My Washington State TV and Radio Heroes

I am approaching 35 years in radio broadcasting.

What started me down this path of a radio career? The short answer is my love for all things TV and radio.

Here is a list of local media personalities who inspired me along the way.

Ray Ramsey - 1970s Weather guy on KOMO 4 News

Quick on his feet. His weather forecasts always entertained me.

Pat O’Dea - KJR-AM Seattle, Channel 95

Pat once promised that everyone attending the Seattle Boat Show in the Kingdome would get a chunk of the glacier from Mt Rainier.

'You'll get a piece of the very same glacier that carved the deep waters of Puget Sound' -Pat O'Day

 

What imagery. It worked.

Dave Niehaus - Seattle Mariners TV and radio announcer

He was the soundtrack to the summers of my youth.

The Mariners would routinely lose 100 games a season - Dave always kept it exciting.

Bob Blackburn - Seattle Supersonics radio announcer

He provided all the excitement when the Sonics won the NBA title in 1979.

Wayne Cody - KIRO TV and Radio sports announcer

I used to call into his KIRO Sportsline radio show as a 12-year-old kid. He always was respectful and let me ask what was on my mind. To this day, whenever a kid calls my show, I do the same.

J. Michael Kenyon - 570 KVI Evening Radio Host

Larry King’s Mutual Radio network show took hold of my imagination and inspired me to want to be on the radio. I remember listening to the night of this broadcast on C-Span in 1984.

But - back to J. Michael Kenyon. I learned about Larry King, whose show would begin at 11pm in Seattle, because of the show that was on before Larry - J. Michael’s “7-11 Sports” on 570 KVI.

Jean Enersen - KING 5 News

Our paths crossed, one late afternoon, just before a Seattle Mariners game. Jean got out of her car and stepped in front of me in the Kingdome parking lot.

Seeing Jean Enersen, was like seeing a family member. Her newscasts were broadcast into my living room for decades. I smiled and waved - then jogged ahead of her - to take away any awkwardness. 

Kathi Goertzen - KOMO 4 News

I cried when she passed away in 2012. Her life was taken early by her long battle with recurring meningiomas. She was one of my Seattle media favorites.

Mark Wright - KING 5 News & KXLY Spokane News

One of few people. on this list, that I know personally. We both worked in the KXLY building in the late 90s. I was upstairs, in the radio division - at KZZU. Mark was working downstairs at News Channel 4. He made it to Seattle and KING 5 TV. Great guy. Solid newsman.

Robin & Maynard - KISW, KZOK, KXRX, The Buzz 100.7

They still have an impact on what you hear, every morning on KW3. I loved it when Roy Otis, Richard Petersen, or Chip Hanauer would jump in to visit. You can still listen to the highlights of their show here.

Chet Buchanan - KUBE 93 Seattle

His “Aircheck sessions” of my shows - gave me the building blocks of radio fundamentals. You can still hear Chet - mornings on Las Vegas’s KLUC. He spends half his time in Seattle, working as the PA announcer for the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. 

NOTE: And oh, by the way - last fall, he spent 3 generous hours on the phone with me before my Wenatchee Wild PA debut. 

Don West - Newsradio 560 KPQ Wenatchee

Don West's supernatural power was his ability to compel you to buy a product. I wrote my thoughts on Don after his passing in 2022.