BlatherWatch

UPDATE: Mike Webb pled not guilty to insurance fraud charges at his early morning arraignment. A pre-trial hearing was set for Jan. 4. He was bailed out of jail at 11:30 am.

KIRO Program Director Tom Clendening would not comment on the Mike Webb case, and would neither confirm or deny that the talk host would be off the the air tonight. When asked Entercom's policy for employees arrested for criminal offenses, he said, "Our policy is- a person is innocent until proven guilty."

STAY TUNED FOR BLATHERWATCH'S IN-DEPTH REPORT OF THE POLICE CHARGES AGAINST WEBB.

UPDATE: KIROAM radio talk host Mike Webb was arraigned at 8:30 this morning, booked for Fraudulant Insurance Claim and taken into custody, according to Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney Office. 

Bail was set at $5060.

BREAKING: KIRO TALK HOST MIKE WEBB CHARGED WITH INSURANCE FRAUD

In papers filed Dec. 5 in King Co. Superior Court, and obtained by BlatherWatch, KIRO talk host Mike Webb (9p-1a) was charged with the crime of Fraudulent Insurance Claim in an alleged $5982 scam against a car insurance company.

According to the Court's Superform, Michael Kenneth Webb, 50, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host and a Virgo, is also the subject in an investigation of forgery.

The papers were gleaned from public court records. Charges were generated after an accident June 28 involving Webb in his black 2000 Lexus GS-3 and his  alleged subsequent dealings with GEICO.

A Certification For Determination of Probable Cause describes in detail the fruits of the investigation by Seattle Police Detective Randal Woolery and GEICO investigator Bill Brown that led to the criminal charges against the flamboyant talk host.

An order directing the issuance of an arrest warrant for Webb was filed; it was ordered he be released on his personal recognizance, although on Dec. 14, bail was increased to $5650.

Webb has not responded to BlatherWatch inquiries.

Mike Webb is one of the few hometown progressive talk hosts in Seattle and ironically one of local talk's most outspoken critics of government dishonesty and corruption. Though his late night show has fallen steeply in the ratings in recent years, he for years was the standard-bearer for progressive issues on Seattle AM.

If you read BlatherWatch, you know we've often reflected the disappointment many local liberals have had with Webb's angry and rude performances both on-air and off.

Webb only recently stopped his on-air endorsements of Rockstar, the homophobic energy drink produced by Russel Goldencloud Weiner, the homophobic son of demented, bombastic homophobe, Michael Savage (KTTH m-f, 3-6p). Webb claims to be a gay man but his repeated on-air mentions of Weiner's product can be translated into marketing dollars directly into the pockets of one of the most virulent and well-known homophobes in the country. It took months of BlatherWatch nagging before he switched drinks to one more in line with his alleged political philosophy. (he's reportedly now drinking 'Amp').

Self-described as a "liberal with a capital 'L'" he ranted one day about the immorality of being a "stockholder," rather than a "stakeholder," then on another day, actively took part in the successful decertification of AFTRA- his own union, in his own KIRO workplace. Principled KIRO liberals like Dave Ross, and Erin Hart let their support for the union be known; and left the predictable no votes to conservatives such as Michael Medved, and Lou Pate.   

NEXT ON BLATHERWATCH: A Tangled Web

Holiday oddems: critches, defects, o'reilly, olberman, mike webb, john dingell, susan paynter, knute berger, steve scher, allan prell, erin hart, your mother

~~please forgive our recent tardier-than-usualness and that some of our recent posts are unclickable. Typepad (the low-rent blog provider we depend upon to save America) has been suffering crashes on its Roy Rogers model servers and rodent-run hardware. They owe us.

~~The "war" on Xmas wages on. The cynical exploitation of Christian "victimhood" continues to put gas in the Lexi for right wing talkers. O'Reilly's December 2 promise to "bring horror into the world of" those he claims are waging a "war" on Christmas earned him the "Worst Person in the World" title on MSNBC's 's December 8 Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The prestigious award was based on false O'Reilly claims, noted by Media Matters, that a Texas school district and the township of Saginaw, Michigan, enforced bans against red and green clothing during the holiday season. Olberman told Rep. John Dingell: Would it surprise you, sir, that as they have warned us about this rush to change "Merry Christmas" into "Happy Holidays," that the biggest transgressor in the area might be Fox News itself?...they sold O'Reilly "Christmas decorations" and called them "Holiday" ornaments for your "Holiday tree." And instead of a Christmas party this year, their parent company has just held a Holiday party?"

~~The best news and political discussion on Seattle radio happens not on KIRO or KTTH, but at 10a each Friday on KUOW's Weekday, the wildly popular public radio news talk show hosted by the evervescent plodder, Steve Scher. Unfortunately only an hour long, the debate's always wide-ranging with a regular clutch of liberal print media graybeards: PI columnist Susan Paynter, Seattle Weekly editor and columnist, Knute Berger and Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat. They have the benefit of age, and long experience reporting in Seattle- virtues not often celebrated in local radio these days. Paynter isn't the cute little trick she once was scandalizing the newsroom in a micro miniskirt; and Berger still looks like the hippy who sneaked past the security guard. We love this weekly discussion, though there's a little too much about Seattle city politics, an exasperating topic we'd rather know less about. We think that coots rock and we're all for fogey power; what's more, we're crazed liberals. But we'd like this weekly dust-up even more if there were a conservative among these pundits. Of course, most radio conservatives we know live in the suburbs or are too heavy-breathing for NPR- but stick in someone like Carlson or Medved who could hold up their end of an argument with minimal demagoguery and we might have some real radio.

~~Cliches we feel confident will be gone by the end of this month: "Monday morning quarterback;" "deja vue all over again;" "the People's Republic of Seattle."

~~A reader who must be inside at KIRO writes: "Mike Webb has a guy who calls himself Dr. Mortimer S. Weems D.D.S. who is always instant messaging him a written butt-kicking. He shows up on Erin Hart's show also. Since I can't stand the uber-arrogant Herr Webb, or the annoying Hart, I get a real charge out of this Weems."  We don't know how the reader could know about this unless he is Dr. Weems or a KIRO board op or producer. Dr. Weems: could you please drop us a line at [email protected]? We probably have lots to talk about.

~~Fans of Allan Prell, late of KIRO 9 to noon will be happy to hear he's reached some kind of agreement with some moneybags interested in syndicating the Allan Prell Show. According to Prell, all they need is a Director of Affiliates, whatever the hell that is...if you are one and need some work, write him at [email protected].

Allan Prell tells all: pulling the plug on talk radio

In a mass email to fans, veteran talker Allan Prell sent a sample chapter of his upcoming book, a work in progress that spares no one- not even himself. [He'll send you one, too just write and ask: [email protected]]

Prell was ignominiously frog-walked out the door at the end of his KIRO 9-noon shift in September, and hasn't yet been replaced by the dizzy, yet skeevy Entercom management.

In a funny read that sounds like Prell does on the radie-yo, he describes how he was fired by his old friend, Program Director Tom Clendening after a focus group he describes as "made up of about a dozen people moderated by the very management folks who were considering ending my professional relationship with the station."

The real culprit, according to Prell, is someone he identifies only as a "Sales Weasel," but whom we know to be Entercom General Sales Manager, Dennis McCormick, who reportedly headed the drive to oust Prell.

This particular Sales Weasel had clearly stated to the Overseers at KIRO that some advertisers didn’t wish to be a part of the Allan Prell Show, or they wouldITAL cancel. Heavens to Betsy...CANCEL!!!!  The worst possible of words to be heard by Overseers from a Sales Weasel. The worst possible words to be heard by a Sales Weasel from an advertiser. That would mean defending the station’s programming. That would require the Sales Weasel to work. That would require...thinking. The only sane “solution” for a Sales Weasel to recommend (or perhaps slyly hint) to Overseers...fire this guy who is receiving complaints (valid or not).

It’s so much easier to have a nice radio station, one that doesn't receive complaints from advertisers, one that makes tapioca pudding seem like three-alarm chili. Unless, of course, if the Gabulator is of a conservative bent, then the rules don’t apply. For many years now in talk radio there have been few complaints about conservatives and their points of view.

He was fired on a Wednesday (not the usual Friday) a few days before the new ratings trends were due out (talkers are usually fired after the numbers come out). The next week, a few dozen Prell fans marched in protest in front of KIRO as Prell chained himself to a mailbox, wrapped himself in the flag, then "threw off the chains of oppression.

The listener response to his firing was surprising with Prell, BlatherWatch and KIRO receiving thousands of letters and emails. Local sports-announcing icon, Tony Ventrella was fired at the same time, with hsardly a ripple in comparison.

I had been on the air for nine months at KIRO. In that time five new sponsors had already signed on for the Allan Prell Show, two of which had re-upped for longer runs. They had purchased “endorsement spots” which are ads created and delivered by the Gabulator rather than being with standard issue. Endorsements sell at a premium, and are highly sought after by Sales Weasels and by the on-air talent. The endorsement contracts generally run for a longer period than standard contracts—a minimum of 13 weeks; if successful, for a year. They command a premium price because the advertiser has a personal spokesman, someone the listener will pay special attention to, and trusts, someone like...tee hee, like Allan Prell.

~~
You got a problem? with the so-called insider radio info you read here at BlatherWatch? Is it wrong and misguided and unfounded and erroneous? Is it salacious gossip, without the added advantage of being true? Quitcherbitchin.' We're tired of hearing about it from you who give us nothing. So write us at [email protected] and tell us what's what, or...shut up awready. You can take our discretion for granted, but that's about all...

Ratings need a boost? stick a needle in a negro...

I've been complaining because talk radio has been too slow-moving around the holidays- righties have been stuck on complaining about the "war on Christmas," and defending the war on Iraq. Lefties have been stuck on debunking "the War on Christmas" and calling bullshit on the bullshit war.

It's been so ho, ho-hummable.

But this morning, talk radio got a big fat break. The State of California stuck a needle in convicted murderer Tookie Williams and he expired after much legal and rhetorical ado.

Nothing says Merry Christmas! like an execution, I always say. (I know executions are more of an Easter thing, but hey...) There wasn't a talker left or right who didn't headline it all day and the "hourlies" jumped up like Frankenstein- seems like only yesterday, they were as flat as Tookie is today.

I'm passionately against the death penalty (so passionate I'm eschewing the "royal we," I usually use in this blog). I was a media witness to the last execution in Washington State and watched the pathetic little death of a pathetic little man named James Homer Elledge who'd killed some nice church ladies in the basement of a Lynnwood Methodist church, where he'd been hired as a janitor.  I covered it for The Seattle Weekly and Agence France-Presse, a French international wire service who's always hungry for the gory details of American barbarity.

Elledge was deeply disturbed and so ridden with sick Christian guilt, he refused to mount a defense. It was a state-supervised suicide.

I plotz with Christians over the death penalty. The biggest bunch of them, the Roman Catholics, are against it. That's why Europeans made it illegal long ago- not because they're a bunch of godless socialists as you hear on talk radio- but because they were (are) Catholics following the moral leadership of their church.

(Evangelical, born-again, fundamentalist Christians, (different names for the same orthodoxy) follow the vengeful Old Testament legalism of an eye-for-an eye (agreeing with  Moslems, BTW) even though they they sentence the Jews to hell for denying the New Testament, which is the Old Testament, The Sequel, starring Jesus. To make it even more conundrumatic, most Jews we know agree with the Catholics. Others more orthodox, we hear, do not. The dwindling mainline Protestant brands like Methodists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans agree with the Catholics, and the Reformed Jews. Of course, there are exceptions within each and everyone of these congregations. It just goes to show you: religionists are really hard to understand).

Me ? I'm with the Pope on this one.

My dad, a Republican legislator in the 1950's, helped pass the bill outlawing capital punishment in Washington State, which stood until the US Supreme Court outlawed capital punishment federally in 1972. Boy, those 1950's were the days! redemption was a Christian family value, and Republicans were compassionate. Hard to imagine, no?

Today, Dori Monson (KIRO m-f, 12-3p) made jokes about Tookie getting nookie and we heard listeners all over the dial opine that the big thug didn't deserve a trial in the first place.

(The feel of festive vengeance today wasn't so different than the glee I saw in Lagos, Nigeria in 1973 after a Sunday afternoon firing squad dispatched 4 criminals in a soccer stadium before thousands in their Sunday best. It was a picnic event, everybody got drunk and spit on the bound prisoners both before and after they were shot. Little boys came up, put lit cigarettes into the mouths of the corpses and posed with arms around them for tourist photos. I love the human race).

The execution I saw in Walla Walla in 2001 was quite different. It was clinical and actually boring. It was such a non-event, I felt myself wanting more. It was if I'd paid for Terminator II, and got the Little Mermaid instead.

WE SAT ON THE EDGES of our seats like kids waiting for a puppet show. Then the curtain went up, revealing the shitty little room with its exposed electrical conduits, elevated now to the dramatic status of "death chamber."

A small one-way glass window behind Elledge's head concealed the anonymous "injection team." These "licensed medical practitioners" are chosen by prison superintendent John Lambert, their identities known only to him.

Elledge lay on his back on the old wooden gurney. The clear plastic intravenous lines coming out of the wall behind him led to catheters stuck in his arms under a dark blue sheet covering him feet to chin. His arms sat on rests angled away from his sides, hands completely covered with black tape.

With his eyes and mouth closed, he looked already dead. His scraggly beard was shaved, leaving one of those bushy 1970s mustaches favored by cops. His thin, graying hair was combed forward and looked blow-dried; his skin appeared very white. He was laid out like a corpse at a mortuary viewing.

Lambert, a balding man in shirtsleeves, came out and said hurriedly into a microphone, "Inmate Elledge has no last words."

There's more drama in putting down a dog, anesthetizing a frog, or salting a slug than there was in watching this human die.

I stared at his chest with the dark sheet against the light wall to detect a breath. I saw no movement. Some reporters said they saw a breath, some said an eyebrow twitched; we all saw his jaw relax and mouth open. The first drug, two grams of thiopental, a sedative, was so massive that even if they had stopped the other chemicals, it would have been over. Then came a load of pancuronium bromide, which paralyzed him from the neck down; finally, potassium chloride stopped his heart. In these amounts, any one of these drugs would be fatal. They wanted to prevent a "Rasputin phenomenon," an uncomfortable situation named after the mad monk who wouldn't die.

We witnessed very little. There was no beginning, and we knew it was over only when the curtain fell and Veltry Johnson told us Elledge had been pronounced dead at 12:52 a.m.

I felt ripped off. It seemed a mockery of the witness requirement--we were supposed to view the alleged humanity of this process, but we had no real access to it. His attorney had left him at 11 p.m. For all we know, in the next hour and a half he could have changed his mind, tried to stop his execution, been wrestled down by guards, had a needle stuck in his arm to shut him up, and then been laid out for us to "witness."

I HAVE NO REASON to think this scenario happened--nor that this Department of Corrections is evil. But I can't say that about Texas, Florida, or some future DOC. The awesome power given the state, with so much secret discretion in this life-and-death duty, is for me the overriding argument against capital punishment. Even if the judicial process could somehow be made perfectly just and fair, the power to put to death should not be in human hands.

This execution took place as a new discussion was starting in America about the death penalty. There'd just been a moratorium on executions declared by Governor Ryan in Illinois after law students had sprung scores of death row inmates who they found were mistakenly accused or convicted.

There was great hope and expectation that the American people, who polled at some 70 %  for the death penalty, may be cycling around to that compassionate place where my father and his peers had been in 1959.

It was not to be. 911 happened the following week;  we saw blood on the moon and suddenly it was wartime and 'compassionate' was scratched off George W. Bush's self-description and replaced with the suffix, neo.

Maybe the tide has started to turn once more as our country has grown sick with this is war. But from what we heard today on the radio, we're not making book on it.

A radio pro's secret predictions: KTTH, KIRO, john procaccino, new york vinnie, tom leykis, and more

We'll be blogging lite throughout this holiday month -talk radio is talking lite, talkers are on vacation, news is lite for  talk radio topics over the holiday season, if you can ignore war and corruption.

We're busy like everyone- but never fear, dear readers, we'll keep you apprised of any late-breaking programming changes or news. Plus our usual brilliant political commentary.

Right-wing talk radio topics in this down season are either the phony "war on Christmas," or pathetic defense of the real war in Iraq that Republicans and Democrats in Washington all know is already lost- at least militarily. Everyone is either admitting it or denying it, each in their own special way. The President and his bumbling boyz are busy redefining victory, shame-on-you-ing the critics, and wrestling in the tofu of ifs, ands, and buts. But the Pentagon knows in its heart of hearts (maybe heart's not the best word) that a real victory must be political; and unfortunately that prospect looks as bleak as the second of January.

Besides wondering what to do with the $2.5 million in the Queen Elizabeth Royal Lottery we've apparently won, (as luck would have it, we've been contacted by a Nigerian banker with a promising investment opportunity) we're thinking about talk radio 2006. 

Someone leaked us a fascinating a letter sent advertisers by KOMOAM/KVI General Sales Manager Joe Heslet. This has made its rounds in the local industry, but it's a rare look for the rest of us into some corporate reading of the tea leaves for local radio. We don't know Heslet, but we hear he's a consummate professional, respected by his peers, including competitors. He has an obvious agenda in writing this- that would be selling more ads for Fisher stations, but we think his predictions and commentary for 2006 are noteworthy.

Heslet apparently writes every year like this to his accounts, summing up the past year's adult 25-54 Arbitron ratings (4 ratings "books") to help them plan for the next year's ad buys. This year, he says,looking at 2005 might not be all that helpful because of the many programming upheavals and special circumstances bolloxing the status quo in the Seattle market.

We're reprinting his letter in its entirety at the end of this post, but here's a few grafs we were especially interested in. The bold type is ours. 

The AM band presents some interesting challenges to the annual buying status quo as well. In the 4-book average, KIRO is the highest rated AM station Monday-Friday 6am-7pm in adults 25-54. But that includes the Fall 2004 book where Dave Ross was still on 9am-noon, no one had ever heard of Allan Prell and they still did news and traffic on your drive home. KIRO's programming has gone through many changes in 2005 and it will see more changes to come. The John Procaccino Show is not the show Entercom wants in that time slot. Check the web-site under 'shows'...every host's show is listed, but 9a-12noon just says 9a-12 noon. Will they settle for the John Procaccino Show? If they do, it will certainly be "settling" and not part of a grander strategic plan. And I don't think anyone believes that New York Vinnie is the answer to evenings on KIRO.

In the Summer 2005 book KOMO is the highest rated AM station in Adults 25-54 Monday-Friday 6am-7pm. KOMO along with KVI and KJR AM are the AM stations that have seen little or no changes in the line-up in recent months...even years.

KTTH just released long-time morning host and well known personality, Mike Siegel and replaced him with two relatively unknown producers. Are rookies in Morning Drive on KTTH a permanent fix? No...you can bet on it...unless they've given up trying. There are more changes on the horizon at KTTH and at KIRO. Bookmark the previous sentence and bring it up to your rep (who's telling you "there are no more changes coming") three months from now when it's all gone down.

No, Rush isn't going to KIRO...they should move him there but Dave Ross would probably quit.

We'd love to hear a counter argument or predictions from other radio marketers from Entercom, Clear Channel, or Infinity, but we have a feeling we won't be hearing from them any time soon. They'd rather not acknowledge BlatherWatch, even though they probably hate the shit out of Heslet's admittedly self-serving opinings- they'd rather let them stand than admit they read us. Which, of course, they all do.

Here's Heslet's missive uncensored, check out the "stable top 10" stations list at the end. Again the bold type is ours.

A CORRECTION, A CLARIFICATION, AND A NEW GODDAM RULE

We must make some clarifications and policy about accepting of anonymous commenters in our lively strings. A reader has called us to task for allowing stand comments from someone purporting to be Dori Monson (KIRO m-f, 12-3p) and we must admit, he or she is right.

Allowing a well-known person's name be used unquestioned hurts our credibility, something that we cherish, even if Mike Webb (KIRO m-f, 9p-1a) calls us "disgusting liar[s]."

While we did declare in the strings that the offending letter was definitely not from Monson, some still believed they were from him. We've removed them and banned the writer.

Previously, when someone has written using a talk host's name, the content was so absurd, there was no doubt it was phony and a parody. This faux "Dori" made precise-sounding announcements about KIRO programming; wrote them realistically- believable if you wanted to believe them or didn't know much about radio. The idea that KIRO would announce its programming changes via Dori on BlatherWatch is patently ridiculous- management hates our guts and would shove us off a cyber bridge if they could. Besides, we've corresponded with Monson and know his IP address, and it certainly did not match.

We love allowing anonymous comments- as in talk radio, they make for livelier, less inhibited discussions (if you could call them that). We've rarely had to censor anyone and our guidelines have been purely situational.

But now, loath as we are to rules, we're making one. If we can't prove a letter is from a well-known person, we're dumping it. It's easy to get a hold of us off-line ([email protected] or click "Email Me"). We've done this with famous people who have written: they give us a phone number or a piece of information from say, a stolen moment together in the shadows, a look, a gesture, a caress that only we and they would know. 

lou pate disappears, medved stays put, jim west takes dori monson's spot, pat o'day falls off the truck, michael savage is queen for a day, george soros buys christmas, robin & maynard still missing

~~We've been a rumor clearing house for Entercomers and goers. Inquiring minds need to know: Will they save the conservative KTTH format and bring in John Carlson in the afternoon drive? His contract is up this month and we hear there's been some hypermanic palaver (for you former Buzz listeners, that means 'heated talks).'  Will Dori Monson go to KTTH with Tom Leykis if they decide to blow up the format and make it all testosterone? New York Vinnie could fit in there...so could Lou Pate.

~~Which reminds us- wherinell IS Lou Pate? He disappeared of the overnight a couple weeks ago. It's rumored he went to Palm Springs for either a nosejob or an abortion. Nobody is saying anything, but he hasn't been erased off the website like a gulag-ed Soviet (the usual Entercom tactic when they want to rewrite the past) so we assume he still works there. With Bryan "Rhymes With Libel" Styble filling in, diehard insomniacs have taken to getting a good night's sleep. Even the raccoons in our neighborhood have become diurnal,(Buzzers: that means they sleep at night) eschewing their customary midnight garbage cans for hearty brunches. Styble "Nearly Rhymes with Trifle" has that kind of effect on folks and critters alike. 

~~The persistent rumor that Medved would go to KKOL when it goes to a 50k watts is apocryphal (Buzzers: that means false). Medved would swear to it on a Bible, we're assured- and the a Bible means a lot to him- it's like swearing on your Visa card for the rest of us. This rumor has apparently been spread by hopeful KKOLers looking for anchor shows to build the new conservative Salem Broadcasting talker reportedly going blowtorch in March. They need more than Dennis Prager,  Mike Gallagher and the Hour of Power.

~~There's always a reason to laugh at the vile tub of scum, Michael Savage (KTTH m-f, 3-5p), though that he has lots of listeners is not one of them.
Here's a conversation the "semi-famous gasbag" had with a waiter last week as reported on Tavern Wench:

"Is something wrong?" the server says.
"Yes, I need to move my dog's water dish, but I'm not going to touch it myself."
"Sir?"
"Well, how am I supposed to touch this food after touching the dog's bowl? Move it and bring him another one!" he yells. Literally yells...The manager actually kneels down and starts to move the bowl when the man screams out, "What are you doing!?? Make the busboy do that!!!" 

We love these conservative role-models.

~~Medved was humane- polite even- to our new favorite humanist, Wendy Britton, who went on the radio with the Cultural Crusader on Monday. Wendy is the atheist who found herself in the middle of a KTTH Karaoke Cruise last week much to her non-believing horror. She held her own, and he didn't mug her as he was well capable of doing. She brought him, sweetly, a chocolate salmon (thoughtfully kosher) to represent how she felt "like a fish out of water" both on the cruise and "swimming upstream" in studio with the crusty Crusader. "Wendy, who's a feisty redhead and as Irish as you can get, says her pugilistic talents were never called upon. "He didn't say anything to make me mad, she said, " I've heard how he can be." Indeed, Medved is a formidable debater, unlike so many of his talk radio peers. It didn't hurt, however, that she was a shana putrim sitting just across the table.

~~Whatever happened to accountability in this business? writes an old radio pro in an email to BlatherWatch. "If a program director and a general manager had let two properties like KIRO and KTTH get as low as they have, they'da been looking for work in the Anchorage market months ago." BlatherWatch sure was wrong the many times we predicted the demise of Entercom's Tom Clendening and Dave Pridemore- their survival skills are like a slug in a drought..a wonder of nature. Maybe it's another example of Entercom's abandonment of the Druckerian "search for excellence."   

~~The right keeps up the barrage of phony outrages and and anecdotes about the "war on Christmas movement." We hear it daily by the likes of Bill O'Reilly (the fine Christian gentleman who blames it on George Soros) John Carlson, Limbaugh, Michael Medved, the ghost of Mike Siegel (haunting so many stations around the country) and Siegel replacements Sytman and Boze. This is a perfect made-for-talk radio issue: 1) it's emotional for gullible people 2) it can be a filler for the holiday season when news isn't always hoppin' 3) it serves to change the subject when the real news is bad for conservatives (like it is right now) 4) they can cross-market with evangelicals like Jerry Falwell and James Dobson's holiday fundraising appeals based on Christians victimhood. Even lefty talkers use perfectly good radio segments discussing how phony this is as an issue. Even though it's a crock and they know it- it's useful to all involved- like Terry Schiavo wearing a Xmas sweater.   

will leykis go to KTTH? dave ross to mornings? frank shiers to hell? erin hart to sheboygan? robin & maynard to NPR?

Rumors and intenuendo are flying about the late, great KQBZ (The Buzz) which Wednesday stopped buzzing with Tom Leykis, Robin & Maynard and BJ Shea and turned into "The Woof," a no DJ's, no interruptions, shit-kicker iPod.

(Entercom reportedly put in for the call numbers: "KKWF" for the new country station, though no one's sure when or if that will happen). They're trying to compete or at least shave off a few points from the twangy market leader, KMPS, which would push KIRO up higher. They're calling it "the biggest battle in country radio." 

Friday was the first day of the rest of Mike Siegel's life- at least on Entercom Seattle. He was booted from his morning drive show late Thursday despite his startling performance doing the James Brown at a KTTH event Wednesday night turned so many heads.

Rookies, Dan Sytman and Dave Boze were installed and started on the morning drive (m-f, 5-9a) this very morning.

Entercom's "happy holidays" firings and reshuffles with KTTH and The Buzz are so in tune with all their warm & fuzzy employee policies and state of the art public relations. It's just a big corporate way of saying: "Merry Xmas to all and to all a fuck you." We're pretty sure there'll be further changes soon for Entercom's mixed format talker KIRO. Most think New York Vinnie's (m-f, 6-9p) days are numbered; many believe the station could do better putting up a syndicated show than by continuing to pay Mike Webb, (m-f, 9p-1a) the big bucks; the weekends are dragging with Erin Hart (Sat. & Sun. 9p-1a and Frank Shiers (Sat.7-9p & Sun. 4-7p). Wonder if KIRO/KTTH employees will regret dumping their union last spring, as the company presses its advantage unencumbered by arbitrated rules?

Many on the local and national radio trade message boards, and speaking to BlatherWatch think these two events are intertwined. The town's thrumming with gossip and speculation- things BlatherWatch has always been happy to provide.

Probably the most popular rumor is that that Boze and Sytman are cheap fillers-in stuck in the Siegel programming hole until there's a reformat. Entercom will forge a KTTH into which Tom Leykis could fit.

There are reasons for this speculation. Leykis has always done well, here and has left it wide open. Even though he's been sentenced to  late night taped delay on Entercom's KISW, his website profers no outrage, instead: "Our Seattle home has been BLOWN UP!!! Be sure to check back frequently for news (italics ours). Leykis has deep ties to the city- he was even sucker-punched by a fan here a few years ago- a show of affection bestowed on very few in our fair city.

KTTH stole Limbaugh from KVI in 2003 in a stroke that was supposed kill off the Fisher conservative talker. Apparently self-satisfied, (self-satisfaction is their corporate specialty) with that coup, Entercom management stopped maintaining the station- especially after KIRO started having problems.

They kept Siegel way to long; and never hired a local talent to compete with John Carlson in the afternoon. During the long post-election debate and attempt to unseat Governor Gregoire, KVI jocks Wilbur and Carlson were getting national attention, and sucked up the local talk oxygen. Besides Siegel, who never had good numbers at any time, KTTH had only syndicated shows not dealing with the highly charged local issues.

The start-up with such high aspirations became a life support system for Rush Limbaugh, they let it tank, and eventually even Rush's numbers evaporated, too.

Just as everyone has a belly button, everyone has an opinion. Here are just a few of what we're hearing, and reading: pick the one[s] you like:

~~KTTH is dead, If they were going to keep conservative talk, you'd see a serious effort to attract major morning talent, not hiring a couple of novices who work very, very cheap."

~~They'll need a place to run Leykis live, KTTH has the signal. Slap some sports, sex and guy talk around it and you have a Leykis vehicle after Rush moves to KIRO.

~~Rush will move to KIRO mornings.

~~Dave Ross will move back to KIRO mornings.

~~Maybe the odd KTTH weekend show here and there could survive the move [form KTTH to KIRO]. At least one other KTTH show could move to KIRO as well, somebody like Laura Ingraham or someone else they don't want KVI to grab. Slap one of these on KIRO at night, save money and get better ratings than Vinnie or Mike Webb.

~~Let Mike Webb spin the oldies on KBSG and make Mike Siegel clean-up around the station, let David Goldstein take the night shift.

~~With KTTH getting virtually no numbers in the afternoons anyway, Leykis will clear live on KTTH as soon as next week. O'Reilly to 7pm, Savage moves to overnights, Laura Ingraham goes the way of Siegel.

~~Medved can and will go to KKOL, probably along with Ingraham (live).

We wish we knew what will happen. We're pretty sure plenty will in a short time. Don't touch that dial- you'll know as soon as we do...

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