BlatherWatch

UPDATED: Seattle radio election coverage: the good, the bad, and the insufficient ...

KOMOAM/FM will provide the most extensive radio coverage locally with anchors Lisa Brooks and Brian Calvert; analysis with The Commentators, John Carlson & Ken Schram and local field reports from KOMO 4’s Bryan Johnson, and updates from ABC News on significant national races.

KING 5.com will have election night webcast streaming starting at 8p. Anchor Carolyn Douglas will be joined by Publicola's Josh Feit to survey the unfolding landscape with other political analysts, video reports and live shots from candidate headquarters. KING 5’s 10 & 11PM newscasts will also be live on the web.

KUOW will run live NPR feed from 6p with Marcie Sillman coming in from 8 to 9p and for local election coverage and commentary. (photo: Marci Sillman)

Air America's got a new website that works!

After all it's been through: Evan Cohen, bankruptcy, and Randi Rhodes, there seems to be a stability there now. The network/syndicator keeps putting one foot in front of the other.

finally last week relaunched their website that looks great, and works too- both attributes missing from their old site. 

Will KPTK step up to radio reality?

Seattle liberal-interest money groups have long talked up the possibility of buying a radio station to counter the overwhelmingly conservative news talk stations in a market that's overwhelmingly liberal.

That's probably not a good idea, since it's been proven many times that radio should be left to radio professionals...Oh wait, that's right, a generation of professionals put radio where it is today: in the shit.

Seattle ratings breakout shows more trouble for conservative talk radio

Right-wing talk stations are missing in top 15 rankings in Seattle (where you'd expect) but also in the rest of the market as well (including Arlington, Mount Vernon, and Bellevue).

A fascinating breakout of Seattle's July radio ratings has been posted by Eric Lacitis at the Seattle Times. (Seattle for the ZIP codes from Greenwood to Seward Park compared with the Metro region including King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston, Skagit and Island counties).

July seattle radio ratings: more of the dismal same for news talk

KOMO dropped a little, 4.9- to 4.0, but still good in 9th place; public talker KUOW is still at 11th with 3.8. Mariners baseball helps KIROAM, up from last month's 2.5 to 3.3. KTTH (Rush Limbaugh's home) lost slightly 3.0 to 2.9 at 18th place but still whacks former Big Dog KIROFM, who rose from 2.3 to 2.7, but only tied for 19th place. Progressive talk KPTK sucks as usual, tied for 27th place with only a 1 share. Kool Konservative KVI does only slightly better tied with KJRAM with a 1.6.

Seattle's June ratings: ouch! for talk radio

The KIROs and KTTH are still in the pooper with KVI and KUOW, KPTK. Congratulations to KOMO. Read more here.

1.KJR-FM      5.7
2.KMPS-FM     5.0
3.KRWM-FM   5.0
4.KOMO-AM   4.9 (KOMO-AM and KFMY-FM are simulcast)
5,KPLZ-FM     4.8
6.KBKS-FM     4.7
7.KCMS-FM     4.3
8.KJAQ-FM     4.3
9.KUBE-FM     4.2
10. KKWF-FM     4.1

Al franken, part one: the senator from talk radio

Sean Hannity, hearing the news that Al Franken was the new junior senator from Minnesota, called him a "liar and a lunatic." Michelle Malkin described him as "an angry, unstable man."

Expect that to continue being the right-wing media meme about Franken- It's uttered, even by respectable conservatives, too. Like former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson who called him, "The Vulgarian at the Gate," writing that Franken's election would "actively push our culture toward vulgarity and viciousness."

Dick morris stiffs thom hartmann: thom reviews dick stiffing

This got shuffled in all the rada-rada about Sen. Al Franken, but Dick Morris hung up on Thom Hartmann (KPTK m-f, 9a-12p) Tuesday.

(photo: shrimping toad from the '90's)

Scheduled to talk about his new hit book Catastrophe (about the devastation wrought by the 6-month old Obama administration) Morris called the back line of the Hartmann show as directed by his publicist, but when he heard Louise say, "The Thom Hartmann Show," he hung up.

Randi rhodes & air america: together again

"I’m thrilled to have Randi on the Air America Washington team…it’s about time we were reunited.” says Air America’s program director Bill Hess.

Rhodes will do PM drive at WZAA, AAR's new progressive talker in Washington DC.

The story linda thomas left out...

Linda Thomas, the honey-voiced KIROFM fill-in newsie whose work we've often admired, wrote a happy-face reader blog post about Seattle conservative talk radio host at Seattlepi.com

(photo: dittohead in "listening position.")

Her blog, News Chick is not journalism but rather for branding purposes and to promote her radio work. The self-promotion here, is in the form of a breezy, well-written, journalistic feature.