(After a BlatherWatch suspension, Billy Bob (whose name is neither Billy nor Bob) is back. We discovered that The Bob had donated $11.60 to the 2000 Dino Rossi campaign. Even though he asked Dino for a refund in 2002, we felt he must be disciplined. BlatherWatch gave him a two-month suspension without pay. Billy Bob is another reason to give us money. Read more BB here).
by Billy Bob
Sorry, it's been a while. But I had to run my lap-top back into Pawn-Fathers because I was running a tad low on chronic. But thanks to some good fortune at Tulalip I got my laptop and a pleasant buzz and I'm ready to tackle more of your radio queries...
Dear Billy: Help me out, who is Lou Cross? I'm new to the Seattle area and a guy at work told me recently that I have to listen to Lou Cross on 97.3 FM. Well I've been listening for weeks and they keep talking about Lou Cross, but all I ever hear are two guys filling in. Some older-sounding gentleman who seems to know what he's talking about, but he keeps getting interrupted by some hipster-wannabee who wants to talk about cocktails. And even though they keep saying it's the Lou Cross show, this guy Lou hasn't said a word. Is he on leave? Sabbatical? What's up with Lou Cross? Signed, Confused in Freemont
Dear Confused: It's Luke/Ross. As in Burbank and Dave. But don't feel bad, there's lots of confused people in Freemont...
Dear Billy: If I hear one more political pundit say the Democrats and Obama didn't do a good enough job getting their message across, I'm going to hurl. How the fuck are they supposed to get their message to the masses when corporations control the media? Do you think Dori or Frank Shiers or Rush or Hannity or Beck are going to give us an honest assessment of Obama and the Democrats? Is Fox News? Is NPR with their corporate underwriting? The problem is not that Obama and the Dems don't have a message. The problem is the megaphone is controlled by the corporate repubs! Signed, Pissed Off in Laurelhurst.
Dear PO'd: Hey, you got your one candy-ass liberal station on AM. Quitcher Bitchin'!
Dear Billy: When Bonneville named Tony Miner as assistant Program Director of KTTH, I wonder if you caught this quote from Bonneville brass about Tony in their press release: “He brings tremendous experience and, much like KTTH’s audience, he is totally passionate about the station’s product.” So, now Bonneville tells us that all this time Tony was presenting news on KIRO he was really a right winger?!? I thought it was all about the "liberal media!" Signed, Sick of Politics in Sequim
Dear Sick: I think it's great. In fact, I'm sending the T-man a box of Lipton tea-bags.
Dear Billy: Regarding the recent suspension of Keith Olberman for making political donations, I think it's crazy that we find out that Joe Scarborough and other TV types also made donations but they weren't suspended. Why don't you or Michael Hood or Horses Ass do a survey of Seattle radio and TV types and see what kind of political donations they've made? Signed, Weary of Hypocrisy in Edmonds
Dear Weary: The few remaining Seattle radio yakkers are all too cheap to donate anything to anyone.
Dear Billy: I have a theory. The corporate owners of radio are trying to deliberately kill AM radio. How else can you explain these kinds of strategic blunders: Yanking one of the nation's most dominant brands, NewsRadio 710 KIRO, off of a blowtorch AM signal; Fisher dumping the all news format after finally having several years of ratings success and format consistency; and the dumping of America's first successful conservative talk station, KVI, to go to oldies on AM. Signed, AM Death Watch in Dupont
Dear Death: Yeah, poor ol' Kirby got replaced by all that loud rock n' roll. But at least now you can understand the words.
Dear Billy: I'm a big fan of Progressive Talk and I love the hosts on AM 1090. But this past week Ed Schultz was really ragging on Jon Stewart and was very critical of his rally in Washington. I guess at some point Jon Stewart used some clips of "Big Eddie" on his TV show and Ed feels like it made him look bad. So now he seems to be teeing off on Stewart almost every day. I guess "Big Eddie" has a "Big Ego." Signed, Lib Talk Fan on Mercer Island
Dear Libby: You'll never hear that kind of dissent and bad-mouthing on Limbaugh or Fox News. Our people know how to march in lock-step.
Dear Billy: It may be too late, thanks to the economy and the internet, but what really killed radio was the bill passed by a republican congress in 1995 and signed by Bill Clinton. That bill enabled corporate owners to own up to EIGHT radio stations in a market. So competition went away. As did local ownership and most local radio. No more are there any Patsy Collins or Gene Autrys or Lester Smiths who are able to do innovative radio. So when a format on KVI gets dumped, or a station stops doing all-news, or when someone gives up on balanced talk, there's no local owner who can step in and seize the opportunity and keep other owners on their toes. You know what's really sad, now the corporations say eight's not enough. They want to own even more and with a Republican house, they might get what they want. Signed, Angry about Dereg in Lakewood.
Dear Angry: I ain't bothered by the corporations. I just want the government to keep their hands off my Medicare!
Dear Billy: I'm not sure what to think of the new morning show on KIRO-FM. This morning Dan Restione, their food critic, was on with Bill Radke and Linda Thomas and was talking about kids eating too much junk food. They must have rambled on for nearly 10 minutes and guess what? Popcorn Chicken at KFC is not healthy!!! Who Knew? And then movie critic Tom Tangney came on and talked for 5 minutes about a new British movie. What happened to the news? Signed, Searching for News in Tacoma
Dear Searching: Man, now I got the munchies for some Popcorn Chicken!
Dear Billy: What's up with Frank Shiers' 'bumper music'...you know, the music they play underneath the talk host when he starts talking after a break? Several times recently, I've heard Frank Shiers start a segment to the sounds of Fat Boy Slims' "Funk Soul Brother." Talk about a jarring moment. It's like the ultimate radio oxymoron. Frank is neither a Brother nor does he have soul. And he sure as hell ain't funky. Signed, Perplexed in Montlake
Dear Perplexed: There you lefties go again, calling a good Tea Bagger like Frank an Oxymoron. I happen to think he's a pretty smart guy.
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