gathered bites from the talk shows on KIRO (m-f, 6-7p). Although there's a little too much Dori Monson, long form news is much-welcomed. Minor is a newsies' newsie; and Tom Tangney's producing is enticing and unique.
YOU KNOW WHAT''S SAD? These are the only new stuff talk radio got in 2007-- and they're mostly re-configurations of hosts and shows that were already there.
LOST LOCAL PROGRAMMING in 2007: Ron Reagan, not replaced; Bryan Suits, replaced by The Commentators replaced by Dr. Laura; Sytman & Boze replaced by Glenn Beck, David Boze added to afternoon. Net loss: two live and local talk shows. the P-I's Bill Virgin runs it down here.
BIGGEST WINNERS for 2007: KIRO NEWS, swept the regional Edward R. Murrow Awards with nine awards in June. Heather Bosch won a first place Murrow National Award in the “Radio Large Market, Use of Sound" category.
ASSHOLE BEAT: Then there was the peculiar story of Stefan Sharkansky: waitress slayer.
TAGS ARE IMPORTANT! we guess... last year KTTH started calling itself "The Truth," which was pretty audacious considering it's run by robots, and Dave Boze; but this year KVI became "Thee Talk Station" (sounds Biblical no?) While KIRO went from "710KIRO Newsradio," to 710 KIRO News Talk. Seems like a lateral move to us.
SHE'S BACK. Dr. Laura Schlessinger has returned to the Seattle Market
at KVI in the mid-morning slot opposite Rush and Dave Ross. She's had
quite a year: her son Derek had problems of the sociopathic kind; and her lurid past came to the fore. See Dr. Laura naked here.
BlatherWatch took on one of Seattle's holiest bovine when we covered
the dramatic resignation of longtime KUOW staffer Ken Vincent who quit in August; and an interview with Deborah Brandt who resigned suddenly in February, and was rather plainspoken
about why. It's not nice to ask questions about public radio around
here, but we did- and went a little beyond our usual mocking it for its
doddering demographic appeal. We wrapped it all up with a piece in The Stranger. It really wasn't much of a scandal in the end, but you wouldn't know it for the shit we caught about it...
Daryn Kagan: Rush Limbaugh broke this woman! After Big Pants dumps you, what? It's worse than you think.
All those Seattle baiting, Seattle hating radio talk hosts LIVE IN THE DAMN SUBURBS!
We didn't need to do it--Dori Monson self-coronated this year as THE
KING OF SEATTLE TALK RADIO! Our readers hate him more than anyone on
the radio--but you know what? THEY ALL LISTEN TO HIS EVERY WORD EVERY
DAY! Does he sound like a little prig with his underpa
nts on his
head? yes. But Dori's ratings, last we saw, were some of the best in
Talk Seattle. As much as we loath the very idea of that- and as long as
he can sleep with himself (we're sure there could be no more eager bedmate for the little guy) he
should be congratulated for making adolescent ignominy; pencil-necked
populism; negative nattering; and feigned outrage pay and to keep his
old Ferrari on the road, and that Gutter Helmet firmly on his head.
Dori's endless commercial endorsements, his jock-ular Seahawk blather,
and his weekdaily shooting off of his big bazoo dominate KIRO: and have
eclipsed Dave Ross who once personified the station. Dori Monson is the
sound of KIRO.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer publisher Roger Oglesby was mugged by
right-wing reality when tabloid bombast Bill O'Reilly (KTTH m-f,9-11p) sent his thuggish stalker/producer Jesse Watters to his Capital Hill home 
to ambush him with do-you-still-bite-your-wife questions as he got out
of his car. Roger, a big guy who works out regularly in a downtown gym
held up pretty well- resisting what must have been a temptation to kick
Watters' skinny hindside. It all started with some innocuous comments
written by P-I columnist D.Parvaz about a performance artist who made a
weak but well-publicized attempt to burn down San Francisco's Grace
Cathedral. "On the one hand," she wrote, "I can understand the power of
the image to someone who sees the church as an oppressive institution.
On the other hand...it's still arson." For the entertainment purposes
of the heat-seeking O'Reilly, this meant Parvaz (and the P-I) favors
burning down churches because they're oppressive. She went on
Hannity & Colmes, but refused O'Reilly, telling BlatherWatch that doing one Fox
News show was enough. Oglesby wouldn't return Billo's calls either.
It's the kiss of death to refuse Bill O'Reilly, so he sent his
be-cameraed minion to Roger's front yard; and has been blasting the P-I
as "far-left loons" ever since.
Every time we hear Billo Reilly blarting about moral values we think of this conversation.
~
White House freely fellates fallacious friendlies:
Michael Medved (KTTH m-f, 12-3p) was invited to the White House in
August with a coterie of national conservative blabbermeisters that
included Glenn Beck, Bill Bennett, Neal Boortz, Scott Hennon, Hew
Hughit, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larson, Mark Levin, Michael Medved, and
Janet Partial. It was unclear who was blowing whom, but the object was
to bolster Bush's immigration bill and fluff up the troops on his
frivolous war. He failed on the former, and the latter was unnecessary.
Local boy makes worst: First the Republican presidential front runners couldn't find the time to go to a PBS debate at an all-black college; then Billo Reilly was pleasantly surprised that black people didn't scream "Motherfucker!" while ordering ice tea in one of "their" restaurants; and then Michael Medved (KTTH m-f, 12-3p) defended slavery, and for that was bestowed what's increasingly passing for a right-wing badge of honor: Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's "Worst Person In The World."
Republican Radio, a show that batted around all the wingnut stations for the years,dropped out of the Seattle market. Kiel Mortgage dropped their subsidy, and the brokered right-wing weekender could no longer pay the freight at KKOL or KVI. Such famous rightie radio-lites as Anne-Marie Lake, Bob Williams, Jerry Miller, Paul Guppy, and Stefan Sharkansky (you've heard of them, haven't you?) are now down to playing an abbreviated 1-hour show over low-watt stations in milking parlors and tractor dashboards in places like Bremerton, Olympia, Spokane, and of course, the Internets. Laura Kiel finally realized that giving welfare to the klunking Republican infomercial was like giving it to the state GOP- they're both rat holes and follies for the same reason- there ain't no Republicans!
IN MEMORIUM
Mike Webb
Former KIRO talk host Mike Webb was murdered in April.
Incredibly, his body which lay in a hidden crawl space in his house
wasn't found until June. Scott Brian White, a 28-year-old homeless man
was arrested after confessing to the murder which had been administered
with an ax. Webb had been convicted in February on the insurance fraud
charges, and was doing community service. He was 52.
Larry Nelson 
Longtime KOMO morning man Larry Nelson died
November, and was mourned by several generations of radio fans and fellow professionals. He was 70.
Walt Crowley
Iconic Seattleite, historian, former radical and broadcaster, interweb pioneer, 
cartoonist,
liberal among liberals, tireless servant of the common good,
designer of the BlatherWatch logo, and friend of
the family, Walt Crowley died after a 2-year bout with cancer. Seattle started saying good bye to Walt at a Famous Last Words Party before he lost his larynx in February. But the evil disease came back in September. He was 60.
Dr. Chih-Chi Hsu
While working for Bendix in the 1950's, Hsu co-invented "a radio receiver
unit of the signal seeking variety," which paved the way for the car
radio over which nearly 35 percent of the overall radio audience hears
radio. A professor of electrical engineeri
ng at the U of Washington, he died in July at the age of 84. PIC
~ Everybody's sidekickin' it these days, (The Commentators, Ron & Don, Bonnie & Clyde). Now,
The Kirby Wilbur Show, was spruced up, and has morphed into Kirby & Co. (KVI m-f, 5-9a) with Carleen Johnson (who used to just do the news) and Matt Haver (who used to be just the producer). Los tres amigos have been working together for years, so it's not much of a stretch, although it's taken some getting used to. This from our post last Fall:
The Christianizing of Kirby & Co, has stuck some sharp pointy fingers in some soft spots. A KVI/KOMO staffer wrote to say "the situation is delicate right now," and that management is very aware of it. The sharp-tongued Carleen Johnson, former news "gal," now Associate Pastor, is leading the weekdaily devotionals with Kirby chiming in passively and Matt Haver not saying much. A comment by EBB: "I had to stop listening to Kirby months ago because I could not abide by the religious turn the show had been taking." Not that the KVI suits don't like Jesus, we're told, but it's conventional broadcasting wisdom that religion-speak turns off listeners on secular radio. Sweet old Blatherwatch commenter Tommy008 writes: "This morning they had a Christian movie reviewer on since, of course, a just a plain old movie reviewer wouldn't do.
Carleen mentioned during this segment about being "on fire" for God." Last May, Johnson quit because, sources told us, the outspoken Christian conservative was uncomfortable about the way KOMO was reporting- among other stories- the Supreme Court decision on late term abortions. She brought an attorney down to Fisher Plaza, and after nearly two weeks of negotiations, the resignation was declared a "misunderstanding," by management. This may be a clue as to why the kid gloves around this on-air Christian witnessing which has got to be giving management the hives.
A SIGN THAT THE END IS NEAR. A Gainesville FL family, apparently impaired 
in some way, named their youngest daughter Hannity! after the Fox News commentator and GOP Designated Liar, Sean Hannity.
TALK SOUP: SEXY, SEXY POTATOES. BlatherWatch spud recipes from 2007':
Really
good mashed potatoes : 1 lb. butter /1 lb. potatoes. Thierry Rautureau, Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen (KIRO Saturdays, 4-7p)
~ Paging Dr. Freud... "The Super Tuber," is Sen. Larry Craig's favorite recipe from the Idaho Potato Institute:“Wash and dry potato. Rub with shortening or butter. With an apple corer or small knife, core out the potato center (end to end). Shove hot dog through the center. Bake until potato is cooked through.” (emphasis ours)
WE KNEW IT! Conservatives don't like to hear the other side...
HIS PATRIOTISM STOPS AT HIS DAUGHTER'S EDGE: Dori Monsoon did not encourage his daughter to enlist in the fight to end the War On Terror.
Who knew, dep't? It's probably puerile to note this in this prestigious
Blog of Record, but as usual, we can't help ourselves: according to a
Shakespearean dictionary, a "malkin" is a kitchen slut. Perhaps
(perchance?) that explains why one of the most common Googly key
phrases that will fetch up BlatherWatch is "Michelle Malkin naked."
Posting this, we risk the Malkinian wrath and the Elizabethan epithet:
"Thou beslubbering motley-minded lewdster!"
~ ~
BlatherWatch does Alison Stewart. Or is the opposite the case?
Luke Burbank returns to Seattle and is hired by KIRO.
(Photo- Jeri Thompson: Rush Limbaugh's perspective
Affirmative action for Carlson, Wilbur and KVI
In a stunning victory,
for KVI talk hosts John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur, the State Supreme
Court unanimous agreed with that they needn't report their on-air
campaign organizing as an in-kind political contribution. They lost the
election, but won "special rights" to skirt fair election laws in their
2005 campaign for the anti-gas tax initiative, I-912.
HIGH MOMENT IN A LOW YEAR: was our interview with John McKay, our second favorite Republican.
Al Franken resigns from AAR for Senate run.
Here's our tediously exhaustive series on radio producers:
The Producers, Part 1: hosts, joe-jobs, and show prep
The Producers, Part 2, the callers: turn your damn radio off, and don't ask the host how he's doin'!
The Producers, Part 3: the "gets," the celebs, and the agony of de feet [work]
The Producers, Part 4: Bucket O' Warm Spit Dep't: producers on bottom rung of payscale
Moving In Memorium, Michael. And nice review of the year. Kinda nostalgic at my age...brings a tear to these old eyes.
Oh well, 'tis the time to start anew.
Posted by: joanie | December 31, 2007 at 02:22 AM
2008 should be a very interesting time. By this time next year we will know the next President.
Best Wishes!
Posted by: PugetSound | December 31, 2007 at 05:44 PM
Happy New Year, and may 2008 bring us no more pictures of Malkin or Dr. Laura Grizzly Bear.
Posted by: sparky | December 31, 2007 at 06:29 PM
Low moment: Phil Vanderwort gets his own show (sometimes), thus proving he really IS Dori's brown-nosing bitch.
Posted by: Janet Morrow | December 31, 2007 at 07:00 PM
Is he really coming back? We call him Phil Blanderwort.
Posted by: sanka | December 31, 2007 at 08:59 PM
When I heard him for several minutes this afternoon, I thought he Frank Shiers. OMG!
This is the first post of 2008!
(Well, except for my others posts on other threads.)
Posted by: joanie | January 01, 2008 at 01:44 AM
The big loss was Mike Webb, replacing him with a bozo like Frank Shiers just made things worse. Tell me, has he stopped babbling about his daughter yet?
Posted by: Upton | January 01, 2008 at 08:07 AM
His daughter...math reform...Al Gore... that's Frank's (I'm an expert on everything) show in a nutshell.
Posted by: joanie | January 01, 2008 at 10:49 AM
If you want to read a wonderful profile/interview on
Benazir Bhutto
check out Slate Magazine
Christopher Hitchens
I do admire her courage and wonder which of our candidates would be willing to face it in such a manner. Kind of puts the Trent Lott/Harry Reid types in perspective.
Posted by: PugetSound | January 01, 2008 at 04:42 PM
Could 2008 be the year of the Revenge of the Republicans or will it be the birth of a new America as you (re:majority of commenters on this blog) want to see it, thanks to the Democratic Party ?
Posted by: KS | January 01, 2008 at 04:47 PM
It is classic Hitchens. A tough but fair article.
Posted by: PugetSound | January 01, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Could 2008 be the year of the Revenge of the Republicans or will it be the birth of a new America as you (re:majority of commenters on this blog) want to see it, thanks to the Democratic Party ?
Posted by: KS | January 01, 2008 at 04:49 PM
The best of your blathering, Bla'M...glad your writers aren't on strike!
Posted by: fremont | January 01, 2008 at 08:51 PM
Happy New Year, everyone.
I'm looking forward to more radio gossip and less political beer tears from the bed wetting Blather guy this year.
2007 was a sad year with the death of Mike Webb and the KVI mistake of letting Bryan Suits go.
He was the brightest light on the Seattle talk radio landscape!
Dori rules the local airwaves now, hopefully, KIRO will grace us all with the dumping of super smug Frank Shires and if there is a God... Ron and Don will find their new contract null and void.
("Wishful thinking" of course)
Anyway, may the forces of Capitalism bring back the days when Seattle talk radio was something to be proud of.
Posted by: Boris_S_Wort | January 01, 2008 at 09:48 PM