BlatherWatch

Rush Limbaugh: more libertine than libertarian, more washed-up than "washed in the blood."

Yes, Rush Limbaugh was arrested Friday afternoon. Readers are complaining that saying that's inaccurate because the partisan pill-popper turned himself in after his attorney made him the deal of a lifetime.

But there was an arrest warrant issued for the wealthy blabber magnate by the state's attorney. It was served, he was taken into custody, and held while he was booked,which included a happy-face mugshot á la Tom Delay. He was then released after bailing himself out with $3000.

He was allowed to do this at 4p Friday afternoon when the media ebb is at its lowest and least-read- in the Saturday papers.

(In 2000, when KVI talker John Carlson (m-f, 3-5p; KOMO m-f 10a-12p) was running for governor, he brought Limbaugh in to kick off the campaign at a rally. It seemed like a coup to have gotten Limbaugh for this, and the KVI choir was thrilled. It backfired with voters in the most populous counties, after Democrats pointed to this union as proof that Carlson was indeed an extreme right-winger cut from the same bolt as previous GOP candidates Ellen Craswell and Linda Smith. Carlson aides, good and loyal Republican quick studies and Limbaugh fans, told of dealing with an odd and distant Limbaugh and of being sent to his limo to fetch a briefcase. They were astounded find it open in the car with bundles of paper money, 100's and 20's nearly falling out of it).

This case has been stymied very effectively by Limbaugh's Miami celebrity lawyer, Roy Black, the guy who got William Kennedy Smith off on a rape charge in Palm Beach back in the 90's. The time elapsed since the original charges helped the prosecutors to come around to the great deal Black was able to cut.

The Flatulent Fulminator is facing one charge of doctor shopping and has entered a plea of not guilty in court. After the agreement with prosecutors, the charge is being held in abeyance while they work out a formal agreement set to be officially filed Monday.

He will continue going to treatment until he has completed another 18 months of counseling--and if doesn't violate the law during that time--they'll drop the latest charge against him. He'll pay $30 a month for the court's "supervision," and $30,000 to the state to defray the public cost of the investigation.

This is chump change to Big Pants, who lives in a mansion with 15 bathrooms, and reportedly eats 10 dollar bills. The big money was spent on Black, and they were bucks well-spent. The legals were done, apparently, with the finesse you'd expect from an attorney who defends Kennedys.

Roy Black is one of those defense attorneys Rush is always complaining about who collude with Democrats, permissive judges and enable liberal elitists to avoid being held accountable. (And being held accountable is the ham & eggs of the conservative right-to bite crowd).

Of course, we progressives love to see such as Rush Limbaugh mired in these grimy peccadilloes. He, the haughty but harsh family values advocate and alleged Bible-believing Christian has always held himself so high above those of us on the opposite side of the political spectrum.

It's not enough for Lush and his many clones and fans to merely disagree with us- he, they, must scorn us as inherently evil, fatally flawed, felonious, selfish, immoral elitists, spoiled and terminally deluded. Liberals' very souls are corrupt, we're beneath redemption- just because we're at the opposite end of the right-left political spectrum.

He's a crossing attendant in the busy intersection of church and state; a hawk in the war on drugs who screeds interminably against drugs and advocating harsh punishments for drug users as well as dealers.

So why isn't it delicious when this fatuous, scornful harridan- who's made a fortune from popularizing vicious bile against our very beings- reveals such weakness, self-indulgence and fails so publicly?

BREAKING: rush limbaugh arrested on prescription drug charges

After all this time, Big Pants' fancy damage-control lawyer was unable to staunch the bleeding of facts and public evidence in the 2003 prescription drug abuse case and the mighty mouth of talk radio was arrested this afternoon for doctor-shopping in order to score the painkillers he was addicted to.

Roy Black, Limbaugh's attorney, was able to plea down the charges to single doc-shopping count after taking the case to the Florida Supreme court. In a brilliant stroke of irony, the ACLU, for whom Rush' has always been a nemesis, took part in the extraordinary case, defending his privacy rights in issuing subpoenas of medical records.

The intense irony in the case has been overshadowed only by Limbaugh's own hypocrisy, as a drug addict who has publically called for the strictest legal punishment for drug traffickers and users.

 

KIRO fallout; david field; allan prell is back! ron reagan rules; colorectal fun; dori for congress; and the big losers: procaccino, dori, grater, mccormick, and little annie

~~David Field, Entercom President & CEO, Regional VP Deborah Kane and Senior VP/Programming Pat Paxton were in town yesterday to oversee the reinstatement of actual programming at KIRO and deliver "a 2006 'State of the State' presentation, share insights regarding the overall media landscape, the radio industry in general and Entercom in particular," according to the email Jerry "Wet Work" McKenna sent to staff.

~~We see dead people. We'da liked to have asked David about the FCC payola investigation of the company, and the Native American spiritual "cleansing" ritual they arranged to get rid of all those negative spirits hanging the crannies of the Bala Cynwyd Entercom home offices. Woo. Woo.

~~The new Ron Reagan show to start May 1- will be just an hour long- it's baffling to many around the KIRO news room. What's really going on? everyone wants to know. Is he getting on-air mileage in order to launch a syndicated show? What can he do in an hour? Could he take calls? Chief political analyst? what happens to Carl "Wall of Words" Jeffers?

~~The big losers: the news department are really deflated after losing that evening news hour they only so recently gained. Expect more newsies to bail. Dori Monson, the whiny weasel, who was bumped up an hour to 1-4p, is (though Tom Clendening denies it) reportedly pissed and hit the roof in that funny little way he has.

~~What will KIRO do with the long stretch between 9p and 5a? They've gotta do something before May 1- expect more announcements. Dave Dolacky- where are you?

~~ Ouch, that stings, Dep't. John Procaccino, strung along all these months laboring under the illusion he might be picked for the morning slot he so valiantly defended, was defenestrated smartly, and the spot given back to Dave Ross. Most everyone had outspokenly wished it and many had openly predicted it and it couldn't have been easy living with that. Insult to injury: word has it that Procaccino (and Frank Shiers) were paid just $250 per show, while the strange little Bryan Styble, (KIRO Sundays 1-5) who makes even the janitor ladies feel uncomfortable, gets $300. Ironically, after all these months, the nearly normal Styble ended up better off than the loyal Procaccino- at least Styble has a shift, even though it's in the middle of a weekend night.

~~The elephant in the room: what will they do with "The Truth," KTTH that's foundering away downstairs in the Abu Ghraibe of Eastlake?

~~How many of Dave's listeners will come back? That's the real question. A source writes:  "As you've seen from your comments section, a number of people who used to listen to his show have already changed their habits, either by switching to NPR or Thom Hartmann. He's effectively been out of that time slot since July 2004 when he left to run for Congress. Unless they're going to back this change up with a major marketing campaign, I'm not sure exactly how they expect to undo that damage."

~~Entercom Market Manager, Jerry "The Axe" McKenna is now focusing on KIRO. Fired are long time General Sales Manager Dennis McCormick and Mike Webb phone-it-in producer Jeremy Grater. Our guy asks, "Why fire the GSM? Can he be responsible for failing sales numbers when a paralyzed programming management is not capable of plugging three on-air time slots?"

~~Ann Wog, Allan Prell's former producer is leaving for a job at WMAL in D.C. Word is, after seven months of Procaccino and uncertainty, she bolted.

~~Another reason why they might be having trouble filling the slots is because no one worth an ounce of salt is applying for the many openings at KIRO. Our guy in San Diego says: The word in the biz is "Stay away from KIRO."

BREAKING: "brian and the judge" to replace tony snow on KVI

"Brian and the Judge," a radio talk show show with "Fox & Friends lovable goofball Brian Kilmeade and former New Jersey Judge and generously hairlined Andrew Napolitano takes Tony Snow's place on the KVI (9a-12p) lineup as soon as...tomorrow!

Snow was named this morning as White House Press Secretary.

Sources upstairs at Fisher Radio say that KVI will be carrying this, Fox's replacement show, for the "foreseeable future."

Kilmeade is also a Fox News sports and news reporter. He has no known political opinions, but knows for sure he likes the Yankees.

Napolitano, according to press releases, is the "youngest life-tenured Superior Court Judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. While on the bench from 1987-95, Judge Napolitano tried over 150 jury trials, and sat in all parts of the Superior Court — Criminal, Civil, Equity and Family."

He's a moderate, libertarian; he's been described as "a conservative tempered by reality." He appears daily on "The Big Story with John Gibson," co-hosts "FOX & Friends" once a week and is a regular on "The O’Reilly Factor,"  and frequently on "Hannity & His Bitch.

BREAKING: KIRO FINALLY DOES SOMETHING! dave ross back to ayem; procaccino and evening news out; ron reagan, dori, ron & don, ny vinnie are in...

According to the KIRO website, the new weekday lineup to begin May 1 is:

710 KIRO Morning News with Gregg Hersholt and Jane Shannon, 5am-9am
"The Dave Ross Show," 9 a.m.-12 noon
"The Ron Reagan Show," 12 noon-1 p.m.
"The Dori Monson Show," 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
"The Ron and Don Show," 4 p.m.- 7 p.m.
"The New York Vinnie Show," 7 p.m.-9 p.m.

Besides his one hour nooner, Reagan will also do a daily commentary and "serve as the chief political analyst."

No choice yet for the 9p-1a evening shift created by Mike Webb, and filled in recently by Ron & Don; nor is there a overnight replacement for Lou Pate.

This is a major programing reshuffle for the Entercom station which has been in a morass of disarray and fill-ins since September when Allan Prell and Tony Ventrella were fired; December when Mike Webb was arrested, and January when Lou Pate quit.

The mean meme machine: radio talk host tony snow to take white house job

As BlatherWatch predicted just yesterday, Fox Radio's Tony Snow (or Snony Tow, as President Bush calls him) will probably be named White House Press Secretary, according to CNN.

"It's all done except for dotting the t's and crossing the eyes," CNN's Suzanne Malveaux told Wolf Blitzer Monday evening.

Snow has had a recent bout with colon cancer- (not uncommon for clench-sphinctered Republicans) which accounts for his hollow-eyed, narrow-foreheaded, Frankenstein look lately.

It's probably a good move for the beleaguered White House, whose fearless leader's approval ratings dropped to 32% today in the new CNN poll. That's a point drop from the weekend's Fox poll which gave him 33%.

Who will fill the position on KVI's 9 ta noon? Although we don't believe the 13 share he supposedly pulled last book, Snow certainly has been a player in that vital slot in Seattle.

Snony is a smarmy pontificator with a Republican haircut, but he's a capable and experienced communicator well liked by his media peers. He might be able to gussy up the corpse of this administration.

And don't expect those exclusive Fox News interviews with Bush, Cheney, or Rummy to get spread around to other networks. The Fox is in charge of the henhouse.

We have to admit, we enjoyed Snow's recent description of outgoing press secretary Scott McClellan as a "...baby seal for the press to club every day 'til he's bloody. Then they drag his bleeding carcass off until the next day; then put him back out there for it all to happen again."

TALKERS MAGAZINE Heavy 100 weighs heavily on its own credibility

Talkers Magazine, the self-proclaimed "Bible of Talk Radio and the New Talk Media," ranks the "100 most important hosts" in the business every year in its "Heavy Hundred."

It's an honor flaunted up by those who make it and pooed upon by those who don't. It's an annual ritual.

The list is dominated by conservatives, naturally.

The Heaviest Five are, not surprisingly: Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and Dr. Laura. Randi Rhodes at 10th beat out O' Reilly, (the bastard) who's at 11th; the nasty scold, Laura Ingraham, 7th; Progressive Ed Shultz came in at 13th; while Air America's Al Franken was 18th; and Hannity's bitch, Alan Colmes, 16th.

Local honors: Seattle talkers John Carlson, (no.76) Michael Medved (no.29) were ushered in this year, Medved for the second time. This is a big deal for Carlson who is not nationally syndicated, and hasn't even been doing that well in the ratings. These rankings aren't about ratings (we'll get to what they are about later).

MIKE WEBB UPDATE, the inevitable postponed, new york mikey, blather on crack, effseesee entercom anal probe, homophobics classes, we stand corrected, the cheese stands alone

~~Michael Kenneth Webb, (as he's known downtown) former KIRO talk host postponed the inevitable again today. His attorney appeared in Judge Helen L. Halpert's court this morning to set over his omnibus hearing and trial dates for the charges of insurance fraud against him.  This is the fourth time he's delayed the proceedings. New dates:  omnibus hearing, June 30; trial, July 12.

~~We're sorry for the blogging hiatus this week- Old Man Blather was working/romping/mange-ing up a storm in New York and pretending there's no such thing as bloggery, puffery or buggery. We did, however spy Sean Hannity walking along 7th Ave. near 32nd St., talking on a cellphone and spitting out bits of butter that apparently wouldn't melt in his mouth. This is the closest The Blathe has had to a talk radio celebrity sighting since we found ourselves (you know what we mean) at adjacent urinals with Lt. Bryan Suits (KVI m-f, 5-7p) at the EMP in 2000. Both encounters were sad and strangely forgettable.

~~Better late than never, dep't. Finally the Bush FCC has been shamed into getting into the act and it's more troubles for Entercom. Since 2004, they, with Clear Channel, CBS Radio, and Citadel have been investigated for payola (illegal play for pay) by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who sued Entercom in February alleging that execs had implemented institutional systems trading cash for airplay. Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission launched formal investigations of the four large radio corporations. Entercom not only owns the Seattle talk stations, KIRO, and KTTH, we're always blabbing about, but also big gnarly music stations around town like The Mountain, oldies KBSG, rocker KISW, new country KKWF, and alternative KNDD. Entercom has denied the charges.

~~Mike Webb can't quite make up his mind whether we're homophobic or gay- or both, as he is. Could someone please explain this mysterious message posted on his website this week?
"So tonight we'll hear some feedback from readers and listeners about the "piece" written by Seattle Weekly and we'll match it up with the latest Front Page Headlne and see if a story about a Radio Blogger named Michael H. Butterworth visiting gay nightclubs really ranks or not. You decide."  HUH?

Talk radio survey measures the fair and the unbalanced

So whaddaya think? Are liberal talk hosts are more likely to let you on the air if you disagree with them?

To hear conservative talk hosts like Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity tell it, you wouldn't think so.

But you'd be wrong.

A survey released last week by Research 2000 President Del Ali tested how six nationally syndicated radio talk programs handle incoming calls among listeners who want to become callers.

They chose 3 progressives and 3 conservatives:  Liberals Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes and Ed Shultz; and conservatives Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh.

Big Eddie Shultz, (KPTK, m-f, 12-3p) won the prize.

The Best: Shultz was the easiest to get on the air with regardless of view point for the simple reason that the show is the only format of the six that does not ask the caller what they want to discuss. In fact, the only question the screener asked our ten callers was simply where are you calling from, radio call letters and your name. The only other interaction reported was the screener was polite enough to let the caller know when he/she would be on the air with Ed Shultz.

The Worst: Sean Hannity. None of our callers with a different point of view was able to get on the air with the host. Two of our callers with dissenting view points were told by the screener that "I will pass it on" and disconnected. A third caller with a different view was told that the host would not have time to take the call today, however, if the caller would give his name and number to the screener, the Hannity program would call him back first thing the next day. We gave the screener our number. The next day, there was not a returned call within the first two hours so we decided to call in and received a recording that stated, "Calls are not be accepted from this number" The fourth and fifth calls with a dissenting point of view were put on hold during the first hour and those callers were kept on the line for remaining two hours until the show completed, never getting on the air without feedback from the screener.

Monday oddems: bitchy, bitchy, bitchy...

~~What's going on at KIRO? Sources say more changes are nigh. (we've sure said that many times before!) Bets are Dave Ross will go back to the ayem; and who knows at night? They say PD Tom Clendening likes the Ron & the Don and would like to put them in Dave's PM drive, but is having a hard time convincing the Entercom puppeteers who intracontinentally jerk the strings at KIRO.

~~Things haven't quite sprung for The Commentators (KOMO, m-f, 10a-12p), the squawk-radio show (affectionately known as "The Taters" by our readers). It has KOMOTV contrarian blabbermouth Ken Schram and Pleistocene Republican talk host John Carlson (KVI m-f, 3-5p) mixing it up weekdaily. The first 3-month ratings trend put KOMO's Middays (10a-3p), at 23rd out of about 24. John-John and Ken-Boy will have to stop making it so collegial and spank each other a little more. They manage to get guests skimmed off the top of local news impressively. But the best guests in our soggy corner of the universe won't help if they continue to pull numbers lower even than the local talk radio toilet-licker, KTTH (remember KTTH?) who, with the help of Rush Limbaugh, the former No. 1 talker in Seattle, managed only to get it up to 15th in the market in that time slot.

~~Is This Thing On? Dep't. KTTH showed 24th in mornings, 15th middays, 23rd afternoon drive, and 23rd evenings.  Our guy says: "I wouldn't read too much into anything. It seemed to be an exceptionally volatile month. We need to see the next trend to see if this is the start of anything, or if it's just a bad sample (which is why hardly anybody cares about these monthly numbers.) That said, here are a few interesting points. KIRO's morning news had a very good month, jumping up to 7th place in the three-month trend (though still a far cry from where it used to be). Middays are also slightly higher. Evenings continue to fall (18th). Ross continues to struggle in afternoon drive. He placed 15th. KOMO's afternoon news was 11th; KPTK (Al Franken) was narrowly behind at 16th."

~~We admire the KIRO news. Maybe it's because we're kind of newsy ourselves, but we appreciate their award-winning, longsuffering efforts despite all they've gone through- the scaled back news blocs and the personnel cut-backs and resignations. Now we hear they're taking crap because we applaud them and are suspected as informers. We tell you, these people are too busy, too loyal and too damned suppressed to even answer our e-mails, much less leak anything to us.