Old man blather, he mus' know somepin', but he don't say nothin'...

Ol' Man Blather, that Ol' Man Blatherrrr
He mus' know somepin', but he don't say nothin'
He jus' keeps rollin', he keeps on rollin' along.

He don't plant taters, and he don't plant cotton
And them what plants 'em is soon forgotten
But Ol' Man Blather, jest keeps rollin' along.
~~with apologies to Oscar Hammerstien II & Jerome Kern

As much as we hate to do it, we're rising to the bait we hear Mike Webb laid out for us on his self-serve steaming audio this evening.

(And a master baiter he is. We take to it like a rat to cheese despite letters asking when we're going to get offa Webb awready. We'll stop doing him when he stops being news. That should be sometime (we sincerely hope) after his trials upcoming in April 21, and May 4.)

He's been calling us twisted, racist, homophobic liars again and golly dang darn it, he even says we're not liberals. Ouch. And even worse, he doesn't make fun of us anymore for our callow youth- he now scorns us for our advanced age- he's taken to calling us "Old Man Blather."

Whoa dude...that hurts.

He still thinks we're just frustrated talk jocks around here, and because we're so mediocre and lame, and untalented, we're having to blog for a living and are just angry. We didn't hear much of his plodcast, but we hear we 're sharing his wrath with Geov Parrish, the Seattle Weekly reporter who wrote this week's excellent cover, "Tangled Webb,"  and that's not a bad thing.

But it's not fair.

We've written many times for The Weekly and other publications like it, and know close-up what a truth wringer such a piece hadda to go through to get into print. It can be a gigantic pain in the ass for writers whose work must face layers of editors, fact checkers, copy editors and finally, lawyers before a piece hits the streets.

Responsible publications- The Times and PI, The Stranger, Boy's Life, Seattle Magazine, Grit, Architectural Digest and even our fave, Ass Traffic do this because there are litigious people out there, looking to make victimhood pay; they don't see Seattle Weekly, they see Village Voice Media, the parent corporation with the parent-sized pockets.

Parrish's piece must have been hard to do. Because the Seattle radio market is a small town, there's plenty of inter and intra-institutional incest. Radio professionals didn't want to go on the record about Mike Webb or KIRO. They figure that down the road, they just might end up wanting to work for Entercom or with or for someone tangled in the Webb. It's professionally prudent, to talk off the record.

Editor, publishers and their attorneys do not like unnamed sources, and the Webb piece must have been especially sticky because of the workplace environment and all the agenda-heavy people; and because of Webb's unfinished criminal case (He was charged with felony fraud, didja hear?).

Radio management is notoriously secretive and all media hates it when itself becomes the story.

Knowing the Weekly's journalistic standards, we're sure Parrish had to have at least 2 sources for every statement to get it by the gauntlet, and we'll bet there was plenty of juicy stuff left on the cutting room floor.

(Here at BlatherWatch, there's no layers of anything (sometimes not even PJ's) between us and a lawsuit, so we just follow those sourcing rules anyhoo. We do go with rumors and intenuendo, which we think is OK, as long as they're not serious, or libelous ones; and we label them as rumors).

Make no mistake, if Parrish's sources were telling lies, Webb would sue him like spite on mice.
~~
Work in radio? Got any juice to squeeze, dirt to dish, poop to scoop? Did Geov Parrish leave your good stuff on the cutting room floor? Let's talk. Discretion? of course. Write [email protected].

Comments

[Ted Smith]

Assuming that the Weekly piece is basically accurate, we wait with bated* breath to see what defense Webb will offer. That's the only remaining mystery.

*Note to Mike: This term has nothing to do with queer bait and is not a homosexual reference. Sorry to disappoint.

[sparky]

Not "Old"..."Distinguished!"

[Stephen Schwartz]

The Weekly piece was pablum. Frankly, why should a listener care about whther Mike was silly enuff to run to the 7-11 for a soggy sandwich? Yehh ... I agree this raises serous questions about his taste buds, but there is nit much else to eat arounf Eastlake at midnight.

What I noted was that Parrish's pablum failed to address the far ore interesting issue of WHY Kiro is being run so badly? Between the bon-bon show from New Orleans, Fibber McGee and the Shadow, and the late nite I am a Genius offerings ... one hankers for a return to camous radio.

[Ben]

the bad news is the styblehead is on KIRO late night ( its not fare! its just bad radio) but the ball game is on komo 1000am after midnight! be there !

[TomF]

I agree with Stephen -- the Seattle Weekly piece would've been better if the ratio of Webb dirt to KIRO autopsy talk had been reversed.

So we have one minor crazy talk show host gone. It's much more interesting, and important to Seattle, to dissect the collapse of the entire radio station.

Webb's quirks are water-cooler gossip. KIRO's unbelievable wholesale meltdown affects the information culture of the whole region.

The mainstream press won't cover it in detail, of course, because there but for the grace of God go them. But the alt press should turn on all the burners. They should be like the NTSB poking through airliner wreckage and asking what the hell happened here. The macro issues with KIRO (remote corporate control of local programming, refusal to communicate with the listener base, the fragility of progressive talk in an allegedly progressive city) are in the long run fifty times more important than Mike Webb's sandwich runs.

[sparky]

" The macro issues with KIRO (remote corporate control of local programming, refusal to communicate with the listener base, the fragility of progressive talk in an allegedly progressive city) are in the long run fifty times more important..."

What makes you think a remote corporate office is going to cooperate in an interview? Clendening cant say anything or he would be out of a job. And, as pointed out earlier..its a small community and the gossip you know could very well pinpoint who leaked it, and cost them further employment in the area.
In the ensuing coverage of this debacle, perhaps more people will be forthcoming with information about the station as a whole, but I wont hold my breath!

[joanie]

Interesting comments. I agree the piece was more gossip than analysis. Still, it was interseting to us "radio people."

Stephen put it well. However, radio has always been hard-to-find news in Seattle which brought me to Blatherwatch. Media reporting on media, I guess.

I would have thought that some of these anonymous sources could have made further insights into the whole debacle of KIRO's real problems.

In the end, Blatherwatch wins - any publicity is better than no publicity! We should be thanking Webb. :)

[umo]

It is confounding how many folks are doing post mortems for KIRO-AM. Somehow they continue to ignore the fact that KIRO is consistently the highest rated talk radio station in Seattle. The three stations ahead of KIRO are music stations.

[sclub]

Yeah, umo, with the Seahawks in the Superbowl and no still KIRO improvement.

[Scrilla]

ME ME ME!!!
I'll go on the record about Webb!!! He once spread a rumor that I was doinking Kris Olinger!!

[Scrilla]

BTW- it was false. Siegel, however....

[umo]

How is Mike Webb supposed to defend himself against a print media attack that quotes nothing but anonymous sources. None of Webb's detractors have the balls to identify themselves.

[I'm_not_liberal_I'm_PROGRESSIVE!!]

Mike Webb is innocent. How do I know? Because obviously the police, Geico, Geov Parrish, Blatherwatch, Brian Maloney, several sources at KIRO, KIRO management, KVI, KTTH, the Pope, Talon News, the Mariners, Elvis and Simon Cowell are all in a major conspiracy to defame the greatest Progressive talk show host ever to have walked the face of the Earth. But I'm not worried because Sy Hersh and Joe Wilson and Pearl Jam are all on it and will expose "the truth" any day now. We also have the secret McDermott tapes to prove the conspiracy includes Newt Gingrich. It's all over for the right wing! Their lies and evil will finally be shown to all! The mainstream conservative press is finished! Long live Hugo Chavez! IMPEACH BUSH! FIRE RUMSFELD! I JUST SAVED A BUNCH OF MONEY AT GEICO!

[Ted Smith]

KLIF-1190 in Dallas was a legendary rock station that underwent a precipitous decline in the 70s. I asked Ron Chapman, PD of competitor KVIL, to explain. He said:

"They stopped caring."

Simple answer: KIRO has stopped caring.

[baba booey]

How is Mike Webb supposed to defend himself against a print media attack that quotes nothing but anonymous sources. None of Webb's detractors have the balls to identify themselves.

Posted by: umo | April 14, 2006 at 03:26 PM

I bet one of the gutless pukes qouted anonymously is that turd Erin Hart.

[JC]

not possible baba booey, since there were no references to "Pedro" in any of the above postings. Erin couldn't post more than a sentence without including a "hi Pedro" disclaimer.

[baba booey]

Is Pedro her gardener?

[sparky]

Vote for Pedro!

( you had to see the movie...)

[Tommy008]

Mike Webb just can't stand the fact that there are people here who are hip to his tricks. He's used to thinking he's always the smartest guy in the room.

[Paul]

Its just not fare!!!!!!
the Stiblehead is just bad radio !!! the good news komo 1000
has the ball game on after midnight !HAy Tom from Kiro ! Is the stiblehead datting your sister ! thats the only way I can think you would have the stiblehead on save us at midnight ! put the test tone back on !

[sparky]

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter is one of the few floating holidays in the calendar year, because it's based on the cycles of the moon. Jesus was said to have risen from the dead on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. For that reason, Easter can fall as early as March 22nd and as late as April 25th.

The word "Easter" comes from an ancient pagan goddess worshipped by Anglo Saxons named Eostre. According to legend, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning the bird into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became our Easter Bunny.

[Mark]

learn something new every day.

[joanie]

ho-hum . . . where's audioslave and exdem when you need 'em?

hope you bring on a good one tomorrow, michael . . .

I still hate George Bush. :)

[yo]

And don't forget, the Last Supper was a Passover seder.

[KS]

Glad that Mike Webb is no longer on KIRO, not that I am enthralled with who is on now in his place. Turns out Webb passed himself off as something he wasn't and didn't care for his demeanor on the air. He was a pompous, self-centered hypocritical jerk just like those of the right-wing who he accused of being that way. In a few cases, he was right - but when someone's rubs many the wrong way and their credibility is in the pooper - he already has two strikes against him. Also, why did he never show a photo of himself like all of the other KIRO personalities did on the station's website ? Was he ashamed of the way he looked or just being arrogant again ?

[joanie]

He did show a pic of himself once . . . can't remember just where . . .maybe his blog? But, it was like thirty years old and not a very clear pic either! A little vanity, wouldn't you say? (LOL)