Delilah Doing Middays At Seattle Station

A familiar voice can be heard middays at a new Seattle radio station.  Delilah, who hosted a nationally syndicate show and was recently inducted into the National Radio Hall Of Fame is now playing familiar baby boomer type music at The Sound at 94.1 
This is a real catch for a local radio station as she is said to be the most listened to woman on the radio.

Ron And Don Humanize Tragedy On 97.3

They are often derided as sophomoric, but Ron Upshaw and Don O'Neil, afternoon hosts at KIRO 97.3 have once again become the go-to people when tragedy hits the area.  Whether it's the Oso Landslide, the Marysville High shooting, death of firemen, or the horrible duck-tour bus crash, Don and Ron have a unique style of comforting the listeners.  They do not report facts like robots, nor do they shed phony tears.  In my opinion, they have a talent for displaying just the right demeanor, while giving information, such as how to help in ways such as giving blood.
Often thought Seattle's guilty pleasure, there is no need to feel guilty listening when disaster hits our area.

Rick Carroll Left His Mark On Seattle Radio

He wasn't the most famous man named "Carroll" to work in Seattle, he really wasn't famous in the Puget Sound area at all, but because of the partnership of two of the most innovative radio people at the time, station owner Pat O'Day and LA based radio consultant, Rick Carroll, KYYX has a place in history as Seattle's new wave station.When I had come aboard at KYYX as a board operator, it was a top 40 FM station playing music similar to what many other stations were doing.   It had some of the old KJR DJs, as well as some other veteran radio voices. 
At a meeting at a Chinese restaurant (I think it was the Golden Crown), we were told that there would be a huge change.  We were introduced to Rick Carroll, who was program director at KROQ (K-Rock) in LA and told they were the hottest station in LA with a format known as "Rock Of The 80s.  This was a combination of New Wave, Punk, and a selected combination of other artists that seemed to define the young decade.  Many of the listeners of this type of music could be seen in the University District and Capitol Hill in Seattle.  It would be a huge change for a station that seemed to be marketed at the time to suburban housewives.
It was new and exciting, Carroll's role with the station was consultant as he spread the Rock Of The 80s format to other markets in the country.  The format was also boosted by the emergence of MTV, at that time, only playing music videos and becoming a visual source of new music.  After a few months, Time Magazine ran a story about him.  I remember him as a balding sharp tongued man who wore a Mickey Mouse wristwatch.
A few years later, I read in Rolling Stone that Rick had passed away, but perhaps had he not come aboard, KYYX may have become a forgotten radio station.

ESPN 710 To Air

The Seattle market may have lost one sports team, but they have gained one sports radio station. In the early 90s, KJR raised eyebrows by turning into an all sports station. They since have pretty much had a monopoly on full time on-air sports reporting, still going strong after 16-17 years. Now after winning back the Seattle Mariners, KIRO has moved it's news type programming to the FM band (97.3) and will change it's 710 am station to all sports next month.

My feeling is that ESPN710 will reports sports in a straight forward serious manner emphasizing information, while KJR will continue to be the "rah rah" entertainment approach. We will soon see who will win the battle of the all-sports stations.

Mariners Will Be On KIRO Next Season

The Mariners are returning to KIRO 710 next season. Since the team picks the announcers, the only real difference to fans is that you push one button to get baseball,instead of another. To stations, though it can mean millions more in advertising. If you are a Mariner fan, chances are that if you turn on your car radio in the morning after a game, it will be tuned into KOMO. This is a real boost for one of the sought after audiences in the business. KOMO 1000 is in the last year of a six year agreement with the M's. KIRO previously had them from 1985-2002. They were on KVI from 1977 to 1984. Incidentally, Dave Niehous has been with the broadcast team since it's inception.

How Burl Barer Got His First JR Gig

My cousin Burl Barer talks about how he broke into Seattle Radio