butt lickings, wea culpas, trends, prell fall-out, passing the buck and the gas

~We're grateful to Allan Prell for answering our plaintive, ingratiating, butt-licking pleas and responding via BlatherWatch to his legions of fans who've pelted us with supportive emails. He didn't' have to--especially after the way we kicked him around for months. Wea culpa, but we're sure sorry now, Allan...But don't hold your breath waiting for KPTK PD Jim Trapp, to bring you in and localize the Air America station, he never listens, and apparently speaks only to God...

~More bad news from KIRO: the self-satisfied, self-congratulatory Frank Shiers will be filling in all week on the 9-to-noon. He's sucking up to listeners with lavish compliments and florid flattery, hoping perhaps, to win Prell's spot by acclamation...judging from our mail there's fat chance of that...

~Flattery it wasn't for Erin Hart (9p-1a Sat. & Sun) who followed Shiers Sunday night: What in the hell did he mean when he said, "You want fire in the hole? You'll love the Erin Hart Show..." Was it a mixed metaphor or was he just glad to see her? Couldn't been the former--Shiers never screws up a cliche...

~Our generous and well, spiritual offer to KIRO management (Tom & Dave) to commune with pissed-off listeners on Blatherwatch after last week's firings sure fell flat. We thought for sure they'd use this site in a Jimmy Carter moment to intervene with listeners and help heal the wounds caused by their ineptitude. We're here to serve, and as with so many wannabe saints and choir boys, we were blown off.

~We wasted another Sunday night monitoring Rabbi "Danny Rabbit" Lapin, (KTTH m-f, 7-10p) hoping he'd comment on the metastasizing scandal around his friend Jack Abramoff. The disgraced

and now indicted lobbyist superstar is Lapin's friend and board member (with Michael Medved) of his non-profit, Toward Tradition. We were hoping he'd shed some wisdom on the Delay indictments, as well. Our Danny (he IS our rabbi) is Delay's friend as well and is responsible for introducing Abramoff to Delay, an auspicious coupling, akin perhaps to Leopold's with Loeb. Toward Tradition and Lapin have been benefactored by Abramoff for years, though there's never been anything proven between them more incriminating than aid, comfort and sweet nothings earwise.

~"There's an extremely weird vibe in the building right now," according to a KIRO newsie. Everyone expects Dave Ross to go back to 9 to noon, but what'll happen in the afternoon drive? A KIRO guy says Tom & Dave don't want to reinstate the news hour which was once was so popular--and a KOMO suit agrees: "Problem is they were already irrelevant as a news station before they made the moves with Prell and Ross and they don't have the money or the PR machine to pull off a New Coke/Classic Coke turnaround."

~More bad news for the former "news leader:" KOMO beat KIRO in morning drive news in the Adults 25-54 in the mid-summer trends just out. KOMO 3.0, KIRO 2.7. Can't blame the Mariners for that, T & D.

~Will Entercom blow up KTTH, by pulling Rush Limbaugh and plugging him into the morning on KIRO as we've heard for so long and so often? Most radio pros around town doubt it. Dave Ross would quit, says one.

Another gas attack by the "farter of talk radio," Rush Limbaugh. And we're not talking about his odiferous and windy 3 hours on KTTH, (m-f, 9-noon). A Palm Beach limo company has 86-ed him for good after their drivers have refused to serve him. Limbaugh's flatulence first made headlines when he let loose in a broadcast cubicle as 2nd Lady Lynn Cheney was visiting his show. Relations between their staffs got rough after someone on Cheney's staff leaked the story to the tabs. In June, Big Pants reportedly passed gas in a limo he shared with four interns from the Heritage Foundation, causing one of them to resign rather than ride back to the office with Limbaugh. Insiders report that flatus was what drove ex-wife Marta to move into a separate residence long before their actual divorce. His present girlfriend, CNN anchor Daryn Kagin, is said to be considering an intervention. The gas, while rarely fatal, is seen as a health hazard by environmental scientists--of whom, of course, Limbaugh has always had nothing but scorn. Now we know why--he couldn't pass the fresh air standards, we reasonably expect from industry.   

~Values blowhard Bill Bennett, (KTTH m-f, 3-5a) a gas bag of a different sort put his foot in it recently when he said on his talk show that aborting black babies would reduce the crime rate. Bennett, who was Ronald Reagan's secretary of education, has been going out to lunch on the "values" ticket for years. His "Book of Virtues" was a big bestseller with the Christian Right, but exposure as a gambling addict who spent many millions in a very short period of time in Atlantic City casinos, took the shine off his self-proclaimed righteousness. His radio talk show was supposed to redeem him but unfortunately no one listens to it. Brian Maloney, the radio industry analyst BlatherWatch shares with FOX News, says Bennett's show has simply been forgotten, a part of Salem's lineup on smaller stations in some cities. "Expect Bennett to milk this controversy for all it's worth. He's no doubt happy to reap the publicity whirlwind, even if it may not ultimately save his long-floundering talk show."

Comments

[umo]

Has Frank Shiers felt the heat from Erin's hole?...developing.

[J_P_K]

Daryn Kagin is sleeping with Rush?
I think I'm gonna puke!

[sparky]

not enough brain floss in the world to rid me of nightmares tonight....

But this is one of the best articles you have written, Michael...thanks for the laughs..gonna go clean off the coffee I spewed while laughing...

[Ken]

Frank Shiers has me listening to KIRO again. I don't always agree with him, but he is easy on the ears and can make a point without shrill name calling.

His polite nature is to my knowledge not any kind of bid for the timeslot. Unless he has changed his mind, he has said on many occasions he doesn't want a full time gig.

[Andrew]

Maybe there is no Frank Shiers, maybe that's the code name for their auto pilot button.

[Jon]

Hmmm...Frank Shiers is the auto pilot...Sorta reminds me of a bit on the The Simpsons with the automated DJ:

DJ 3000: [computer voice] Hey, hey. How about that weather out there? Woah! That was the caller from hell. Well, hot dog! We have a weiner.
Bill: Man, that thing’s great!
Marty: [through clenched teeth] Don’t… praise… the machine!
DJ 3000: Those clowns in Congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
Bill: Wow! How does it keep up with the news like that?

It would explain Frank Shiers.

[Cyn]

Frank Shiers polite? I don't see it that way. He is notorious for interrupting callers and guests and he has a patronizing and condescending tone that is just grating. That's when he is out of the auto pilot mode... Yawn, indeed.

[Lump]

Michael sez "~Values blowhard Bill Bennett, (KTTH m-f, 3-5a) a gas bag of a different sort put his foot in it recently when he said on his talk show that aborting black babies would reduce the crime rate."
Why don't you put out the entire converstation with the caller? What he sez makes perfect sense when you put it all into context. Just more one line doo doo from the left.

[J_P_K]

Lump says:
Why don't you put out the entire converstation with the caller? What he sez makes perfect sense when you put it all into context. Just more one line doo doo from the left.
** ** ** **
I HAVE heard the entire conversation! If you don't see what's wrong with Bennett's comment you're as racist as he is!

[chris]

Conservatives need more enlightenment when listening, their idea of an intellectual is someone who talks without moving their lips. The right still tries to spin everything including Watergate after all these years. They haven't gotten over that shameful time.

[umo]

A Frank Shiers/Erin Hart show would be a ratings bonanza for KIRO.