Talker's Magazine The quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).
The Advocate No, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.
Media Matters Documentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.
Orcinus home of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups
Hominid Views "People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.
Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.
Howie in Seattle Howie Martin is the Abe Linkin' of progressive Seattle.
Streaming Radio Guide Hellishly long (5795!) list of radio streaming, steaming on the Internets.
The Naked Loon News satire -- The Onion in the Seattle petunia patch.
Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."
The Maddow Blog Here's the hyper-interactive La Raych of MSNBC. daily show-vids, freakishly geeky research, and classy graphics.
Northwest Broadcasters The AM, FM, TV and digital broadcasters of Northwest Washington, USA and Southwest British Columbia, Canada. From Kelso, WA to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, BC - call letters, formats, slogans, networks, technical data, and transmitter maps.
Plus "recent" news.
News Corpse The Internet's chronicle of media decay.
The Moderate Voice The voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.
News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.
HistoryLink Fun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.
right-wing blogs we like
The Reagan Wing Hearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.
Orbusmax inexhaustible Drudgery of NW conservative news
The Radio Equalizer prolific former Seattle KVI, KIRO talk host speaks authoritatively about radio.
Joe Gandelman is the editor at The Moderate Voice, a wry and respected independent political blog. Last week he drove up the California coast where the radio choices are none but right-wing talk.
He writes: "... unless you’re a Republican partisan, this week conservative talk radio seemed infiltrated by Democratic Party moles doing caricatured, extremist off-the-wall broadcasts guaranteed to convince independent voters listening in to vote for Democrats." You think the rhetoric, verbal extremism and unbottled rage displayed at Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s recent rallies is something?"
He's the libertarian (we always called him a "fuck-you conservative") who graced the KIRO overnight before they stripped out the live and local programming from late nights and weekends.
(photo by Jeff DeWolf: Lou Pate, metero/hetero sexy, sexy ,man)
Formerly of the Bronx, and the by-product of Catholic schools, Lou lived on-air for years from 1 to 5a serving the vampire and the
crack-head communities; long distance truck drivers, hookers on their
lunch hours; bloggers on meth; raccoons, rats, and possums.
Last week Dori Monson was ambushed by Governor Gregoire that is, called him without prearrangement -- and he's been bragging/complaining ever since.
We loved the whole exchange, it was great radio, and wrote almost lovingly about Dori for once. (It showed that despite he has a girl's name, he is The King Of Seattle Talk Radio)
We realized that one of the things that bugs us about local talk radio now that it's been dry-cleaned, pressed and all the local weirdos removed, is the absence of the unexpected. With just Dori, Dave, The Commentators, Ron and "I would Be" Don, there's none (save maybe Kirby of KVI) of the pure, local, slightly strange, one-of-a-kind hosts that promote (not always intentionally) that tension of the unexpected and take you occasionally by surprise.
(That's some of why we're hooked on Too Beautiful to Live (KIRO m-f, 7-10p -- it's feeling that anything -- though perhaps trivial -- can happen at any time).
BlatherWatch holi-diddled in Canada, a foreign country that fails to
celebrate Xmas with the religiou$ fervor that we all do. It's un-American,
and we told them so. The laid-back Canucks are so calm about the
holiday, the War on Xmas that threatens its very extinction around here,
rages on unbeknownst to them. We got caught up in the torporific chaos and
spent the Day of Days absorbing the spiritual seasonal vibes in the
prone position in a medium hotel with maximum take-out from Vij's. Our
favorite in the lavish gift exchange: an Uncle Booger's Bumper
Dumper® to be used on one of our many
hunting and camping trips.
~ How much is a Duckworth? the price may be going down. Paul
Duckworth, former KVI/KOMO Program Director, who takes some to the
credit for making KVI what it was, is retiring- effective
January 1- from DC's WMAL where's he's PD. He says he's "... always
suspect of any radio guy who says that he's going to retire... I could
never promise that, at some point, I won't re-surface somewhere in the
biz ... right now the plan is to sleep a little later, spend more time
with family and pursue a few things that I haven't been able to get to
over the last 35 years." Sounds fishy...
~ Fans of Lou Pate former KIRO overnighter can hear him live tonight in the Seattle market. He'll be
filling in for Husty Rumphries syndicated show tonight on KKOL, 9-12p
(1300 kHz)
~ Huck-A-Bee's religion problem: Will America elect another president who believes in Creationism? The stem cell-heal thyself- abstinence-only anti-science of GW Bush and the late, not-so-great, Republican Congress does't poll so good. Mike Huck-A-Bee, who can talk a dog off a meat wagon (and often must) is rapidly positioning himself as the compromise candidate, in a weak GOP field of presidential hopefuls tainted by scandal, unelectability, and weird religion. In lieu of a decisive Ron Paul primary victory, we say: Go, Huckster, go!
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.
~what a lame talk topic-24, the TV show! Last week, shows who oughta know better, discussed the thing as a political topic- Dave Ross, The Tators, Dori, and many, many more. Conservatives pining: If only we were in such world where all our fears could be realized! With the failures of those in the real world they once held high, and the crumbling of the conservative Utopia they've been predicting since 1994, many are roving with Jack Bauer in a hopeful land where killing a vicious Moslem to save America is always a good idea and nobody whines about it. 24 is all they've got right now- there's such reality in their voices when they talk about it! Like children talking about their imaginary friends. (Meanwhile, Senate Republican hawk John Warner, threw the The Liar In Winter and his surge under the underarmored Humvee today).
~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
IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES. Radio, in 2006, has suffered ratings declines, lost the confidence of Wall Street, and that of some of it's largest conglomerating investors.
There's a death watch on, with media vultures watching the breast of talk radio for its last heaves. Frankly, this ain't the first time it's condition has been pronounced terminal, and probably not the last.
Meanwhile, BlatherWatch has thriven like a little girl skipping 'neath a burgeoning mushroom cloud. By having cast ourselves in the role of radio know-it all, we crammed ourselves into a silly little niche than that no one else would cover, and managed to scrape together a small clutch of stalwarts who cheer us on. (Cheering on is all we need, now that we've qualified for food stamps).
THANK YOU, THANK-YOU, THANK-YOU to the tippers, the sources, the insiders, the threep doats- whose secreted, sensational and accurate information not only always checks out, but have made us more than just another screedblog or Air America fansite. Special kudos and accolades to Mike Webb, Michael Medved, Frank Shiers, the Ron, the Don; Dori Monson, Bryan Styble, Bryan Suits, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Tim Eyman, Tom Delay, Tom Clendening, Dan Sytman, Dave Boze, George W. Bush, John
The political hot-word for the decade thus far has been "polarization" - Blahblah-radio's bread 'n butter. Folks exhibiting said polarized reactions - real
& feigned - are flavors for every month:
We hear this ad nauseum in the blatherworld, but what about our own? I grew up amongst conservative
fundamentalists - my entire family included (yes, this explains a
lot). I still have friends that are conservatives. It would never
cross my mind to send them white powder, death threats, wish AIDS, or declare war on them. I really don't think it would cross their minds either.
Sure, a few arguments are intermitedly launched - & some
disparaging euphemisms exchanged. Yes, this does result in a few silent
Thanksgivings - but that's it.
Bla'M himself said despite being diametrically opposed to the likes of Orbus, Lou Pate, & Kirby Wilber, that they're all "nice guys" (paraphrased - sweet Cthulu, I sure hope that wasn't off the record, Michael)
Of course on this polar end, we have the aberrant Mary Matalin & James Carville
- working for their spouse's devil & married now for nearly 15 years. A more entertaining Meet the Press, you will never see.
So here's the
crux. Between cross-political relationships & warfare, where do you fit in?
Where do your politics begin and your relationship(s) end? (Where does "culture" stop & and " a war" start?) Is politics a day-to-day full-contact sport, or just a Star Wars vs. Star Trek fan-rivalry with different costumes?
Do you personally draw a line in the sand? If so, where is that line? (issues vs. friends, dating, relationships, or marriages) If someone crosses that line, what are the consequences?
KIROFM 97.3 Multi-format: news and nearly all local talk. This is where classic KIRO AM news talk radio went... hopefully, not to die. The home of Dave Ross & Luke Burbank, Dori Monson, Ron & Don, Frank Shiers, Bill Radke, Linda Thomas, Tony Miner and George Noory.
KUOW FM 94.9 Seattle's foremost public radio news and talk.
KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.
KTTH am 770 KHz Right wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.
KPTK am 1090 KHz Syndicated liberal talk. Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, Norman Goldman fill in the large hole to the left on Northwest radio dial.
KLFE AM 1590 kHz Syndicated right-wing 2nd stringers like Mark Levin, Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Dennis Miller and Hugh Hewitt inhabit this timid-voiced neighbor honker for your radio enjoyment (unless you're behind something large like Costco).
KOMOAM News, traffic, Ken Schram and John Carlson.
Joe Gandelman is the editor at The Moderate Voice, a wry and respected independent political blog. Last week he drove up the California coast where the radio choices are none but right-wing talk. 
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