BlatherWatch

UPDATED: lan roberts, 1936-2005 R.I.P.

This from the Seattle PI Saturday:

Lan Roberts, one of Seattle's best-known disc jockeys in the heyday of the city's powerhouse AM rock stations, died Friday at his home in Texas of complications from lung cancer. He was 69.

"Lan Roberts was the greatest morning disc jockey in Seattle," said Pat O'Day, who was program director for KJR-AM when it ruled the Seattle airwaves in the 1960s.

One of the thrills of having this blog was corresponding with Lan Roberts, battling cancer in Texas, but still cranky enough to write old fans. He alerted me to the doings of Rubber Doe Smith (he's a U.S. champion weight lifter in his age group and lives in Vancouver, BC) Lujack, and others in the pantheon of crazies of '60's AM rock radio in Seattle.

HERE'S HIS WEBSITE WHICH INCLUDES A POST HE WROTE 2 DAYS BEFORE HIS DEATH.

A fiery liberal, who railed against Bush and the loony right, he could still be absurd and nutty, even under the heavy isotopal incoming of radiotherapy and chemical weapons.

(I held a grudge against Lan for years- my girlfriend at the time won a jump out of an airplane with him in a radio contest; but after the jump and a day with Phil Dirt, Mr. Science and Jimmy, she never looked at me quite the same again- as a matter of fact, she never looked at me again. They carried off and on for years, but he claimed he didn't remember her. She'd be devastated, I'm sure; but there was plenty of what she had to offer going around in the '60's, especially for the likes of Lan Roberts).

Lan felt that today's hypermanic morning hosts aren't political enough. "Many radio hosts could learn some valuable lessons from The Daily Show's Jon Stewart," he wrote, "That show is what radio used to be and should be..."

Good bye Lan: you put some tangy dressing on our salad days, when we were green in judgement.

Death and victimhood: mike webb's cryptic messages

Recently fired KIRO talk host Mike Webb, fired Monday by Entercom Communications after he was charged and booked for felony insurance fraud has been leaving cryptic messages on his website including the audio and lyrics to Bob Dylan's Who Killed Davey Moore? the ballad of a prizefighter killed in the ring while everyone involved- the ref, the angry crowd, his manager, the boxing writer, and his opponent, all deny blame for the boxer's demise.

"I hit him, yes, it's true,
But that's what I am paid to do.
Don't say 'murder,' don't say 'kill.'
It was destiny, it was God's will."

The songs wails out the tragedy in plaintive Dylanesque- a victim killed by the system.

Everyone was in on the killing, but no one cops to it.

Sounds like that's how Mike Webb sees himself- not surprising, he's always gone for victimhood like a rat to cheese.

He's left other crypticisms. His original blog entry from the night he was fired, first titled, "I said "Hello". They said "Goodbye." now reads, WHO KILLED DAVEY MOORE? It's reportedly been re-titled several times, one today being "You ain't seen nothing yet."

There have been other not-so-subtle hints at the death of a victim. That original letter left Monday night, had the wistful feel of a suicide note:

Several news and music stations later and a trip to Seattle where I fell in love, enjoyed the management jobs but quite honestly, I felt more at home on the air than in my own house. There's just such a beautiful intimacy to it all, different than any other medium. I've been fortunate.
I could go on, but suffice it to say, that people come into our lives on time and they leave on time as well.
So Long, Mike

His chat room, always a lonely place, has only a few messages from the past few days, but they're political- messages having to do with Webb's troubles( and you'd think there'd be a bunch) have been deleted.

THE BEST, THE WORST, THE MEDIOCRE OF SEATTLE TALK RADIO, 2005

OUR FIRST YEAR has been quite a year in talk radio. We've seen the half-hearted emergence of liberal talk; we've seen the mighty KIRO writhing like a piglet on a platter, stations reformatted, programming tweaked and molested; out of town bigwigs from making decisions for  local littlewigs; talk hosts  hired and fired, slapped down by judges; charged in a felony; burrowed, borrowed, belittled, banished.

THANK YOU, THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU to the tippers, the sources, the insiders, the threep doats- whose secreted, sensational and accurate information not only always checks out, but have made us more than just another screedblog or Air America fansite. Special kudos and accolades to Mike Siegel, Mike Webb, Michael Medved, Frank Shiers, Dori Monson, Tom Delay, Tom Clendening, Dan Sytman, Dave Boze, George W. Bush, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Rev. Ken Hutcherson, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dave Irons, Lou Pate, Dino Rossi, Rabbi Daniel Lapin for just being who you are. And a special mention to Allan Prell.

We've divvied up the goodies into seven categories: TALKERS, READERS, ABSURDERATA , COMMERCIALS, BLATHERING, QUOTES and RADIO STATIONS. Click & read.

mike webb, 1995-2005 R.I.P.

This was posted at 7:58 Tuesday night on Mike Webb's blog:

I said "Hello". They said "Goodbye."

Thank You For Your Friendship during these past 35 years on the radio, especially the past 10, where we had a chance to really get to know one another and offer an alternative to the disgusting, corporate-driven nonsense masquerading as talk radio.

As a child in San Francisco, I enjoyed so much, turning on my little transistor radio - finding my true friends in the people who broadcast from the great stations KEWB, KYA, KFRC, KNBR and the legendary Gene Autry station, KSFO. It was always fun tuning the AM dial and DXing to WWL in New Orleans, always discovering.

When I finally entered the medium at the age of 14, I got to work at one of those legendary stations, hosting a show called "From the Campus", a little program they dumped in Sunday mornings at 3am. But it was a thrill for me. And then to become a beat reporter for the world's first alternative rock station, KMPX --- what an experience --- dodging rocks and billie clubs during Vietnam war protests.

Several news and music stations later and a trip to Seattle where I fell in love, enjoyed the management jobs but quite honestly, I felt more at home on the air than in my own house. There's just such a beautiful intimacy to it all, different than any other medium. I've been fortunate.

I could go on, but suffice it to say, that people come into our lives on time and they leave on time as well.

So Long,
Mike

With perhaps the largest audience The Mike Webb Show has ever had waiting for it begin, Turi Ryder, the Sunday night part timer fill-in began the hour without any of the usual Webb Show production or even mention of his name.

That put up our antennae. Then we were alerted by OrbusMax to Webb's blog entry.

It looks like Entercom couldn't take the heat of Mike Webb's arrest and felony insurance fraud charges uncovered by BlatherWatch last week. By now the story has been picked up by the Seattle Times, the Associated Press, the Tacoma News Tribune and the Skagit Valley Herald.

We're pretty sure it was the SV Herald that was the tipping point.

Mike Webb has never been easy. He's always been seemingly driven by anger in frequent controversies, has threatened litigation, has also had some screaming hypocrisies that don't fit his liberal politics, suffered a major ratings downturn and, according to fellow Entercommers, he's hard to live with.

This leaves KIRO, which has been down at least one talk host, and aimlessly getting by since the firing of Allan Prell, in even further disarray. Holiday vacations have taken out Dori Monson (m-f, 12-3p) Dave Ross (m-f, 3-6 p, and Lou Pate (m-f, 1-5a).

The second string is in force, manned by the likes of John Procaccino, Erin Hart, Frank Shiers, Bryan Styble, Turi Ryder and some guy named Ron. They're troupers, but it ain't necessarily great radie-yo.

Rumors have been rampant around re-alignment of the mixed format (conservative and liberal) KIRO and little conservative sister station KTTH's programming. Both stations have taken dives in the ratings, which has been especially hard for KIRO, long a leader in the market, with arguably the best radio newsroom in the country.

The station's hard luck started when they lost Mariner's baseball, and continued as the company made some poor programming decisions.

BlatherWatch is joyfully liberal, and in the end of this sad slide of Mike Webb in Seattle radio- gives us no joy. This town has a dearth of liberal talkers and we just hope that spot can be filled with another progressive without so much anger and personal issues.

mike webb's attorney no stranger to "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation."

A reader wrote BlatherWatch alerting us by saying: "Well, at least Mike Webb hired an attorney who has personal experience with fraudulent documentation."

He or she sent us this link to a Bar Association Discipline Notice for Webb's attorney, Bradley Marshall. Seems he was disciplined for violating rules of professional conduct (RPC's) in 1997. There are many complaints filed against lawyers by consumers, but if they get as far as a Bar Association hearing and a reprimand, it's a serious stain on an attorney's record.

We'll let you read it for yourself.                     

Discipline Notice
Effective Date: 3/27/1997
RPC   
3.3 - Candor Toward the Tribunal
4.1 - Truthfulness in Statements to Others
5.3 - Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants
8.4 (a) - Violate the RPCs
8.4 (c) - Dishonesty, Fraud, Deceit or Misrepresentation
8.4 (d) - Conduct Prejudicial to the Administration of Justice

Bradley R. Marshall (WSBA No. 15830, admitted 1986), of Seattle, has been reprimanded pursuant to the Disciplinary Board’s March 27, 1997 order, entered after a disciplinary hearing. The discipline is based upon Marshall’s handling of a case in which he instructed a member of his office staff to sign two declarations without the declarants’ permission and to emulate the declarants’ signatures. Without making any notation that the declarants had not signed these declarations, Marshall filed these declarations with the court. These actions violated RPC 3.3 (a)(1) and (a)(4), RPC 4.1 (a), RPC 5.3, and RPC 8.4 (a), (c), and (d).
Marshall’s client’s case had been dismissed on a summary judgment motion in part because declarations submitted by the client and another witness were not in the proper form. Marshall had his staff prepare amended declarations for his client and the witness, so the declarations would meet the requirements of Civil Rule 56, but did not change the substance of two declarations previously signed by the declarants. He later instructed his staff to sign the two declarations and to emulate the signatures of his client and the witness. He knowingly filed the declarations with the false signatures in support of a motion for reconsideration of an order. There were no notations on the declarations to indicate that the declarants had not signed them, and Marshall did not inform opposing counsel or the judge that the declarants had not signed the declarations. Although Marshall directed his staff to improperly sign declarations, he would not accept personal responsibility for the improper signatures or submitting false information to the court.
The Hearing Officer was C. Bradford Cattle of Everett. Kurt Bulmer of Seattle represented the Respondent. Disciplinary Counsel Anne Seidel and Jean Kelley McElroy represented the Bar Association.

holiday oddems: mike webb's coming back! casualties of the war on xmas, fill-in duds, dried mucus from rev. moon

~~According to the Seattle Times, Mike Webb will be back on the air tonight after his hiatus following his being charged for felony insurance fraud last week. He's vehemently denying the charges and claims- in fact he claims that it is he who is the victim. He's all lawyered up, so don't expect him to say much about it on-air, and he'd be a fool to talk it up any more than he has already.

~~Having said that (and having said 'having said that') join us in calling in to Mike tonight to show our solidarity or ask him for his side of the story. It should be a fun holiday night!

~~Despite all the incoming, the casualty count on the 'War' on Christmas stands at zero. The remarkably resilient holiday saluting Jesus Christ's birthday and exercising our sacred right to go shopping, went off without a hitch- even with the Fox News campaign and the dire predictions made by the America moral leadership like Bill O'Reilly, Jerry Falwell and Sean Hannity. Media Matters counted 58 segments in just 5 days on Fox News  devoted to a secular conspiracy against the holiday. Our favorite quote is by the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus who said "If the anti-Christmas forces are winning, then the war in Iraq is nothing short of total victory."

~~ BLOW-OUT SALE! 1 slightly-used right-wing blog. Brian Couch the Bothel Bleeding Heart Conservative, contributor to (un)Sound Politics, and infrequent commenter on BlatherWatch is selling (!) his Michael Medved Fan blog. It's been on the market since earlier this month, so maybe you could get it cheap. He says it tops out at over 1800 hits a day sometimes, so it definitely needs some marketing...maybe changing it to the Ed Shultz Fan blog would help...

~~Things are tough over at KIRO with all the vacations and Mike Webb missing. It makes for some pretty lame radio. Dave Ross is in Africa checking his Hoodia plantation, and his 3-6p fill-in was some guy named Ron who got up an endless yet numbing conversation with Carl "Words" Jeffers about pumpkin bread then switched to pure Seahawkian jargon that needed a translator. (which prompted many of us to dawdle over to KUOW where Ken Vincent was playing delightfully, absurd holiday music). Lou Pate is out, so the insufferable Frank Shiers spewed his pablum all over the highchair on the 9 ta noon. Erin Hart, who has clearly been working too much, is filling in again for Webb tonight, Bryan, "rhymes with horrible" Styble fills-in for Pate on the overnight; and the rest of the world is doing best-of shows (Sean Hannity's best, it turns out, is no different than his worst).

~~Are you on the inside of radio and wanna get it out?  Bet you know something the world should know about management, the talent, or what your fellow workers are whispering. Let's talk. Discretion assured. Send us an email at [email protected].

~~We've been trying to work in these totally off-topic quotes by the Rev. Sun Young Moon for a long time. Since it blows on talk radio this week, here are our favorite quotes by the owner of our favorite conservative newspaper, The Washington Times.

This is a Moonie gift from our house to your house- Happy Holidays!

You may think it rude if I share this with you, but I would like to give you an example. You use the bathroom each morning. When you defecate, do you wear a gas mask? This is not a laughing matter but a serious one. If you are near someone else defecating, you will quickly move a good distance away. But when you smell your own feces, you do not even notice it. This is because that fecal matter is one with your body. Therefore, you do not feel that it is dirty.

When you were young, did you ever taste the dried mucus from your nose? Does it taste sweet or salty? It's salty, right? Since you can answer, you must have tasted it! Why did you not feel that it was dirty? It is because it was part of your body. Reverend Moon has figured out something that no one in the world knew.

Hackers? police conspiracy? yeah, that's it...

Now that we've heard KIRO radio talkhost Mike Webb's simple, perfectly plausible explanation of what happened that caused him to be arrested for felony insurance fraud, we're happy we never questioned his assumption of innocence, even though on the face of it- we gotta be honest- he looked guilty as sin.

What a difference hearing his side of the story makes!

(But we were neither amused nor surprised to see that the Times reporter failed to attribute BlatherWatch with breaking this story. We got it first and we got it right; got a tip and dug it up from Superior Court files. We bloggers don't get paid for this shit, so a little knod when we generously provide the footwork for the paid press would be much obliged).

Here's the story extrapolated from what Mike told the Seattle Times (he's not speaking to us):

Someone who "hates" Webb's talk show probably hacked into Geico's and Washington Mutual's computers; changed the dates on his car insurance policy and those on his debits to accounts payable.

This scheme was cooked up, apparently, so Webb would unwittingly drive around uninsured. When he had the accident in June with an uninsured driver, he'd already been deviously set up for fraud charges when he innocently tried to make a claim against the policy he says he'd bought months before. 

Gunning for Mike because of assault charges he'd made in 2004 against an officer during an incident waiting in line at Dick's Drive-in, the Seattle Police Department had plenty of motive to hack into those corporate computers in order to frame the outspoken "liberal with a capital L" talk host.

(What did he order that fateful night at Dick's? According to sources: he ordered a Big Dick and a small fries).

There's the possibility, of course, that SPD, Washington Mutual Bank, and Geico worked in tandem to ruin Mike's reputation and silence him- he speaks truth to power and the corporate establishment doesn't like that (He also plays oldies to power and no one likes that). Mike should hire investigators to pursue that conspiratorial possibility- like when OJ pursued the "real killers" after his trial. 

All of this was compounded by a possible "clerical or electronic error" on GEICO's part in their on-line application process; and again when Mike mistakenly showed police a proof of insurance card from a company that hadn't insured him since 2001. Apparently the officer didn't see that the card was four years out of date (it happens!).  Mike says he simply grabbed the wrong one. Thank god- it should be simple enough for him to show the judge the right one he must have gotten from Geico.

With Mike's firm denials and fiery public adamance, it looks like there won't be any chickenshit plea agreements--this is going to court.

We look forward to hearing Mike discuss this when he comes back from "vacation" Tuesday. BlatherWatch will stay on this case for you, dear readers- we'll be there when justice is done- stay tuned. 

seattle times: webb says he may have been "hacked" by someone who "hates" his show

The Seattle times finally reported today what BlatherWatch has been reporting since Tuesday- Mike Webb's arrest for felonious insurance fraud.

He's charged with presenting forged documents to police and insurance investigators in order to collect money from an insurance company. 

"I was shocked by this," Webb told The Times, "It would take an absolute idiot to try to defraud someone like that."

We couldn't have put it better ourselves.

Webb, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charge of filing a fraudulent claim. He denies forging the document.

Webb, not surprisingly, invoked an incident of alleged police "brutality" at Dick's drive-in in 2004. Webb said the timing of the charge was suspicious because police made a settlement offer to him the day before the insurance-fraud charge was filed.

Webb told the Times he believes the charge is a mistake "that may have originated from a clerical or electronic error on the insurance company's part."

He also said they are considering "the possibility that somebody who 'hates' his talk show may have hacked into his computer records." 

As for the proof of insurance card, from National Merit Insurance, he presented to the cop investigating his accident?

After the accident, Webb showed police a proof-of-insurance card from National Merit, a company that police say hasn't insured Webb since 2001. Webb now says he mistakenly grabbed the old card.

Webb's attorney stated that it may show "a potential problem with buying insurance online." He pondered the possibility of a "lag time" between when consumers receive confirmation of their policy and when the company's computer records the policies.

"Some people will do anything to damage you,"Webb, 50, told the reporter.

Mike webb...is he still armed? is he worth all the trouble to KIRO? will frank shiers drown in his own smarm? whereinahell is the mainstream media?

Questions, we've got questions...

~~Can anyone picture a contrite Mike Webb? KIRO says Mike Webb will be back from his week of shame on Boxing Day.

~~Why are we being punished for Mike Webb's alleged sins by having to listen to Frank Shiers?

~~Where's the mainstream media? Where are the Seattle Times and Post Intelligencer? So far, it's only the blogs, left and right led by BlatherWatch who's got this. We're blatantly liberal around here, and don't believe in the "liberal media" conspiracy, but we can't help but agree with a reader that if Webb were a right-winger- a John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, or Mike Siegel, they'd be righteously all over this. Webb is, after all, a well-known talk host- albeit liberal- with a longtime profile in this town- and he's been arrested and charged. The excesses that put Carlson and Siegel on page one in those fine papers were not criminal matters. This IS a criminal matter- and a rather serious one at that.

~~Is Webb, who's always been a pain in the ass and has low numbers to boot, worth the shame he's brought down on KIRO with his grubby legal troubles? We're sure the Entercom powers that be in Bala Cynwyd, PA are squirming. Mike Webb has always managed to bluster, bully, threaten or lawyer his way through stuff before, so don't be too surprised if the suits at Entercom, never known for bravery and principle, take the elevator down the line of least resistance and let him come back, no matter how compromised his credibility.

~~Is Webb embarrassing the left? Hell yes, he always has- but don't take it from us, read veteran lefty journalist Geov Parrish of the Seattle Weekly on his fine Eat the State blog.

~~Does anyone remember this story about Mike Webb, that never went anywhere other than this I'm-a-victim piece in the Seattle Weekly?

~~Will Mike Webb come to regret his help booting the union out of KIRO, when there's no one to come to his aid in the workplace except his $200-an-hour hired gun?

~~have they taken his gun away? Webb reportedly carries it loaded- even in the station, according to KIRO radio cohorts. We're watching our backs here at BlatherWatch- what's scarier than a talk show host with an anger management problem who's packing?

A tangled web: the seattle police's case against mike webb

Reading over the "facts, and circumstances" that Seattle Police Detective Randal Woolery presented to the court determining probable cause that KIRO talk host Mike Webb committed the crime of Filing a False Insurance Claim, we concluded: This is so crazy, HE MUST BE INNOCENT!

The cops say that on June 28, 2005, Michael Kenneth Webb was involved in an accident in his 2000 Lexus GS-3, 4-door in Seattle's Eastlake area. The damage to his car was estimated at $4000 and the accident was judged by the investigating officer not to be Webb's fault.

At the time of the accident, the report says, Michael Kenneth told the investigating officer that he had car insurance with National Merit and provided proof of same.

The following day, (June 29) according to GEICO records, Webb bought over the phone, a 6-month insurance policy for the Lexus from the widely-advertised national insurance company. The cops say he elected to have monthly payments debited from a Washington Mutual Bank account. GEICO records showed the first payment of $151 was debited from his account on that day, June 29. The next payment was debited from his account on July 4th, again for $151.

On June 30, according to the police report, GEICO got a breezy e-mail from Michael Kenneth stating: "I need to get a copy of the policy via email (sic) as promised. I signed up day before yesterday and they said it would come same day. can (sic) you please please check this ? Thank you, Mike."

Later that same day, police say Webb called GEICO to report the June 28 accident and start a claim process. The company started a claim with the repair estimate for the Lexus' damage in the amount of $5982.47.

GEICO's records, according to police, indicated the policy the claim was made under had been opened after the accident occurred. The company concluded therefore, that the coverage was not in effect. Police say the claim was then assigned to GEICO Special Investigation Unit (SIU) investigator Bill Brown.

The report continues: "During GEICO's investigation, the defendant [Mike Webb] continued to express that his policy was in effect when the accident occurred and that he applied for the policy on-line with GEICO on May 20, 2005 with a policy period of May 30 to Nov. 30 2005. GEICO's records indicated that the policy period is June 30 to Dec 30, 2005."

Webb made this claim in taped interviews with a GEICO claims rep; and Investigator Brown. The latter was conducted in the office and presence of Webb's attorney, sports celebrity lawyer Bradley Marshall. 

This is the part that's most incredible: During the interview in Bradley's office, police say Webb presented Brown with a heavily redacted copy of his Washington Mutual on-line bank statement for the date range of May 19 to June 15. Highlighted were debits dated May 20 and June 7, each in the amount of $151 and purporting to be from DIRECTDEBIT/VISA-GEICO. 

The police report says Webb contended this was proof that his GEICO policy was effective in May 2005 and in effect when his accident occurred on June 28.

Investigators write that when they requested permission to view Webb's on-line banking record in its entirety, or get a copy of his statement directly from the bank, he refused.

No surprise that Detective Woolery got a search warrant from Superior Court Judge Michael Trickey on Nov. 8, trooped over to Washington Mutual and grabbed 11 pages of documents from Webb's accounts at the bank.

Police reports say when the real bank statements were compared with the marked-up on-line statement Webb gave investigators in August, they "failed to show debits occurring to GEICO on May 20 and June 7." A bank investigator confirmed that the bank had no records of debits on those dates, although there were debits posted to accounts payable to GEICO on June 29 and July 4, 2005. This was consistent with the payment information provided by the insurance company.

Remember the "proof of insurance" from National Merit, Webb gave the cop at the time of his accident? In the August attorney's office interview, the police report says Webb said he kept the National Merit policy until he applied for the GEICO policy, which he was alleging he did in May, 2005. But according to police, Chris Fannin from National Merit confirmed in a statement that Webb had coverage on the Lexus but his policy was cancelled on July 30, 2001.

If this is as stated in police reports, Webb had driven his expensive car without insurance since 2001 and yet possessed "proof of insurance" that somehow satisfied a police officer's cursory inspection.

Webb is innocent until proven guilty. These charges are so outrageous and unbelievable; the amount of money so trivial (especially for a well-paid entertainer) there must be another explanation. How could anyone- even Mike Webb- be so stupid or greedy or arrogant or blinded by ego to ever believe  such a scheme could be successful? 

He has pled not guilty and we look forward to his day in court- maybe there we can get the real story.