Tag Archives: KOMO

Time to Say Goodbye to Something Else

There are some people I know that when I say, “9th & Madison”, they know immediately I’m talking about Vito’s.

For those folks, I also don’t need me to add words like “restaurant” or “bar.” It was just Vito’s.

Back in 1953, Vito Santoro and his brother Jimmie launched an Italian restaurant at the height of the Rat Pack era, with a cocktail culture that reflected the times, along with live music, and East Coast family-style Italian food.

During my University of Washington years, Vito’s wasn’t on my radar. It wasn’t until 1980, when I returned from my 3-year tour of radio duty in Yakima, that my boss–KOMO radio’s Larry Nelson–introduced me to this special place.

Critics of Vito’s complained that it was too dark inside. There were no windows. It was like a gangster’s hideaway.

And perhaps it was.

All I knew was that after working with Larry for a while and getting to know his routine, you could always count on a couple of things. Every weekday morning, he’d introduce Bryan Johnson‘s 15-minute morning report and then dash to the restroom for his morning shave. Another thing locked into his schedule: Fridays at 11:30, the “Family Table” was reserved for him at Vito’s.

I survived a couple of those lunches. It wasn’t a weekly event for me, but my liver still hasn’t forgiven me for the 2-3 times a year I’d join the party. Larry and his posse would sit around a circular table, order food, drink lots of wine and talk about the week or just reminisce about old times. A standard lunch would easily run two hours plus.

And most Fridays, Vito would come out and say hi to the table, sometimes with his wife Mollie, who had stopped by for a visit. 

Interesting to note: while all of his brothers married Swedes, Vito married a Norwegian. Something we have in common!

One Columbus Day, Lar invited me to join him for Vito’s annual fund-raiser at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Catholic Church in what had become known as Seattle’s “Garlic Gulch” neighborhood. It was a benefit for the Jimmie Santoro Scholarship Fund, honoring his brother that he had lost back in 1970. Resembling a scene out of “The Godfather”, I remember Larry pointing a judge over here and a politician over there. That was one of Larry’s favorite films and he quoted it often. For those of you playing Larry Nelson trivia, he claimed that Vito was his actual Godfather!

When KOMO decided to trim me from their budget in 1984 and I headed over the lake to work at KLSY in Bellevue, my visits to Vito’s pretty much stopped. It was a rare treat when I’d meet up with Lar and his gang again at the Family Table.

Staying in touch with Larry over the years, I heard about Vito’s declining health, which eventually forced him to sell the restaurant. Even after he lost both legs to diabetes, Vito would still occasionally sneak in to visit his former restaurant. He passed away in 2000.

A series of new owners came and went. While maintaining the name, it just wasn’t the same vibe. There were redesigns. My God, one owner even had the windows allowing daylight to get in!

In 2010, a couple of guys named Jeff Scott and Greg Lundgren bought this Seattle institution and began a major restoration of the space. For old time’s sake a few years ago, I planned to meet up there with Bruce Johnson, one of Lar’s good buddies, to talk old times. We both arrived, only to find that Vito’s was no longer serving lunch, only dinner.
I’m sure I remember hearing that the restaurant had closed due to a fire last year, but last weekend, when Bruce sent me some photos he had taken of what was once such a majestic place, I had to accept that it’s now just a matter of time before it’s torn down and turned into more apartments or condos.

Such a mighty fall from when it was THE place to be.

Yes, that’s Larry in the back left corner and yes, that IS a gun!

(one way to insure prompt service without tipping)

I feel privileged to have caught this place in the last stretch of its hey days. Besides enjoying that authentic Italian cuisine, I got to get to know Larry’s inner circle—the a fore-mentioned Bruce, Tom, Lloydie, Sol, Doc Peterson, famous Seattle lawyer Al Bianchi, and so many others.

It’s where the “Who’s Who” of Seattle would slip in and out.  Here’s a great collection of stories to illustrate what I mean. There was the naked lady on the tile in the men’s restroom. Here’s another great article that goes deep into the powerful and famous that visited Vito’s.

Besides creating such an amazing atmosphere and iconic restaurant, Vito was best known as someone who just wanted to help people. And, closest to my heart, he was a die-hard Husky Football fan. A team he embraced even before his younger brother Danny played for the Dawgs back in 1949. As a season ticket holder, he attended every home game for 32 consecutive years, his streak only snapped when he was hospitalized in 1979.

I definitely know he’ll be watching tonight when the Dawgs go for their 15th win of the season and a long-overdue solo National Championship

As for the restaurant where so many memories were made, it’s most likely on a fast path to the Seattle history books. Seattle Time’s reporter Bethany Jean Clement wrote a nice article about Vito’s that inspired me to drop her a note. I asked if she could shed any light on any plans for its future. She replied, “I know that some of the furnishings were salvaged, but it does look unlikely to come back as Vito’s, per se… I spent many happy hours there myself! Sigh.”

Vito’s wasn’t where the three-martini lunch was invented, but it was celebrated there daily. Seattle Mayor Charles Royer was known to be a regular. It’s where Royer and Senator Warren Magnuson had dinner to lament Maggie’s loss in a U.S. Senate race to Slade Gorton. When Senator Henry Jackson died, a wake was held for him in the back room. It was the place where Snoop Dogg and Dan Akroyd laughed while sharing a booth in 1999, both in town for the opening of the Experience Music Project. More stories to read here.

However, these days, it looks like this.

If I do an inventory on all the people, places and things I’ve been able to meet and experience over the years, I can’t help but feel incredibly blessed. I especially appreciate those special times I had a front-row seat to everything I saw happen at Vito’s.

But once again, it’s time to say goodbye to something else.

Tim Hunter

ONE OF THE TRULY GREATS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

It was the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was definitely a busy holiday weekend, but we managed to wedge-in a lunch with some friends at Ray’s Boathouse. We won the lunch lotto as we arrived on a cold, but sun-drenched November day to a 10-minute wait and seats overlooking the way, as we celebrated living here in the Pacific Northwest.

Our conversations went all over the place. From summer vacations, to kids, to the big event coming up one week from that day: Julebord, an annual Christmas dinner at the Seattle Golf Club which yours truly emcees every year.

While I’ve got a lot of holiday traditions (crafting the family Christmas card, writing the annual family letter, putting together another Ho Ho Brother holiday collection, writing a parody song for sing Alana Baxter and then recording it and turning it into a video), my duties at Julebord are a hoot. I start out the event with a monologue, then break out into some kind of silly song, and then navigate our way through speeches, performances and door prizes.

With Julebord taking place at the Seattle Golf Club, just up the road from our house, I dropped in some S.G.C. trivia–that former KOMO TV weather guy Steve Pool was the club’s very first black member. (he had told me that once)

A few moments later, I was taking a quick peek at my Facebook feed on my phone, and what do you know: a picture of Steve Pool came up. Seriously, less than a minute after I had said his name out loud, there he was.

Dear Friends,

I am here to share the sad news that my dear husband, my love, has passed away from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He fought this terrible disease privately for several years, and with every ounce of his being. He told me multiple times to “never count me out” and we never did. This past week it became too much and he passed away peacefully. We are so blessed to have had him in our lives. He was an extraordinary man, husband, father and good friend to many. Please know that he truly loved his job and this community and felt so privileged to be a part of your lives. You were all so good to him and thereby good to us. Our hearts are irretrievably broken. Please say a prayer for him and our family.

Wait. What?

Not a chance. Must be some sick hoax.

But as I searched Facebook, it was spreading like wildfire. Steve Pool had passed away from early onset Alzheimer’s at the young age of 70. That age gets younger the older you get. The KOMO news report confirmed it.

What made this so hard to process was that it was just four short Novembers ago that Steve announced his retirement. He had battled through prostate cancer and my thinking was, after that, he embraced the fact that life is just too darn short and it would be smart for him to spend more time with his family.

Now, to be clear, Steve and I were not best friends. While we were co-workers and acquaintances, but whenever you had a chance to talk with Steve, he made you feel like his best friend. Over a four-year period, we were both co-workers in the KOMO broadcasting empire. He was down the hall in TV, I was in radio, as Larry Nelson’s morning show producer.

To be honest, when Steve first took over the weather duties at KOMO, I was a bit resentful towards him. After all, he was brought in after the brass upstairs forced out that crazy Ray Ramsey guy. Ray and I had become good friends due to our mutual interest of insane humor.

But you can’t help but just like Steve, one of the nicest, kindest people you would have ever met.

During my days at KOMO radio, I had an indirect connection with him. He had one of those TV magazine shows called “Frontrunners” and when Ruth Warrick from “All My Children” came into the building for interviews, since I was such a HUGE AMC fan at the time, they did a segment on me rushing home each day to catch the show, and then recorded me interviewing Ruth.

However, it’s interesting to note that Steve and I were both Communications Majors at the University of Washington at the same time, but our paths never crossed. I graduated three months before him. Back then, the common thought for communications majors, you really had two choices–stick around in a major market, starting at the bottom and climb your way up or head to a smaller market where you would be doing everything, gain some experience and then return to the market of your choice. I headed to Yakima, Steve got on at KOMO and climbed quickly.

Part of what is inspiring this blog today is that we’re getting ready for the 115th annual Apple Cup football game between the University of Washington and Washington State University. Flash forward to my days at KLSY, where we started a very fun tradition. Around this time of year, we would play an “Apple Cup Edition” of our Battle of the Sexes game in the morning show, with special guests: Kathi “Cougar” Goertzen versus Steve “Husky” Pool. Here’s one of those battles I dug up.

As you can hear, they were so much fun and there was always a bet. This is us in the KOMO garage where my KLSY morning show co-host Bruce Murdock, representing the Cougars, had to wash Steve Pool’s car. (since the Huskies won)

Steve only made it to 70, but he had the accomplishments of someone who was 170. A Seattle weather guy for 40 years, for a while the go-to fill-in guy on “Good Morning, America.” Emcee, singer, goofball and a guy that loved to laugh. A complete pro.

Think about where you were and what you were doing back in November of 2019, just four short years ago. It was right before the pandemic that nobody saw coming, but it was when Steve decided to hang up his barometer and retire.

I’m getting that Steve really didn’t pay much attention to his Facebook page. The posts are rare and scattered and, of course, tapered off in recent years.

That week when I heard he was retiring, I wanted to interview him before his final show. He hadn’t responded to my Facebook requests, so I went through the proper channels at KOMO and requested an interview. The second he got the message, he contacted me and we set it up. I believe I caught him on the Thursday night before his final show and he made it sound like two old friends getting together to chat.

Here’s the interview.

And almost four years later, to the day, he was gone.

I sent him a note following our chat to say thanks for the time and for all the kind things he had to say about me.

Those were very kind words about me tonight, sir. Around the time we lost Kathi, I dug out some of those “Battle of the Sexes” we did with you two around Apple Cup time. Great seeing you again. Congrats on your success and for staying such a great guy. You guys have a special family down there. Tim

He never responded. I hope he saw it.

Since it ’tis the season and his family will be going through their first Christmas without him, I thought I’d offer up this little piece Steve put together for the holiday season back in 1984.

Rest well, Steve. You really, REALLY deserve it. But know, you are missed.

Yes, one of the truly greats has left the building.

Tim Hunter

 

Another One For The History Books

No doubt. I’ve lived a very fortunate life.

I’ve been able to partake in a lot of things that were part of a world seldom seen. I got a crash course on some of those back when I was Larry Nelson’s producer at KOMO Radio, from 1980-1984. Over 4-1/2 years of some pretty crazy adventures.

With KOMO Radio being “Your Husky Station”, I got to meet some of my University of Washington football heroes, like Coach Don James, his wife Carol, and the voice of the Huskies, Bob Rondeau.

As celebrities came to town and were up for interviews, I got to meet (OK, I’m dating myself here) Steve Allen, James Cocoa, Timothy Leary, Tiny Tim, Rip Taylor, Patty Duke, James Doohan and so many more. There was the time that Larry and I went backstage with Wayne Newton. Prior to the interview, a guy straight out of “Goodfellas” to me to make sure Larry didn’t bring up a certain topic. It was the first thing he did. The guy looked at me like he was about to ask, “What size cement shoes do you wear?”

I learned a lot about broadcasting, the history of Fisher Broadcasting and KOMO radio and heard a lot of behind-the-scene stories. I remember a fair amount. And a certain collection of memories were jostled loose this week when I heard the sad news that Vito’s Restaurant at 9th & Madison in downtown Seattle was closed and may not ever open up again.

One of the greatest writers ever to ink up the pages of the Seattle Times, Erik Lacitis, wrote an outstanding article about several restaurants in town, including Vito’s. This is where I read the news.

Before I dive into my memories of this legendary establishment, read all about the history of Vito’s from historylink.org right here.

OK, now that you know some of the characters, let me begin.

As Larry’s producer, we became quite close. We shared an office that couldn’t have been bigger than 10-feet by 10-feet and because Lar once complained on the radio that we didn’t a window to look out, a listener actually created a window frame with a mirror in it and dropped it off at the station. It hung in our office.

The daily routine for my 4-1/2 years was to arrive at 4am and start writing up stuff for Larry to use, or produce some interviews for him to air. Oh, there could be variations during the week, but at 11am on Friday, it was off to Vito’s Restaurant.

I didn’t go every week and looking back, I’m glad, because frankly, my liver wouldn’t have survived. For Larry and his Friday lunch gang, Vito’s always reserved the “Family Table”, a round table that sat 10 or so in the back of the restaurant. That’s where Nelson and his court would gather to discuss the past week, consume wineries of wine and enjoy the Italian cuisine.

Thanks to my occasional lunches there, I got to meet Larry’s actual godfather, the owner of the restaurant,Vito Santoro. A couple of times, I even got to chat with Vito’s wife, Molly. What a sweetheart!

With each lunch, you never knew who all would be there, although Lar had a cast of regulars that I came to know and am still in touch with to thise day. At least those who are still around.

Vito’s was dark, Italian and private. You minded your own business. My familiarity got me invited to a fundraiser at the Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church, a benefit Italian feast for the Jimmy Santoro Scholarship fund, a charity Vito started to honor the memory of his brother. At the event, Larry had a lot of fun pointing out the judges and politicians who attended the event. Enough said.

Ater my KOMO days, visits to Vito’s were few, far and in-between, as the restaurant went through several owners and fought to survive. I managed to once take my wife there, meeting up with one of the old Friday Lunch gang and his guest for old time’s sake.

A couple of years later, my buddy Bruce–part of that Friday lunch bunch–and I tried to meet for lunch at Vito’s, only to arrive and find it closed. They didn’t serve lunch anymore.

While it underwent some remodeling over the years in the dining room, the bar remained a trip back in time. Especially, if you looked on the photo wall, where you could still find a picture or two of Larry Nelson, from back in the heyday. Geeze, we’re talking 40 years ago. Wow.

As the years go by, I keep looking back and thinking, “Damn, I was lucky.”

Earlier this year, I wrote about another one of the restaurants mentioned in that article above, the Northlake Tavern, which I managed to visit one more time before it closed forever.

And now Vito’s is gone. Another one for the history books.

Tim Hunter

For Fred’s Sake

You’re thinking, “Wait, Tim. You mean Pete’s Sake, right?”

No. I’m going with the insanity happening in the Seattle media market this week and randomly tossing away the name everybody knows for another one.

The change I’m referring to is the call letter change happening at KOMO radio, where after almost a hundred years as KOMO, this week the station will be renamed KNWN.

Originally, I was ticked off at the current ownership, Lotus. But broadcast buddy Gregg Hersholt informs me that Lotus actually wanted to keep the KOMO call letters. However, the evil Sinclair empire decided to spread salt around the Seattle radio landscape and take the call letters with them. According to Gregg:  “The new owners spent months trying to convince Sinclair to sell the call letters. They wouldn’t budge, and it’s their loss because our affiliation was a benefit to them.”

Here’s the news story.

Apparently, one of the things that comes with growing older is you get to see the things you know get new names–Ernst to Lowe’s, the Bon Marche to Macy’s, Payless to Rite Aid, Weight Watchers is now WW, and on and on.

I’ve already blogged about the specialness that came with being a part of the KOMO family for almost five years. You can catch up here.

So, Sinclair gets the credit for taking the call letters and going home. KNWN is supposed to mean K-Northwest News, a phrase that KIRO has already tagged to their top of the hour I.D. as part of the radio wars.

But the bottom line–we’re saying goodby to call letters the area has known since 1926. Yeah, another 100th birthday we’re not going to see.

Back in the day, you wanted to make radio stations easy to remember. So, instead of four letters that all started with a K, you went with names that you could pronounce, like “KOMO” and “KIRO.” That would help them remember what to write down if they had to fill out one of those ratings diaries from years gone by.

These days, it’s all done digitally. People carry around something that logs who they listen to, so they don’t need to fill anything out. 

It saddens me to think of all that history that’s being tossed out. I haven’t been bummed out like this since I found out they were going to tear down the old KOMO radio building, that I haunted from 1980-1984. I remember my little office that I shared with Larry Nelson, the morning guy. Just outside of that office was a wall with a mural of radio stars who had been featured on KOMO over the years. The greats of the 30s and 40s. I believe in the remodeling, that wall was torn down.

With Rip Taylor in front of “The Wall”

It saddens me to watch a place so full of personal memories and that for decades, was a part of the daily life of people in the Puget Sound area. be relinquished to the history books. During my tenure, there was Brian Johnson’s 7:45 Morning Report (when Larry Nelson would head to the bathroom and shave); Bob Rondeau, the voice of the Huskies for so many years, was the “sports guy” who did the morning sports report; KOMO was the on-air home of Paul Harvey, with an abbreviated 5-minute early report at 5:30 and 8am, and then the full “Paul Harvey News and Comment” at high noon. I can still recall when we moved to the new technology, from a phone-line report to a satellite feed. It was like he was in the studio.

That was back in the days of “Destination Radio”, where people came for personalities and other things they just couldn’t get anywhere else on the dial.

KOMO was, of course, your Husky Station, which allowed me to meet so many of the Dawgs of that time, including head coach Don James. He knew me as Larry’s producer but would always greet me like an old friend whenever our paths crossed.

Another big phase was the arrival of AM-Stereo. It was going to change the industry. The announcers were told to start calling the station, KOMO, AM-Stereo-1000. I remember the big AM-Stereo kickoff event we did at some fancy estate up on Capitol Hill.

During my brief tour of duty in the building, I got to know so many people in the radio biz, as well as some of those fancy TV folks down the hall.

On the radio side, (and apologies if I forget you), Larry Nelson, Bob Rondeau, Gary Johnson, Brian Johnson (no relation), Dale Good, Bob Gillespie, Harmon Shay, Jim Reed, Monte Grau, Wanda Hutton, Pat Eisner, Shirley Thom, Kathy Cozu, Leslie Soule, Karen Heric, Rita Carrier, Bob Adkins, Keith Shipman, Eric McKaig, Gina Tuttle, Stan Orchard, Bill Swartz, Michael Hamilton, Roger Nelson, Jim Reed, Keith Johansson, Norm Gregory, Don Chapman, Joe Coburn, Jaynie Dillon, Kirk Lawrence, Rich Osbourne, Melody Tucker, Ted Garlatz, Jr. & Sr., and a host of others whose faces popped up in my head, but whose names escape me. Cut me some slack—that was 40ish years ago.

On the TV side, I got to know Ruth Walsh, Ray Ramsey, Bruce King, Kathi Goertzen, Dan Lewis, Dan Ibabao, Dick Foley, Steve Pool and others.

And two great engineer types–Stu Hitchner and Lloyd Jones, a classic character and brother of Seattle’s own Quincy Jones.

In just under 5 years, I packed in a lifetime of memories, not to mention all the life changes that took place while I was in the building. I was hired a week before my wedding and started after we returned from the honeymoon and moving over from Yakima. My daughter was born during my KOMO days, and I found out that my son was on the way the same day I was told I was being laid off.

If you want to read the adventures of KOMO in Seattle radio history, Wikipedia has a nice write-up here.

Management didn’t always make the best choices for the future of the station. It was the original flagship station of the Seattle Supersonics, until they let KIRO swipe them away. I had also heard a rumor while I was there that, at one time KOMO had an FM frequency but gave it away to UW, which became KUOW. I don’t have any verification of that story, but it’s a good rumor.

A radio station isn’t a building, it’s a frequency. It’s that place on the dial that you go to out of habit, so really, changing its name doesn’t really impact anything. When I go to AM-1000, I’ll be reminded of those years, of people who were and some, still are, a big part of my life and my history.

KOMO, I’m sorry to see you go.

Now, I no longer want to live forever. I just want to live long enough to see some company to buy out the Sinclair folks and re-name it “Evil Broadcasting.”

For Fred’s sake.

Tim Hunter

 

Apparently, It Ends At 65

I’ve had a lifelong love affair with fireworks. But after 65 years, I’ve decided to call the whole thing off.

Growing up in Southern California, I was there when “Safe & Sane” fireworks were all the rage. Every year when those firework stands opened up with names like Red Devil and TNT (I mean, how family-friendly sounding can you get?) we would all pile into the car, park in front of that firework stand and dream of getting the biggest pack of fireworks they would sell us. Well, that was the kids’ view. As far as mom and dad were concerned, they’d usually pop for a $15-$20 assortment pack that we’d fight over as to who could hold on to it in the car on the way home.

But all three of us–my two sisters and moi–knew the second we hit the car, dad just had to blurt out his traditional phrase, “I don’t know why we just don’t light a $20 bill on fire!”

I think dad secretly enjoyed lighting off those sparkling fountains and log cabins that smoked. There were the Piccolo Pete’s that would explode if you clamped down on the ‘t’, but of course, we didn’t find that out until we were older. Oh, and Smoky Joe.

You’d put something that resembled a cigar into his mouth and it would actually smoke. Very anti-climatic, especially since during those days, most parents were doing that all the time.

But still in the eyes of kids, it was awesome. We’d enjoy a whole half hour of black or rainbow snakes, a couple of fountains, some sparklers with at least one of us burning our hands and then it was time to pile into the ’59 Ford Fairlane or the ’66 Chevy Impala to go find a parking spot down by Redondo Beach, to watch the bigtime fireworks they would launch off the barge.

There was one summer when we made a family pilgrimage to my mom’s home state of South Dakota during the 4th of July. The reason I remember it is because they actually sold firecrackers. I had never seen any close up. A cousin quickly fixed that by lighting one and throwing it up by my ear. Gee. Great.

The years passed. I became more interested in girls, I went to college, took a radio job in Yakima, got married and then moved back to Seattle to play radio here. There was a stretch where, due to my chosen career, I found myself at those big public displays. There was the Cellular One Fireworks Show at Gasworks Park one year, where we laid back on the lawn and looked up to an incredible show. Same for the 4th of Julivar’s a couple of times along Seattle’s waterfront. However, the drawback of those shows is that by the time they’re over and you walk back to the car and fight traffic, you’re getting home at midnight or even later. I had a couple of those in me, but then we made the switch to the neighborhood displays.

There I was, married, in my 20s and living in a neighborhood full of 20 and 30-somethings, and boy, they knew fireworks. The annual tradition became gathering in the cul-de-sac and watching each other launch all the not-safe-and-sane fireworks we had purchased at Boom City, up in Marysville. Looking back, it’s a miracle none of us were ever seriously injured. Including that now famous moment when my son lit a mortar that tipped over and shot exploding bombs at the crowd as they dove behind lawn chairs. You may have read that an NHL goalie was killed by one of those this past weekend when he took a direct hit in his chest. He was only 10 feet away and never stood a chance. He was just 24.

There’s something about the 30-to-40-year-old American male that attaches celebrating our freedom by blowing things up.  As kids got older, lifestyles changed and we successfully dodged house fires by bottle rockets landing on our cedar shake roof, you just hit a point where, “OK, that’s enough.”

As a sneak peek at the future for my younger readers, there comes a time when the 10 o’clock TV fireworks satisfy your fireworks Jones. You watch, you turn off the TV and by 10:30, you’re asleep. Well, until the 30 and 40 somethings in the neighborhood get out their illegal reservation fireworks and try to out-do each other.

Our current 4th of July routine is to watch the Macy’s or Seattle fireworks, call it a night and then try to sleep through what the surrounding neighbors have planned. One of the jokes I wrote about this weekend is that 1:30am on July 5th is my favorite part of the 4th of July weekend, because that’s usually when my neighbors run out of things to blow up.

Every year, my wife swears it’s worst than last year. To me, they’re all the same. Geeze, one of them this year actually set off a car alarm in the neighborhood. It was that big of an explosion.

And then, if you have a pet who just doesn’t understand, I’m sure you have learned to hate the holiday even more.

It could be maturity. It might be burnout. Whatever it is and the reasons behind it, the whole fireworks thing ended for me when I hit the age of 65. Nothing sad at all about it, I had my fun, but those days are now behind me. I’d continue to ramble on about the topic, but I’ve got to go chase some kids off my lawn.

Tim Hunter

Spending the Week Surrounded By My Past

I’ve gotten on a recent kick of being sure to make every day count. Alex Trebek is the latest reminder in the news that our time here has its limits and we’ve got to make the most of that precious commodity.

This week has been chock full of little reminders of just how fast it’s all flying by:

Rip Taylor: This crazy funny man who made a living out of wearing a bad toupee and throwing confetti came into KOMO radio twice during my 4-1/2 years there in the early 80s. Back then, as Larry Nelson’s producer, Lar was on the air while I was down the hall interviewing guests and then cutting up the interviews to make it sound like Larry had talked with them. I didn’t mind because he was the star and I got to meet the celebrities passing through promoting their book or theater show or movie. Rip passed away over the weekend at the age of 84, so he had two decades on me. But it seems just like yesterday he was choking me in the KOMO hallways.

Peter Frampton: We’re going to see Mr. Frampton on Wednesday night at the Paramount. Hearing that this was going to be his last tour (yeah, they all say that but he offered up some health news that backed it up)  I felt I had to catch him one more time. We let Elton John get by recently because we just weren’t up to a late night on a work night and driving back & forth to Tacoma. Our justification on that one was that Elton will probably do a residency in the near future down in Las Vegas and we’d catch him then.  I saw Peter a couple of times back in college at the peak of “Frampton Comes Alive” and he put on a great show. We’re talking over 40 years ago and that just doesn’t seem possible.

Linda Botts: Linda has been a longtime friend, going back to my early KLSY days. We were on board the Victoria Clipper watching when they blew up the Kingdome. She was our “Royal Expert” on the Murdock, Hunter & Alice show, who would offer thoughts and opinions on all the royal goings-on in the Princess Diana era. In the small world of things, I knew Linda forever and so did my wife Victoria. When Victoria and Linda got together for lunch, she let it be known she was marrying a disc jockey, and Linda yelled out, “I know him!” Wednesday night, we’ll all be enjoying Mr. Frampton together.

Wayne Newton: I heard a radio commercial that he’s coming up here to perform at a Northwest casino and boy did that bring back memories. Flashback to my days at KOMO where I was Larry Nelson’s producer and we were welcoming Wayne to the Paramount for an appearance. It was such a big deal at that time. We were broadcasting live backstage and Larry was scheduled to chat briefly with Wayne.  Before we get to that, Wayne’s “manager” who looked like he was a stunt double for the cast of Goodfellas told me that Larry was NOT to bring up the recent debacle involving the 4th of July celebration in Washington, D.C.  You see, at that time, the Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, felt the Beach Boys were too hippy-like and so he replaced them with America’s entertainer, Wayne Newton.  So, I went to Larry, told him NOT to bring that up and sure enough, moments later, we were live on the air–with Larry asking Wayne about the incident. The manager looked at me with cold threatening eyes and I thought for sure I was going to be fit with cement shoes.  Somehow, I’m still around to tell that story.

Shirley Thom: Back in my KOMO radio days, there was a young go-getter named Shirley Thom who eventually ascended to Sales Manager at KOMO, AM-1000. This past week, they had an 80th birthday party for her at the Nickerson Street Saloon. More flashbacks to a time that seems like a handful of years ago and all the fun we had at “Your Husky Station.”

That’s Shirley on the far right (not politically)

All these ancient memories flushed to the top of my consciousness in the span of a week. The good news is I remember them all like they were yesterday and hope to hang on to them as long as humanly possible.

Oh, sure, this is just another busy, non-stop week in the life of you-know-who as I create even more memories for that little brain of mine to absorb. But while I live in the present, I equally enjoy looking off into the distance and being reminded of some other really good times in my life.

Living in the present while being surrounded by the past. Basically, the best of both worlds. I am friggin’ lucky.

Tim Hunter

 

Norm!!!!

That’s a yell that was reserved for a beloved member of the cast of “Cheers” on TV. But if you said that four-letter word among Seattle radio aficionados, there would be only one.
Norm Gregory passed away this past week. In this Amazon/Starbucks/Google version of Seattle, his name may not mean much to the techies. But Norm’s presence on the Seattle airwaves will long be alive among those who were lucky enough to hear him back “in the day.”

I first became familiar with his style and voice while I was in the School of Communications at the University of Washington. While I was setting myself up for a career in this field, I was listening to Norm live my dream.

You see, Norm Gregory, as much as he would argue against it, was a legend in this market. He was a familiar voice on KJR-AM, helped launch KJR-FM, was a presence on KZOK and eventually found his way to afternoon drive on KOMO-AM. That’s where I had the good fortune to meet him.

Now, I worked with a local radio legend. This was back in the days when I was the producer for the Larry Nelson Morning Show on KOMO, and Norm entered the scene when the station and their afternoon host Don Chapman parted ways. First off, I liked Don. Unfortunately, he was on the irresponsible side and probably never should have used that station credit card to fill up his boat, but his gravely voice and those Husky Hooper Bus Rides are pressed in my memory forever.

When Norm arrived at KOMO, it was a major leap for that MOR (Middle of the Road) station. I mean, here was this “rock” voice smoothly talking to the conservative masses in a style unfamiliar to their current audience, but it was a voice I was well familiar with. I remember getting some phone calls and letters who first thought of his style as “growling” and “arrogant”, but I recognized it as the sound of the cool, hip and all-knowing voice of the next generation. My generation.

I worked mornings as Larry’s producer, Norm was afternoons. Understand that, at a radio station, those two dayparts are worlds apart. As I told his brother, Brian, I was once assigned to be Norm’s producer when KOMO (because we were the Husky station) was lucky enough to be the local radio station for the final four when it visited Seattle in 1984. I showed up to help Norm; he didn’t need it. He was a self-contained jock, with sheets of show-prep he had written so that he was prepared his way for the broadcast. I handed him my stuff and just watched.

In radio, there are three types of broadcasters–the Self-Absorbed Super Jocks, the middle-of-the-road nice guys (and gals) and the quiet, inward types who turned it on with the mike switch. While Norm may have come off as the Super Jock, he was very quiet and inward. He was all about doing radio the way he felt it should be done and was a presence on the Seattle airwaves we won’t see again. Guarantee it.

Nice obit in the Seattle Times that’s worth a read.

One of the great voices in Seattle radio has gone silent.

Tim Hunter

Wacky Week Podcast EPISODE 153

Doing the St. Patrick’s Day episode, with everything Irish I could come up with from the archives. Scott Burns, Eric McKaig, Dan McGuire, Robert Geller–wait for it–from Emerald Downs and, of course, actual sound of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland with a little help from radio brother Matt Riedy. Enjoy!

Wacky Week Podcast EPISODE 132

OK, still reeling from the UW Huskies loss last weekend in the desert to Arizona State University. I’m taking you back to the early 1980s, the last time we beat ASU down there, with Larry Nelson, Bob “the Voice of the Huskies” Rondeau and a cast of several. You’ll hear a KOMO Music promo and a couple of Halloween bits we did at 4th Avenue North.