Lou Pate told KIRO to take this job and...well, give it to somebody else.
The best-rated KIRO talk host quit apparently on good terms with Entercom management. Known also as the best-looking KIRO host, the 6-year veteran overnighter made the rounds of the office today saying good-bye and schmoozing the sales hotties.
Pate, 41, is the last of the employees who worked hard to get AFTRA, the union decertified in the KIRO, KTTH workplace last year. He's the only one, however, not named Mike, and the only one to have left on his own power- the others, Mike Siegel and Mike Webb were, ironically, summarily fired- Siegel for alleged lack of listeners and Webb for alleged lack of integrity.
It's been known among Entercomers that Pate's been dissatisfied- he's just been phoning it in on his show for the past six months and made the show an anti-Seattle tirade.
It's rumored he'd like to go to southern California where he can better show off his pecs.
Despite having developing a respectable audience in the impossibly late (or early)1-5a slot, the conservative Pate's never been promoted out of the overnight. Considering the notorious KIRO programming missteps of late, their hesitancy to promote him might look not all that bad on his resume.
(Radio pros tell BlatherWatch that there may be a little of the rat looking for a graceful way off the Titanic of Eastlake.)
Program Director Tom Clendening has been grooming self-described "genius" Brian Stibble for the overnight spot, which, if it happens, would further the city-wide theory that Entercom is intentionally running the once-mighty KIRO into an iceberg.
Pate's exit leaves three major holes in the station's weekdaily line-up- the anchoring 9 to noon, open for six months since Allan Prell was fired; and Mike Webb's spot, from 9p-1a.
Turi Ryder will fill-in tonight.
"Reality is harsh"- oh what a crock . Those of us who had a problem with Lo don't have a problem with reality. Lou Pate, was a racist and a cowardly bully. He was jealous of anyone more successful than him and claimed that they were all where they were because of connections, which is an absurd generalization. It's the perfect excuse for failure, a coward's excuse. For instance, He claimed that J.Lo was where she was only because movie and music honchos one day decided they needed a Latin star and basically picked one out of the phone book, a ridiculous and ignorant statement. His racism doesn't allow him to see J.Lo's talent and charisma , which is real. He was an ugly , small meanspirited man. Period.
Posted by: Tommy008 | March 01, 2006 at 07:26 PM
I quit listening to Lou Pate two or three years ago. I turned him on one night when I couldn't sleep and when I heard him talk about how he "couldn't trust any Jews" and how "Jews were in the background running everything that the Bush administration does" I thought I was in a time warp and was in Germany in about 1936. What an ignorant fool.
Posted by: kzthy | March 01, 2006 at 07:42 PM
An **unemployed**, ignorant fool.
Posted by: Dana | March 01, 2006 at 07:46 PM
Erin Hart was the rudest person I ever heard on any radio station. She was petty, mean spirited, and just plain dumb. Glad she crawled back under her rock. May she stay there.
Lou Pate had great manners compared to Ms. Hart.
Posted by: Bill W | March 01, 2006 at 07:56 PM
Wow! This is great news. I tuned in last night after tuning OUT for a year. I love it that they finally saw Pate for what he is, a LOSER.
KIRO, you've done a good thing, (albeit five years too late).
Posted by: Chris | March 10, 2006 at 07:55 AM
Yeah but, Chris, have you heard his replacement?
Posted by: sparky | March 10, 2006 at 09:39 AM
I'm saddened with the news that Lou has left.I listened to him on my way to work every morning.Sure he was harsh sometimes but this is talk radio and if you don't like him tune him out
The people that are subbing for him are terrible. Tori ryder is as left wing as they get. styble is a know it all. The guy Frank is ok.
The only person I listen to on Kiro on a consistant basis is Dori.
Used to listen to Dave Ross in the morning and like him a lot. He is very fair by many times looking at both sides of the story.
Allen Prell was a flake.I'm glad he is gone.
These days it seems most of the Kiro folks are so left wingand anti Iraq war its distressing.
Having listened to Kiro for over 20 years,if it continues on the path its on I will No longer listen to Kiro in the future.
Thanks for allow me to comment
Posted by: Kiro listener for 20 years | March 11, 2006 at 04:26 PM
Say it aint so! Lou is gone-what a loss for Kiro and all his fans.
Posted by: eric-lou pate will be missed | March 13, 2006 at 12:44 AM
Lou Pate's cynical garbage has been conspicuously absent for the last month. I thought for a while that he might be on an extended vacation in San Diego or somewhere. Now I find to my delight that the vacation is permanent. He was bitter and disgruntled and he took it out on his listeners. The guy had a death-wish and someone put a virtual .22 in the base of his skull. Being from the Bronx, he should have expected as much. Lord knows, he deserved it. If I ever hear his whiney voice again in my life it will be too soon. Bury his sorry ass in the nearest dumpster.
Posted by: Jimbo | March 15, 2006 at 04:32 PM
His occasional replacement Brian Stibel drives me up a wall. I've never seen ANYBODY take sooooooo many words to say so little, except, in a very relative sense, George W.Bush. I can get up and take a leak and when I get back to bed he's still on the same sentence though the train of thought has long since left the station. It makes me nervous just to listen to Stibel talk for a few minutes. He gives new meaning to ADHD. Christ, he reminds me of my grandmother's miniature poodle running circles around my legs, yapping and pissing on my shoes. Listening to this guy gives me a good excuse to get up in the middle of the night to have a drink.
Posted by: Jimbo | March 15, 2006 at 04:43 PM
I MISS YOU MR. PATE!!!! :( :( Where are u now ???? I want to know?? I will ALWAYS BE A HUGE FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Sylvia | March 17, 2006 at 01:00 AM
im italian and also from ny and thought pate was an asshole
esp his politics
Posted by: Scorpiuss | March 19, 2006 at 11:50 AM
and i agree
erininista wont be back
dont care at all for turi
stible? gimme a break
verbal diarrhea
proc? boring
i go to komo at 10 now
to listen to carlson and schram
shiers? another rt wing war monger
try to catch kgo..wish they streamed again
Posted by: Scorpiuss | March 19, 2006 at 11:57 AM
hey Scorpiuss, KGO does stream now. just go to kgo.com and select a media player then start streaming.
Posted by: Tommy008 | March 19, 2006 at 03:23 PM
This blog is hilarious. Let me just give you some insight to the REAL Lou Pate... I know him because he is my neighbor and over the years has become my friend.
Off the air, he is one of the nicest and kindest guys that you'd ever want to meet. Always quick with a friendly hello and a funny comment. In fact, when I learned what he had done for a living and I tuned into his show, I was really surprised at how different his "on-air" personality was. In real life, he's incredibly polite and couteous to others. He's still very outgoing, but completely non-offensive.
His girlfriend is NOT anyone that is on the air or even in the media business. She's a girl that he met in San Diego and they've been together for years.
It is true that his car is a piece of junk. I once had to help him push it to the auto mechanic that's a few blocks away - lol. And, it is true that he exercises almost obsessively. At least once per day... sometimes more.
He has often volunteered to play sports games with my kids. Tetherball, throwing a baseball, throwing a football, frisbee, etc. They think he's great. Whenever my kids have a school fundraiser he has ALWAYS bought something to help them out.
I hardly ever listen to his show because I am usually not up that late. Therefore, I don't know how much of his personal life he discussed on air... but from what I am reading here, it sounds like his show started to get really cynical over the past five or six months. Well, here's a little insight to that... about five or six months ago, Lou's dog died of cancer. She was sick for months. And, I know that it shook him up pretty badly. He had this dog for over 10 years. I know it had shaken him up because he still talks about it whenever we're outside having a chat. I'm not a psychologist or anything, but I'm sure that the difficult loss of his only pet has certainly affected the "mood" of his show.
Regarding his leaving the station...
He has been complaining about his time slot since I met him in 2003. His girlfriend works a regular day schedule, M-F. Wouldn't you want to get off the graveyard shift too? He's been hoping to get a daytime slot for years. I know that when he quit, he was very happy about it. And guess what... he's been filling in all over the country and he's making decent money doing it. Apparently, he's a fairly hot commodity. Right now, he's been averaging about 3 to 4 fill-ins per week. Phoenix, Philadelphia, Denver, Chicago. He's doing fine, just looking for something steady.
I was just over at his house today and when I came home I decided to enter his name into Google... that's how I found this blog. After reading what some of you have wrote, I felt compelled to post this and try to set the record straight on Lou Pate.
It's really amazing how people form opinions and ideas that are totally false about people they have never even met.
Posted by: joey1971 | March 19, 2006 at 04:17 PM
Well its to be expected that the reaction is to the persona you hear on the air. I never listened but did hear him on the Battle of the Hosts programs.
Its nice to know that he has an alternative personality away from his show..Im sure that many entertainers do. But if he wanted a different time slot, it appears that he went about it the wrong way.
And Im really sorry about his doggie...I wish him well.
Posted by: sparky | March 19, 2006 at 04:35 PM
It's true he's nice-- unlike that rat bastard male morning news anchor.
Posted by: sclub | March 19, 2006 at 05:50 PM
Sorry, I can't let him off the hook so easily.
He was arrogant and totally dumped on Seattle and its people every chance he got. He apparently chose that arrogant and ignorant persona perhaps because he thought it would make good radio. When I listened, years ago, he hardly got any calls at all. Then, all of sudden, he started doing psychic stuff which didn't interest me either but I thought the station said to get some callers or leave.
So, he's really a nice guy. I'm actually glad to hear it because I would hate to think that other Lou is the real one.
Still, he chose to present himself that way so he got what he asked for.
Also, sorry about his dog. I don't wish losing a pet on anyone. And, it says something nice about him that he loved his so much.
Posted by: joanie | March 19, 2006 at 07:02 PM
Well, like I said earlier, I hardly ever listened to his show. If you hated his show, you're certainly entitled to that right.
I just wanted to shed some light on who the real Lou Pate is. Why? Because it was kinda hard to just sit there and read that he was dating Megan Black, or that he was a closet homosexual, or that he was a rabib racist when I knew better.
Regarding his "on air" persona...
If you look at the top TV and radio show hosts across the country, you'll notice that they all have one thing in common... they are all controversial. They stir up lots of emotions. It's why we sometimes tune in to them. They either make us feel righteous and justified in our own beliefs, or they make us boil with anger and resentment. In either case, they make us feel something. This blog is a testament to the fact that whether you loved him or you hated him, Lou made you feel something. And in the end, that's what he was hired to do.
Posted by: Joey1971 | March 19, 2006 at 10:56 PM
I moved to Wa. state from So. Calif.about same time Lou Pate started his show on KIRO. I had never heard his show when he was in San Diego,so I had nothing to compare what he did there. But when he started trashing Wa. state and everyone--even the Space Needle
that was the last straw, and I am not a native from this state!!
Posted by: M.R.Dowell | March 23, 2006 at 02:22 PM
several years ago I worked the overnight shift at 710KIRO and was the "board operator" for Lou. Although he was an "ok" person, he was not a well versed or knowledge talk-show host. I told him several times that he needed to do more research on his "topics" and to stop trashing Seattle. Although I must say I found many people in Seattle intolerant of other people's opinions. I have often wondered how he ever got the job at WABC, KOGO or 710KIRO. I would have made a much better talk show host. Looks like 710KIRO has really done a "number" on themselves. Sad...used to be a top-notch radio station.
Posted by: Al | April 24, 2006 at 09:55 PM
So long Lou,...
Don't let THE DOORS hit you on the Crystal Ship on the way out.
Posted by: Garth from Renton | May 03, 2006 at 01:40 PM
Where'd Lou end up, anyone know?
Posted by: A. L. | June 23, 2006 at 08:27 AM
Isnt there an expiration date on these threads???
Posted by: sparky | June 23, 2006 at 08:57 AM
When the thread finds the needle in the haystack....
Posted by: Fremont | June 23, 2006 at 10:38 AM
I have also been searching as to where Lou has gone. I really loved his show and was sorry to see him leave, but we all must do our own thing. I moved from Seattle to San Antonio last June (though I still listen to KIRO710 over the internet) and would love to hear Lou again if he is still doing talk radio.
Posted by: Rick | November 13, 2006 at 11:14 AM
Lou Pate sucks, too many "you knows." "You Know" what I mean?
Posted by: Bruce | April 09, 2007 at 07:24 AM
It's been two years since Pate's departure. Funny though, I never seemed to miss him. I guess he really was pretty much a nobody.
Posted by: Jim | March 09, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Anybody notice that Lou Pate hasn't landed a solid talk show job anywhere? Not even in Southern California. It's been two years. What on earth is he doing now I wonder?
Posted by: J. Phillip | July 06, 2008 at 02:30 AM