Ron & Don, (KIRO m-f, 3-7p) the vapid drive-time hosts everyone loves to hate but who get the best ratings on KIRO (!) have been missing of late, and that's further got staffers cryin', waitin', and hopin'.
(photo: Can Ron be resucitated?)
Ron & Don have been “on vacation,” since last week and filled-in for by such as John Curley, and Marty Reamer. Both are comedians, and more talented than Ron & Don, but are they really being tried out? If so, for whom? Neither would be much of an escalation in pithiness for the struggling news station, but that’s a hope we’ve dropped from our prayer list.
A KIRO source tells us that last week’s BlatherWatch-stoked attention around Gregg Hersholt’s firing took management by surprise and that they’re letting stuff die down before continuing on their revamp of the entire Bonneville cluster.
Others say KIRO management simply doesn’t have their shit together yet. One thing's for sure: the hammer will come down. Stay tuned.
I noticed Ron and Don were off yesterday and wondered what the deal was with all the time off lately. Would they tell them to take time off? I would say they are possibly replacements for Dave and Dori not Ron and Don, but I am only guessing.
Posted by: Jo | June 02, 2010 at 02:22 PM
One can only hope! I think that Curly and Mike West make a good combo. Marty Reamer is still a music jock but give him time and he would be fine. He is a pro. He goes back to the old KJET days. Back when radio was fun.
Posted by: Rich | June 02, 2010 at 02:47 PM
Reamer sounds like a pro. Dori sounds like a punk.
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 02:55 PM
Dori is a punk. I mean allegedly.
Posted by: Jo | June 02, 2010 at 03:00 PM
If the mindless blather I've been hearing on KIRO's drive home shift is the direction the station is headed then they might as well blow the place up.
Thank goodness I have over 500 CDs to choose from.
I've just got to say something to the Dori haters. If Dori supported your viewpoints you would all be in an orgasmic state between 12 & 3 each day. His self confident arrogance be damned.
Posted by: Ryder | June 02, 2010 at 03:11 PM
How does Dori Sound like a punk? What does a punk sound like?
Posted by: Rich | June 02, 2010 at 03:22 PM
I can only hope that Ron and Don get sent packing...
Would like to see Dave and Dori stay where they are as they balance each other so nicely.
Since R&D arrived, I found other 3 - 6pm listening so I try never to hear them at all... It's all of those damn ads they do.
I'm constantly tuning away anytime I hear them. (especially Don)
Posted by: Rat Bastard | June 02, 2010 at 03:45 PM
Honestly? He sounds undereducated. His peculiar annunciation and speech aside, his angry "I'm smarter than everyone in government" manner is the kind of thing you typically hear from undereducated people who have far more self-confidence than actual knowledge (his listener base). They will frequently explain away everything they don't understand by saying that it's "dumb" and that if they were in charge they could fix that same bridge or build that public project at a fraction of the cost. Part of understanding is appreciating what you don't understand, and people like Dori give teenagers a run for their money in having the answer for almost everything.
If he was really so smart, he wouldn't be a talk show host, his book store would have succeeded, he would control a chain of bookstores by now. He would be venturing into other retail enterprises and would have more security, make his own hours and be earning a lot more than he does now. He would be an asset to our community, and not the drain he is now. I hope for his sake that it's all just an act.
Posted by: Andrew | June 02, 2010 at 03:54 PM
I guess we'll find out tomorrow when R & D are suppose to be back. At least that what Marty Reimer said Tuesday during the show "Ron and Don are off today and tomorrow".
Posted by: Tacoma Listener | June 02, 2010 at 04:01 PM
"Peculiar annunciation" coming from someone calling Dori undereducated... Pot, meet kettle.
Posted by: Philip D. | June 02, 2010 at 04:02 PM
I'm apathetic about the 3-7pm slot because there's never been anything good there except news, and KOMO and KUOW have it covered. I'm hard pressed to think of anything KIRO could do to stand out. "Traffic and weather together" perhaps? That rhymes hahahahah.
Posted by: Andrew | June 02, 2010 at 04:03 PM
he's a grown man who still has the lazy and babyish poor speech patterns of an uncultured teen or preteen. I'm sorry, the way you speak says something about your character- the way you sound after 25 means something. I came down on Burbank for still saying "like" all the time. Dori had a different problem but even more serious in a way. since he's probably beyond remedy at his age.
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 04:03 PM
While thrilled that KIRO may just be sobering up enough to send chuckleheads Ron & Don on PERMANENT vacation, my first throught when hearing Marty Reamer (both last week and this) was "Is this guy talking on the radio for the very first time?" Unimpressive, reed-thin voice, tentative, unfunny. (But with a woman in the background uttering gems like "Uh huh" and "yeah." THAT'S a 'radio partner?' Spare me.)
As for the under-educated Monson he's a former sports reporter with the intelligence of a second-string jock who is simply piggy-backing a faux political stance into a freshened right-wing radio career. Since "One On One Against the Nuns" and "What's your favorite color?" don't exactly create thrill-a-minute radio these days, lil' Dori is quick to wade in the bubbling cesspool that spewers such as Sean and Rush have ridden to radio millions. "Now," said Dori(s), "I wants me a piece o' that!"
Posted by: benseattle | June 02, 2010 at 04:09 PM
Why not bring back Tom Leykis?
Posted by: Fatso | June 02, 2010 at 04:10 PM
haah Dori " had a different problem" .. i should have said "has a different problem" but perhaps my clairvoyance is already tellign me he won't be on air here come summer... that would be awesome....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 04:11 PM
Tom Leykis is still under contract to CBS until 2012 or until htey decide otherwise. He's enjoying collecting his 3 million per year from CBS and doing his weekly "THE TASTING ROOM" winetasting, "good life" show every Thursday night on a local LA RADIO station. He podcasts his WINE shows on his website- THE TASTING ROOM WITH TOM LEYKIS. He's also started his own "boutique" media content and distribution company The New Normal (which handles the podcasts for his wine show. The New Normal has one original new program already minted- "The Gary and Dino Show' which is so far only an internet show but i believe is hoping for radio syndication. It's Tom's producer Gary and former callscreener Dino talking a bunch of "guys" crap on a "manshow" affair.......underwhelming so far....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 04:25 PM
I think Tom Leykis sucummbed for the same reason Dori eventually will. It's junk food.
Take "the Pepsi Challenge" for example; Pepsi always wins taste tests, yet Coca Cola outsells Pepsi all over the world, and the reason is drinkability. You tire of the taste of Pepsi of faster than you tire of Coca Cola. After one can of Pepsi, you feel sugared out, but you can drink can after can of Coke until your teeth fall out.
When Leykis decided that he was going to be a poor man's Howard Stern and talk about easy women for all three hours every day, it was the beginning of the end for him. His show began as a current events/popular issues show. His arguments with religious people were great. On Fridays he would talk about sex and dating. He discovered those were his highest rated shows, so he sold out the healthy variety for the junk food sex talk. He had a momentary rise, but the number of stations that carried his show began to dwindle, and he was finally cancelled for good in 2009.
I see Dori as being on a very similar trajectory, but where Tom Leykis went all sex talk, Dori has gone right-wing wacko. I resent that he's helping to kill the station that hosts Dave Ross.
Posted by: Andrew | June 02, 2010 at 04:35 PM
We really do need to get rid of everything local (except traffic reports at commute time). I think we would be better off if we get the same people middle America gets on the radio so we can smarten up the local population.
More middle America reasonable talk an less liberal lunatics.
Posted by: B.O. Stinks | June 02, 2010 at 04:47 PM
Yes, Dori has no imagination in talk radio. I don't think he could jump out of an airplane or go to France any longer bringing his own food on board the plane.
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 04:51 PM
DORI RULES!!! Period, end of subject, and everyone here criticizing him is just plain JEALOUS. That is SO fricken OBVIOUS! Really...is he a coach or an assistant coach...is he educated or is he a dummy...wah wah wah....poor little WHINERS. Dori, meanwhile laughs all the way to the bank...while YOU blog your heads out. LMAO
Posted by: Duffman | June 02, 2010 at 04:54 PM
KIRO should stop teasing us from 3-7 with other folks than R&D. When I heard Marty today on the radio I got so excited, I almost wet myself. Only to be let down with "its still the R&D show" :(
Posted by: Dan in Auburn | June 02, 2010 at 05:17 PM
Duh-fman claims ot be an older man with grown kids but do we really know? he comes across liek a middle school student who is secreting a laptop with a wirless card at his desk and posting all day in his classrooms and after class. Hie worshipful, adoring attitude toward Dori, as well as his writing style is the stuff of early teenhood - strictly adolescent stuff.
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 05:19 PM
I think Andrew should be on the radio. Nicely put together thoughts.
WELL DONE!
Posted by: Rich | June 02, 2010 at 05:40 PM
Duffman- Dori's an assistant coach who has been doing his best to make his listeners think he's the head coach , by misleading them, without actually saying he's head coach, for years....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 05:54 PM
Does any body really give a shit whether Dori volunteers as coach or assist. coach besides 008?
Really now, the guy helps coach his kids team. So what if he just volunteered to drive the kids to games?. Either is positive.
You seem obsessed with Munson. Do you have any thing a little less silly to whine about?
Posted by: B.O. Stinks | June 02, 2010 at 06:05 PM
Wow, Ron and Don must be livid that they were not on the air when news came down that Griffey retired. Talk about having your food dish pulled from under your maw at the worst possible moment. They endure 364 tepid slow news days, just waiting for one like this to come along, only to have some potential replacement courting the microphone they labored so long over when the day finaly came. Burn.
Posted by: Andrew | June 02, 2010 at 06:30 PM
you miss the point, Stinks.....it seems deliberately so....i don't like little worms who try to steal another man's credit and glory...this guy went all the way up to and through his announcement of the team going to "state" for the first time in the school's history without mentioning he was only the assistant coach of "my girls"....i heard the whole announcement ...there was not one mention of Coach Ed Wissing....you may consider it silly but i don't ... it proves he's a little worm and a weasel.....with an ego the size of a barn....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 06:32 PM
Sad day; Junior is retiring. For some reason, it feels like a personal loss.
I am not interested in hearing anything from Dori (the pretender with a girl's name) about this, but I am sure he is preparing tomorrow's tribute. He (Dori) thinks he is important in Seattle sports. He is wrong. He is a pretender.
I wish I could say goodbye to Junior.
Posted by: AprilMayJune | June 02, 2010 at 06:44 PM
They could hire 2 more hosts for what they are paying dori or just syndicate something lousy.
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 06:50 PM
Monson's downplaying of his team's head coach further underscores what a local tragedy the man is. So much promise... pissed away on the politics of blame and capitulation to a person's greedier side. Sure, he talks as though he's a man of the community, he "coaches" girls basketball, but then every public servant we have eventually hangs up on him. He drives us apart down ideological lines. Because of people like Monsoon, 'D' and 'R' have gone from being a leaning to being a badge of honor or shame respectively. No amount of coaching youth basketball will undo the years of fomenting hate within the region.
Meanwhile, you have a fine citizen and talented entertainer like Dave Ross, a true asset to the community, working over time to convince the NPR crowd that they should tune into 97.3 KIRO only to have the likes of Monson and Shiers ruin everything by pretending to be miniature Rush Limbaughs, and driving the NPR crowd away permanently in the process.
Posted by: Andrew | June 02, 2010 at 06:54 PM
Monson could have saved a legacy station by retiring or going elsewhere like Las Vegas. He likes sleazy suburbia anyway. I heard he has survived by being a snitch.
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 07:03 PM
Dori rules. Luke rules. Read it and weep.
Posted by: Duffman | June 02, 2010 at 07:05 PM
you make a very compelling argument
Posted by: Andrew | June 02, 2010 at 07:10 PM
yes, we posted this to drive duffman crazy
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 07:12 PM
I don't even care about 97.3 KIRO FM but am hoping something happens so BlatherWatch here can end their boring alternate posts of either predicting the stations doom or attacking someone on the political right! C'mon guys, I thought this was supposed to be about Seattle talk radio, not your politics.
Oh, and those of you hoping for a return to the KIRO AM glory days need to be a bit more realistic. The sports format experiment is going to get more time, if only because of the contracts signed with ESPN Radio. KIRO AM's ratings are solid when the Mariners are playing and that means it's very likely profitable given they only pay for 7 hours of local hosts a day.
Posted by: Miles | June 02, 2010 at 07:15 PM
The Mariner's suck, the outrageous broadcast contract will crush Bonneville.
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 07:22 PM
Dori Monson IS Seattle talkradio,,,,,hopefully i've demonstrated, through my factually accurate posts, that Mr. Monson no longer has the requisite standards of honesty and character to deserve his spot on KIROfm radio, if he ever did...i'm hoping his ratings are no longer strong enough for those suits in charge that really don't care about such quaint things as character to feel justifeid in retaining his services...time for him to go ...simple... we're simply trying to hasten his departure... not about politics
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 07:34 PM
if Dori's last straw wasn't indeed reached some time ago, as i believe, then, the "coaching" thing with Monson should be the last straw, for people who have followed all the things several of us here have been calling to your attention about Dori's less than flattering side.... it reaches a point where you can't really abide someone on the air anymore, even though he might still have some superficial, but fairly adept skills in presenting an entertaining radio show ....Tom Cruise is a competent enough actor i supposes but i don't attend his films because of his offscreen life....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 07:52 PM
Hey, coiler. Randi's pretty good tonight. She's got "happy" online. Why does anyone tolerate that guy. I think Happy and Duffman are the same Chihuahua.
Did you hear about the supertankers supposedly sucking up the oil off the Arabian Peninsula a year or so ago? Don't know when really. Apparently, the correcto (whatever) makes that possibility impossible now. And BP didn't want to spare the tankers right now? And Obama is celebrating Paul McCartney?
Check out this sinkhole. Unbelievable. The world is coming to an end.
Judging from the frenzied concern over R&D and Dori's claim (or not) of his coaching status, maybe it's a good thing.
Posted by: joanie | June 02, 2010 at 08:03 PM
Our little man came on the Seattle radio scene in the late eighties with his weekend sports show on the old KING1090........oddly enough this was about the time Griffey emerged in Seattle, on the team....... the era of Griffey has just ended for Seattle, now is the perfect time for our little man to say adieu, fold his tent, pack his things, close up shop, etc. Don't go away mad, Dori, just go away....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 09:01 PM
Are you like me? Baffled at this:
"DORI RULES!!! Period, end of subject, and everyone here criticizing him is just plain JEALOUS. That is SO fricken OBVIOUS!"
"Jealous" of just WHAT, if you don't mind my asking? Are you accusing hose of us critical of Monson's "jump-on-the-right-wing-bandwagon-for ratings-ploy" as ALL being frustrated, out-of-work radio talkers? Most likely NOT the case. Jealous of his salary? Limbaugh, most definitely. Monson, not a chance.
Duffie, there's nothing wrong with being in love but shouldn't the object of your affection be something more than a whiney, pandering phony whose integrity is up there with long-gone Michael Savage? I'm sure he still loves your bouquets, however.
Posted by: benseattle | June 02, 2010 at 09:15 PM
"Hey, coiler. Randi's pretty good tonight. She's got "happy" online. Why does anyone tolerate that guy. I think Happy and Duffman are the same Chihuahua."
Is that "Happy from Mercer Island"?
Posted by: AprilMayJune | June 02, 2010 at 09:32 PM
what will Monson do this summer with all his newly found free time, after Mormon Suits respectfully escort him out the door and see his Jaguar off out of the Eastlake parking lot with tearful waves, next week? What does he do, what will he do.....
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 09:44 PM
Oh yeah, I heard "happy" I had a hard time following along at first
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 09:46 PM
I think "Happy" did say he was from the State of Washington
Posted by: Coiler | June 02, 2010 at 09:47 PM
"Hey, coiler. Randi's pretty good tonight. She's got "happy" online. Why does anyone tolerate that guy. I think Happy and Duffman are the same Chihuahua."
Posted by: joanie | June 02, 2010 at 08:03 PM
"Hey, coiler. Randi's pretty good tonight. She's got "happy" online. Why does anyone tolerate that guy. I think Happy and Duffman are the same Chihuahua.
Is that "Happy from Mercer Island"?
Posted by: AprilMayJune | June 02, 2010 at 09:32 PM
Twisty Roads and Twisty Posts
ooops. lmao
Posted by: Puget Sound | June 02, 2010 at 09:53 PM
I believe Reamer and the gal are being tried out for Dori's spot....they've thought for a long time about Dori's fate and have now, with the tryout going well, pretty much decided to replace him.. .they wouldn't be trying out hosts to replace someone on their own air shift.. Reamer and his partner aren't right for morning drive...too slow...just right to follow Dave.. I think the suits have lost their nerve about firing Dave and will let him stay.. i believe the suits genuinely like and enjoy R and D and are tired of Monson and were waiting for his current ratigns slump to get rid of him...R and D's kindness and charitable work fits in with the Mormon paradigm...Monson's meanness does not...this isn't the same Dori they dealt with during Bonneville's first go-round with the station....i think the suits are aware of his unsavory rep as a "snitch" and other things and they just don't like or respect that...
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 10:01 PM
don't expect a Gregg Hersholt type farewell week when Dori is relieved of hid duties...he will react in an ugly manner and perhaps security will be called.....one day he will be on the air the next day he will not be there...
Posted by: Tommy008 | June 02, 2010 at 10:05 PM
April was asking Joanie a question, Detective Putz.
Posted by: sparky | June 02, 2010 at 10:06 PM
Take this to the bank...
Dori is safe.
Ross is looking for something else.
R&D are gone by end of June (latest)
Shiers is safe.
Posted by: Insider | June 02, 2010 at 10:08 PM