Ross is the most singularly talented talk personality in this town; AND he's funny, AND he's a liberal; AND...he can sing.

KIRO should be proud--but they won another Murrow they're not puffing about. It was first place for Newscast In A Large Market for a story about last year's Vashon Island oil spill. Why so mum? Because it was done in PM drive news by Val Stouffer and Tony Miner--long time talent summarily booted when Program Director Tom Clendening and Mr. Pridemore killed that very newscast in January.

Oops.

Some say RTNDA's awarding this posthumous honor to the newscast was to send a message to KIRO about dismantling its once mighty news gathering operation. These kudos were for last year--KIRO's so far out of the news business, sources say it's doubtful they'll be winning more news awards any time soon.

A lot of the ratings problems suffered by KIRO (locked into first place for years, and now stuck in 6th) has to do with, not only disastrous talk programming, but because they cut the long established noon and drive-time news hours like that late, great one by Val & Tony. It was just another gift they gave to Fisher's KOMO AM.

In a piece about the across-the-board ratings softening of Seattle talk radio, former Seattle talker (KVI, KIRO) conservative blogger Brian Maloney writes about KIRO's problems. The Equalizer and blatherWatch don't agree much about politics, but Maloney writes authoritatively when analyzing radio. Like blatherWatch, he calls 'em like he sees 'em, right or left. He says:

What's key to KIRO's survival, by the way, is not how any of the talk shows are performing, but whether the morning news program's ratings hold up. Recently, those had begun to slide for the first time. That's where the money is made, so any real drop there, would hurt KIRO badly.

KIRO's real competition is a news station, KOMO-AM, which stole the Mariners radio broadcasts away from the station several years ago. With the team not faring much better than last year, KOMO hasn't seen the big ratings surge expected, at least not yet. That's more likely to change as the summer figures emerge.

We disagree with Maloney when he posits that KIRO's overrepresentation of liberals is a major factor in its problems. He says it's a "sandwich," one conservative (Dori Monson) between two liberals Allen Prell and Dave Ross. We believe it's the choice of liberals (Prell's a disaster) or an ill-chosen time slot: Dave Ross is up against NPR's highly rated news, "All Things Considered," and a very well loyal John Carlson audience.
~~
Here's the list of the recent KIRO awards...they should be proud of their news staff's performance...(Memo to Mr. Clendening: don't let anything happen to Heather Bosch).

Overall Excellence
Best Newscast: "5pm Oil Spill coverage" Val Stouffer, Tony Miner 
Best Continuing Coverage: "Governor's Race"
Best Investigative Reporting: "Housing Discrimination" by Heather Bosch
Best Spot News: "Felon on the Run" by Chris Sullivan
Best Feature: "Let's Talk About Britney" by Tom Tangney
Best Series: "Citizen Soldier" by Heather Bosch
Best Use of Sound: "Dock Dogs" by Heather Bosch
Best Writing: "Wardrobe Malfunction" by Dave Ross
Best Website