a dog's breakfast

It's incredible, if you think about it--and no one seems to any more--talk radio gets away with murder.

Drive-by slash & burn, toxic 'intenuendos,' callers' lies and faux accusations let go by; and 'facts' pulled straight out of their butts are standard. As is unapologetic daily fellatio on GOP politicians, outright Republican Party organizing and general water-bearing. This so-called 'advocacy journalism' is simply advocacy. And in a nasty, gut-fighting style the self-righteous Party would never own outright.

F'RINSTANCE: con-talk radio--with the help of bloggers--totally drove MSM debate on the gubernatorial "re-vote," actually leading citizens into believing they had the right to a process that doesn't exist in the State constitution. That's a helluva political accomplishment.

And all of this in Seattle, where four (4!) right-wing am radio stations thrive and have thriven (throve?) for years. If you're an arriviste, or spend your time watching sports less macho than politics (like say, sea hockey or extreme golf), you need to know: Seattle hasn't been Republican since FDR sent Herbert Hoover back to making vacuum cleaners.

But you'd never know that by dialing up the am--KVI (570 am) with local hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson; or the newly dominant KTTH (770 am) with Mike Siegel. These guys have not only born Republican loads through the years, but in their listener-rich drive-time slots have politicized a lot of folks who previously did nothing more political than eating Ben & Jerry's.

You're right, Air America (1090 am) has arrived with a little balance--but with, unfortunately for local libs,  no local talk jocks.

The powerful, multi-format (both lib and con) KIRO (710 am) is a brighter spot for D's--with Dave Ross, the uber-fair, self-described moderate (he's lying--he's a liberal) who carries nobody's water, and isn't equal to the right-winger's steady partisan drumbeat. The new 9 to noon guy, Allen Prell is a liberal, but we're still getting to know him, those of us who aren't over at Air America listening to Al Franken. Tony Ventrella, is so lovable, he has to be a liberal (he flirts with running as a Democrat for Congress about every other year). KIRO's Mike Webb and Erin Hart are out lefties but don't do much local politics and are in night time or weekend slots that guarantee relatively small listenerships.

KIRO has its right wing too. Most prominent is afternoon talker Dori Monson, who does plenty of local issues, and seems to grows more conservative every year; Lou Pate who doesn't count he's on so late; and now Frank Shiers, a helium-weight who sounds like he turned conservative to get the job.

Seattle MSM has ignored TR for years. This is partly because of inter-medium envy that has always existed ("broadcast speaks only to itself, print speaks only to god") and partly because they thought (and hoped) that talk radio was too gritty, extreme and right-wing noisy for nice Seattle, and that it would go eventually go away. They were wrong.

They still don't cover TR very well, but political activists, and pundits, such as the PI's Joel Connelly and the Times' Joni Balter as well as Democratic Party Chair Paul Berendt have all acknowleged its powerful influence on state politics.

Radio talkers can say anything they want and get away with it--unless, as Howard Stern has learned--it's about sex, then there's hell to pay from the new Puritans down at Bush's FCC. There've been rare exceptions with political talk. In the '90's, Mike Siegel, then on KVI, allowed callers to say salacious things about then Seattle Mayor Norm Rice. He was fired. John Carlson tub-thumped for an anti-affirmative action initiative on his KVI show, even though he was being paid to head up the campaign. He was fired. Of course, after the success of the initiative, he returned triumphant to KVI.

Public focus is sharper on TV and print folks than on the radio blatherers. The disturbed but syndicated Michael Savage (KTTH, 3-6p) regularly trashes gays, trisexuals, 'Demon-cats' (Democrats) immigrants, cat owners, Europeans, on the radio but when he, on his start-up MSNBC TV show, went into one of his excoriating fits (he called a gay caller a 'Sodomite' and wished AIDS on him) his tiny cable news audience was horrified, the network embarrassed, and Savage was frog-walked back to San Francisco dragging his wicked tongue behind him.

Letting the sun shine down into the well of media, especially talk radio, that's what we be blogging, here at blatherWatch. It's not all evil creepy-crawlies to be exposed, there's plenty of absurd bullshit on the radio that always makes for plenty of laughs. Most talk radio is conservative, so we'll see if  conservatives can be fun. Seattle liberals can be ridiculous as well, so watch this space. --MH   

Comments

[Rollup Gridd]

How dare you call my hero, Frank Shiers, "a helium-weight who sounds like he turned conservative to get the job.".

My political mentor, Dori Monson (KIRO-am), would certainly agree that Frank has always been a true blue conservative; born in the mold of such greats as our father, leader and president Herr Bush, Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Rove.

[umo]

The Winter ratings are in. Surprise! Surprise! KIRO is still the highest rated news/talk station in Seattle. Rumors of KIRO's death have been greatly exaggerated.

[blithering sam]

You could say that, but you could also say it has taken the largest hit any station has in years. you could say it's in a fiery death spiral, you could say it's finished, history, pau, kaput, finis, finito, all she wrote. You could say let's listen to KVI

[umo]

Or you could simply state the truth...KIRO is still Seattle's #1 Talk Radio station.

[Tommy008]

all the teabaggers and donkeys like Laura Infraham, (even little Frank Shiers played the clip) were all excited about hearing Linda McMahon ask Blumenthal in the Conn. Senate debate her question regarding how you create a job. theY thought she reaLLY KICKED ASS, with the comparison between his wimpy answer and her manful recitation of Econ.101 cliches in her answer tRUTH IS bLUMENTHAL IS RUNNING AWAY FROM HER NOW IN THE POLLS , SEVERAL DAYS AFTERWARDS. Blumenthal actually answered the question, although a bit clumsily, then went on to his talking points. She aounded arrOgant and mean as she scornfully asked him the job question - and her own answer had the same tone, although even more arrogant and scornful. Her little stunt with Blumenthal was actually a turnoff to the voters. She's a moron who runs a moronic incdustry -professional wrestling.

[BlackRhino]

Envision yourself in the twilight zone; the above text is exactly what you would expect to see…

Just kidding Tommy, come on clean up the edits a bit. It would make the point flow.