BlatherWatch

Is there life after seattle talk radio?

Where do you go after you're fired from talk radio job in Seattle? 

The answer, apparently, is Port Orchard if you want to stay anywhere near the Seattle market.

Those regularly scheduled Seattle newstalk spots are coveted ... seems you gotta leave town or get a gig selling cars.

It's the dilemma faced by the recently fired Bryan Suits, and Dan Sytman but also faced by such as Allan Prell, Mike Webb, Mike Siegel, New York Vinnie, Erin Hart, Lou Pate, Fred Ebert, Peter Weissbach, Brian Maloney, and Bryan Styble.

Winter of our discontent: the Arbitron losers

The Winter Arbitrons in the all-important, 25-54 "money" demographic show pretty much a break-even period for local newstalk stations in tight competitive formation.

In the hallowed tradition of our half-glass, half-assed style of reporting, here are the losers and low points that you've come to expect from us:

~ KTTH was the lowest of the newstalk stations in the overall ratings going from a 2.9 (%) share to 1.6; ranking #22 out of 30 stations! KIRO barely lost to KOMO; 16th and 15th respectively).

~ Morning Drive's (5-9a) biggest losers were Sytman & Boze who dove into the dumpster with a startlingly dank 1.5 share, down a full point. KIRO morning news barely lost to KOMO; but KVI's Kirby Wilbur regained a little of his past glory at 2.5.

~ The biggest 9 ta noon loser was KTTH's Rush Limbaugh who went from an impressive 5.4 share to a 3.1, but still beat an improved (1.8 to 2.6) Dave Ross, and KVI's The Commentators who did better this time, splitting Rush's lost points with Ross. But no cigar to the high-priced, weekdaily KVI tofu wrestling with Carlson & Schram.

Blathering 2006: the best, the worst, the merely mildly entertaining PART DEUX

~RUSH LIMBAUGH CONTINUED TO GIFT BLATHERWATCH with his noxious exudations both ideological and intestinal. In 2005, his public flatus made headlines as friends made hard left turns, lovers became downwinders, and employees turned up their noses. But in 2006, the tabloids reported that Big Pants had found a support group and a line of flame-retardant flatulence odor products.

MORE BLATHERFODDER BY THE FLATULENT FULMINATOR: in April, Big Pants was arrested after his celebrity lawyer got him the deal of a lifetime for the charges against him for illegally attaining prescription drugs. He was taken into custody, booked, a happy-face mugshot á la Tom Delay was taken before being released after bailing himself out with $3000. This at 4p on a Friday afternoon when the media ebb is at its lowest and least-read. Always more libertine than libertarian, the blabber magnate was detained again in June, in the Palm Beach Airport coming in from the Dominican Republic with a bottle of Viagra without a prescription. We never really thought he'd done much wrong, but it was hilarious see his sexuality or lack thereof so widely publicized. The Third World country is known for sex tourism; a great place for fat guys to get laid; and he took along a drug for erectile dysfunction. We can't be too judgmental about a little Caribbean chuffing- big fat idiots get to have sex, too. But hell, that's what you'd expect us to think-we're liberals! tBut this "boys weekend" as Rush called it, flies in the face of fundamentalist biblical morality that defines sex a sin if it's not in the marital bed. We wonder what Big Pants' cohorts in the "values-community" such as Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly, and Rev. Ken Hutcherson think about his pre-marital chuff-chuff? Cable news reported that according to the Customs declaration, Rush had 30 Viagras going down, and only 29 nine coming home- that ain't much of a sex weekend.

~PAT O'DAY was the Chairman of the Board, the Grand Poobah, the Top Dog, the Big Kahuna of Seattle rock radio and Pacific Northwest rock & roll business for decades. Now retired in Friday Harbor, he's a wealthy man; hopelessly Republican, a spokesman for Schick-Schadel Hospital, and ... a BlatherWatch fan. (Ol' Blathe, he calls us). We got Pat to write a two-part piece, here and here  on the state of Seattle talk radio- he wasn't amused. 

THE DORI MONSON OPEN. In March, we asked our readers to send us love notes or hate mail about Dori Monson (KIRO m-f, 11-4p) since we weren't up to actually listening to him long enough to give him an honest assessment. Boy did we get an earful! It was woefully short of love notes- though we published everything we got...

PERNICIOUS MOMENTS, 2006: DORI AND ANN COULTER-  he most outrageous thing about Dori's "interview" of the sharp-elbowed Connecticut harpy with the toothed and leathery nether parts was a story he told as he was prostrating before her. He said his 16-year-old daughter had been offered extra-credit in a science class if they went to Gore's movie on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. She and her mother didn't see the movie, he said, but instead went to the theater, bought a ticket so the teen could lie to the teacher, and get the credit. Dori said they bought her the ticket to "take advantage of the system, but not make our daughter sit through two hours of tedium like that." Buying that ticket is what conservatives might call, "investing in education;" but liberals would call it cheating. Dori's daughter complained, Dori denied the story in later broadcasts; and readers flooded our comment strings and Dori's mailbox.

WE ASK THE QUESTIONS NO ONE ASKS: such as, Frank Shiers: why?

HONORARY WASP, 2006: Dan Sytman says he's Jewish, but wouldn't he make a great W.A.S.P.?

R.I.P. 2006: Some notables and some merely annoying left Seattle radio this year, all to be

Ex-KIRO talkers graze nationwide in the fill-in green pastures...

AllAccess, the radio trade site, reported all of these items Thursday. With ex-overnighter Lou Pate's fill-ins in Miami we reported yesterday, it looks like the numerous ghosts of KIRO past are ubiquitous across the dials of America. Missing is Mike Webb, who, incidentally is scheduled to appear in Superior Court Friday on his felony insurance fraud case. There will be no fill-ins allowed for Mike's appearance.

Siegel Back On Seattle Radio
MIKE SIEGEL returns to the SEATTLE airwaves with a one hour daily talk show 6-7p ET on talk simulcast KITZ-A/SILVERDALE, WA and KGTK-A/OLYMPIA, WA, reports the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER's BILL VIRGIN.

Maloney Equal To Fill-In Tasks At WRKO/Boston
Listen for the RADIO EQUALIZER himself, BRIAN MALONEY, on ENTERCOM Talk WRKO-A/BOSTON throughout the holiday weeks. MALONEY filled in for middayer JOHN DEPETRO TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY and will handle mornings or the vacationing SCOTT ALLEN MILLER next MONDAY and TUESDAY.

Hart In For Marvin At AM 760/Denver
Veteran talker ERIN HART is filling in for JAY MARVIN in mornings JUNE 30 and JULY 3-4 at CLEAR CHANNEL Talk KKZN-A (PROGRESSIVE TALK AM 760)/DENVER. The fill-ins return HART to the 760 frequency where she hosted when the station was called KTLK in the 90s; most recently at
KIRO-A/SEATTLE, HART has also hosted at KOA-A and KNUS-A/DENVER and TALKSPOT.COM.

Weekend quicklies: mike webb, dj nobrain, mike mcgavick, the acne-ed one, horse's ass radio, anabolic morons we have known

~~OK, OK, this Van Dyne guy sucks (KIRO fill-in m-f, 9p- 1a) like with his topic about the ethics of doing it with robots, as a loyal reader complains. But her examples of who was better for the KIRO slot doesn't do it for us. Remember: they were alleged liberals, but in the fluff dep't, Mike Webb played disco, waxed nostalgic for the 1970's, and shook his booty out for snacks. Erin Hart talked about cleaning her refrigerator and her damn dog! Yet, we agree- Van Dyne represents what we hope isn't a long-term trend at KIRO of hiring issues-lite FM-ers like the anabolic morons Wrong & Dong (m-f, 4-7p). We're hoping Entercom will Procaccino Van Dyne's ass.

~~Speaking of former talk host Mike Webb- his omnibus hearing (where he may plea out) for felony insurance fraud is next Friday, June 30, 10 a, in Judge Helen Halpert's courtroom (E 847, 8th floor) in the King County Court House. Trial is set for July 12 (if it goes to trial). Webb has re-set court appearances many times before, so stay tuned.

~~Now we've heard KIRO employees think that the dearly departed producer Ann Wog was a BlatherWatch source. Unfortunately, she was not. We could never get anything out of her. Hell, she wouldn't even return emails (like so many of you won't). Ironically, some of those spreading that rumor have leaked themselves.

~~David Goldstein (KIRO Sundays, 7-10p) will fill in for Frank Shiers Saturday evening 7-10p. (look out Frank, remember what happened last time Goldy filled in for somebody...be still my beating heart). He'll be talking to Rep. Jay Inslee, about the New Apollo Project, his enlightened energy bill; then slick chick Erica Barnett from The Stranger, will discuss local transportation, a subject about which she is a well-known virtuoso, having covered it for years. Also local blogger Darryl of Hominid Views to discuss his outing of Mike McGavick's disingenuous claims on CAFE standards; and how the blogosphere is keeping candidates -- and journalists -- honest.

~~and they say we're mean... We heard Bryan Suits, the erstwhile Republican talker who cut and ran from Iraq in 2003 (KVI m-f, 5-8) recently refer to Ken Schram (KOMO m-f, 10a-12p) on-air as "The Acne-ed One." (Schram has one of those complexions that look like his face caught on fire and someone tried to put it out w/a track shoe). This is the kind of ad hominem attack we've come to expect from the desperate, bitter, angry, extreme far right.

Tuesday oddems: battle of the cattle, styble wears a bridle, siegel plays the 'burbs, *******sucks your blood, robots eat KTTH, allan prell returns

~~Gotta say it it, KIRO is working hard on the ol' PR. Lots of personality promos, with all the new talent- at least they now have someone to promote after months of uncertainty, fill-ins, and despair. We've never seen such ado about a Battle of the Talk Show Hosts on Wednesday June 14 at the Everett Events Center (doors open at 6p-- the BOTTSH goes on the air at 7p) Producer Phil Vandervort blogs about it on the KIRO site. On stage debating will be Dave Ross, Dori Monson, and also, as Vandervort describes him- "710 KIRO's ubiquitous New York Vinnie." Plus the 3 newcomers: Ron Reagan, Ron Upshaw, Don O'Neill.  We expect Reagan to shine- he has his dad's ability of putting his sharpest barbs into bouquets of humor and affability.

~~Which reminds us: we were visiting KIRO/KTTH the other day and saw the gorgeous LARGE pics of Syman & Boze (KTTH m-f, 5-9a) front and center in the entry. They've not been totally forgotten in the dustbin of history and robot science that is KTTH. Why aren't they going to BOTTSH? It could use some real conservatives.

~~Last BOTTSH had Frank Shiers and Erin Hart holding down the studio and doing color commentary. They were pretty good together, (together they had one brain) but Hart was riffed in January in the KIRO bloodbath. Wonder if they'll let the new guy- David Goldstein (Sundays, 7-10p) help out? Goldstein could get under the thin skin of Smarmy Frank, and that would be fun to listen to... 

~~Speaking of hairy backs, the great white Bryan Styble (the semi-permanent/permanent full-on fill-in on the KIRO overnight) will be ensconced in The Bat Cave biting heads off chihuahuas during the BOTTSH. He's not quite ready for prime time

~~Goldstein's show is kicking major ass in the blogosphere- he's liable to say just about anything; has a great Rolodex, political street cred and an ear for the politics that can bring listeners to the radie-yo. It's fun reading the comment strings on Sound Politics, Horsesass and Blatherwatch, and seeing what the conservative trolls, and the sorely blemished have to say. Besides the anti-semitic remarks, the puerile cracks about Goldy's looks; there's also some pretty insightful (and inciteful) stuff. We like Goldstein' show because it's getting bloggers interested in talk radio and vice versa. They've had a tendency to see the medium as "old technology," which it is, but has been put to incredible use by the right, even in this liberal town. Sure wish these brave trolls- so outspoken on-line- would get on the phone and pitch Goldy some of the shit they're always threatening him with in the comfy confines of their cozy cubicles.

~~Whatever happened to Mike Siegel? First we heard he was doing fill-in on Fargo's WDAY-AM, but that's not happening any more. Then it went around that the former KTTH morning man and veteran broadcaster was selling cars down at Korum's Puyallup Nissan, a company known for hiring washed-up talk hosts, but that proved apocryphal. Now we're reading that he'll be doing The History of Radio at the Kent Senior Center, 6p, June 15, 600 E Smith St, and introducing Karen Steele, Republican candidate for State Senate, 33rd district. Jesus, Siegel used to own talk radio in this town...

Tuesday oddems: dog poop, small talk, reichertsblog, reagan voodoo audionomics, sprince sprints, cigar show goes up in smoke...

~~How would we know which talk host in which Seattle music station insists on bringing her small, ill-tempered dog into the studio every day? You know, the one who craps around the management suites and has bitten people in sales ?

~~Reader John wrote to recommend Equal Time, which is broadcast (but not broadly) on Fridays at noon on tiny KLAY (1180 am) in Lakewood, Pierce County. We gave it a listen and  it's hosted energetically by a couple of very dedicated Pierce County libs- Frank "Motor Mouth" Blair and Audrey Chase. Audrey chairs the Democrats 25th legislative district, Blair is a local business man very active in the local Democratics. Podcasts are available at Democratic Radio.org. Check out the 2006/04/21 program featuring an interview with 8th District Democratic congressional candidate, Darcy Burner.

~~Ace blogger, and hard-working researcher Dan Kirkdorffer over at On the Road To 2008, has dissected Dave Reichert's voting record, and it ain't pretty. Republicans like and including Reichert stuck in swing districts, are scurrying to the middle in order to get out of the way of the Anti-Bush tsunami aimed at their fat asses (Bush got a Nixonian 31% approval rating, today). In order to appeal to independents and Democrats, Reichert's people are claiming he voted 55% of the time on the same side as the majority Democratic position. Kirkdoeffer says: "Problem is that almost half of those votes (206) were undisputed procedural votes, and hence meaningless when determining voting tendencies. Furthermore, his overall voting record has him voting 94% of the time with the majority Republican position." Read the facts here.

~~It's been heartening that KIRO's new schedule added the well-informed and amiable Ron Reagan, (m-f, 12-1p) a local progressive host doing local progressive talk, albeit for only an hour a day. The re-interjection of Dave Ross (KIRO m-f, 9a-12p) into the ayem fray has also helped. It's all kind of a push, since we lost liberal hosts when Erin Hart was riffed and Mike Webb imploded. Nobody much listened to Erin; and Webb did little more than pluck the low-hanging fruit of the Bush blatancies which are already well-covered nationally. Local progressive activists never considered Webb a local talk host. Democrats need hosts like KVI's Carlson and Wilbur.

~~Reagan's producer and on-air sidekick is none other than Sprince Arbogast, the weekend Metro traffic person with the made-up sounding name. She's kind of mysterious about her background, but she's been doing traffic around here for quite a few years. That she surfaced as producer of the hot new Ron Reagan show is impressive and she still does traffic in her spare time.

~~We haven't seen the important "money demo" yet of the Winter ratings book recently released by Arbitron, but Air America's KPTK in Seattle is pulling a respectable 2.8 in the 12+ survey. They're doing it with no local programming. It's mystifying why they won't take a big chance and hire a jock to do local stuff it's only money to be made...liberal tlk in Seattle? what a concept!

~~On May 5, Rush Limbaugh (KTTH m-f, 9a-12p) denied any similarity between his and Rep. Patrick Kennedy prescription drug problems. Big Pants was confronted by a caller over his acceptance of a deal in which he pleaded not guilty on April 28th to one charge of doctor-shopping to get illegal amounts of drugs. Limbaugh asked: "Tell me ... where they're similar. I had a problem. I admitted it. I went and dealt with it. I have been clean from the painkillers for almost two years and eight months." The Big Fat idiot got honest about his addiction to painkillers only after reports of his problems surfaced based on allegations from his housekeeper. Limbaugh said Kennedy's case differs from his because "there's a cover up" in Kennedy's case. Media Matters reports, "Yet, when the caller confronted Limbaugh about reports that the investigation into his abuse of painkillers had initially included, according to the New York Daily News, an examination of whether Limbaugh was 'buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring,' Limbaugh refused to answer, stating only that he would not 'dignify such tripe.'"

~~Remember how we complained about the cigar show and the wine show on Saturdays?
We got a snide note from someone over at KOMO: "And I know you have to hold your nose to listen to KVI, but the Cigar Lounge with Mister Anderson hasn't been on for weeks and it was only a half hour when it was on. Maybe it just seemed longer...Doc Vino aired exactly twice two months ago. We are currently in the process of selling the 6pm hour on Saturday to another show." Blatherwatch got the information from the KVI website that they had hurriedly altered shortly before writing us their petty complaints. May be they should bring their website into the 21st century as KIRO did a few months ago.

~~There's a certain guy in a certain Seattle music station who's threatening to kidnap and eat a certain small, ill-tempered dog brought into the studio every day who craps around the management suites and bites people in sales. Bon Appetite! as we always say...

Seattle Weekly: webb of deceit, paranoia and anger

IN A FASCINATING in depth cover piece in the new Seattle Weekly, Mike Webb tells more lies, proclaims his innocence in his fraud case; and expounds on his complicated and theory of how he was framed.

His former KIRO cohorts tell the puzzling back story.

Political columnist, radio commentator, and journalist Geov Parrish  (KEXP-FM Saturdays, 8:30-9a) chronicles his former friend and KIRO talk host who BlatherWatch exposed in December after being arrested and charged for felony insurance fraud.

Parrish talked to Webb for hours, and to some of Webb's friends and former coworkers; most of whom spoke off the record. He uncovered some brand new obfuscations by Webb, new evidence of his instability, and lots of new inside dish.

Webb's photo paranoia is notorious. He successfully eluded the SW art department's search for a picture of him, hurriedly taking down a picture of himself and Rep. Jim McDermott from a website.

~~Despite the overwhelming evidence, Webb continues to strongly maintain his innocence in his legal case, which goes to court, April 21. “To be accused of something, it’s devastating,” he told Parrish. Webb famously told The Seattle Times' reporter, Christine Clarridge on Dec. 22, "It would take an absolute idiot to try to defraud someone like that.” He underscored that for the Seattle Weekly: “Some of this stuff, it would take a moron to do.” (Beyond that, on the advice of his attorney, he'd not comment on the specifics of the case, although he couldn't help himself, blabbing contradictions to his previous statements to the media).

~~Webb has changed his story since talking to the Clarridge in December. He now says that he no longer thinks anyone broke into Geico or Washington Mutual’s computers, or that "it is the possible result of an insurance company snafu resulting from a clerical or computer error." He now suspects his own computer was hacked, and told Parrish he noticed other signs his computer was being tampered with. But such a scenario, according to a software engineer Parrish interviewed, has serious problems. Parrish: "For Webb’s scenario to happen...his computer would have had to be remotely controlled for more than a month, from the original May 20 purchase to the phony June 29 one. Not only should Webb have noticed, but basic virus protection would have prevented it. Any competent Internet service provider would detect it. More likely, rather than waiting for a car accident he or she didn’t know would happen, and rather than wasting time on an elaborate insurance scheme, such a hacker would have simply cleaned out Webb’s life savings or some such."

Satiddy oddems: dori gives up the habit, mermaids save KIRO, medved zapped and rezapped, erin hart gives the dog and mike webb the bone

~~Dori Monson quits smoking. We got it from about as close as you can get to Dori without sleeping with him. After realizing that a hit of the middle age mortality sweats he suffered was more than a piss shiver, he purportedly took three last drags and threw his last box of Marlboro Gold Light 100's in the trash can at the Eastlake parking lot. "He was heavy duty," says our source, "and it really weighted him down to be claiming all those years on the air he didn't smoke."

~~Rumors are rife- will KVI be sold to Disney? Some say the papers are ready to be signed. The entertainment giant is buying right wing talk stations all over the country. KTTH may be next, there's supposedly a deal on the table with Entercom, too. Disney Honchos told the Hollywood Reporter, "It's a natural progression- raise kids on Timon, Pumbaa and the Little Mermaid, and they're primed for Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity." It's a sick world.

~~Speaking of mermaids- Dave Ross lead story Thursday about the dead mermaid found washed up on a beach at Chennai, India by the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004, was the best piece of radio investigative reporting we've seen since Rusty Humpheys exposed Randi Rhodes' tax write-off of her breast augmentation. Seems the faux mermaid corpse was buried in the Mermaid Cemetery in Murmansk without being scientifically ID-ed. After Ross's hard-hitting segment, the body, reportedly stitched together from a monkey's body and a taxidermy-ed tarpon, will be mounted in the KIRO studios.

~~there were globs of butter strewn all the studio floors this week after the 9 ta noon shift at KIRO. They were reportedly spat out by John Procaccino after they allegedly wouldn't melt in his mouth. The janitor ladies were not amused, but say it sure beats having to pick up all the babies scattered around after being thrown out with Frank Shiers' bathwater.   

~~Michael Medved born again? Yes, twice. Fundamentalist Christians have been trying to convert the Cultural Crusader for years. After all, he defends them, votes for them- hell, he's just like one of them- except for one small detail- HE'S GOING TO HELL IF DOESN'T ACCEPT JESUS AS HIS PERSONAL SAVIOR! So when he finally got saved a couple of weeks ago by the crack Mobile Salvation Crew from Overlake Christian Church, the wily old Jewish neocon turned right around and got born all over again, this time as a blonde soprano from Cleveland.

~~Erin Hart, the former KIRO talk host started a doggie daycare center in West Seattle. She specializes in dogs of the rich; her tour de force is home baked treats and a doggie-cam so owners can view their pups from their office desktops. "I'm outa radio, she says, it's too ruff, ruff." She says that rumors that she and Mike Webb take long walks in the rain are apocryphal, but she would like to get to know him a little less. "He really got on my nerves," she says.

Who pays off blatherWatch?

We've been told that the conventional wisdom around KIRO is that BlatherWatch is paid for by Fisher Broadcasting (KOMO, KVI).

The myth is that the owner of this blog is related to someone who works for Fisher and that's why we're so nice to KVI, and so mean to KIRO.

While it's true, Blathering Man has a relative at KOMO TV; and we can't deny that KOMO radio execs love every minute of our chronicling of the missteps and peccadilloes of the Entercom stations; we have to sadly say, no one has even offered us a mug or a tote bag, much less a check.

As a matter of fact, KOMO execs have ignored our annoying e-mails like anyone at KIRO.

The truth of the matter is, this blog is news-driven, and no one can deny how much news the former top-dog talker, KIRO and its little sister KTTH has generated in the scant year or so we've been posting- such as: