[pdx_airwaves] Portland Radio Air Check

I noticed that in the last day or so I got five hits with the search term "Jimmy Hollister". At least someone is interested; I was a little sad to find that not many people seemed to have many memories of Jimmy's broacasting life here in Portland, and irritated that there were never any details on his death.

Perhaps that means that he died of 'natural' causes. Oh, well.

That caused me to do a bit of a review of the airwaves subjects that have occupied my mind lately. Of the subjects I've pontificated about:

Victor Boc: Nothing new there.

KEX: still the most listenable of the old stalwarts. There are periods when I don't bother tuning over to 1190; fortunately I have other choices at those times. I find it also amusing that the tagline for the listing for Rush Limbaugh says "Be the most intelligent person in the room". I've known Limbaugh listeners, and intellect is never the impression I came away with. Opinionated, yes. That's not a substitute, however. Paul Linnman is ably following Bob Miller's act, and is worth listening to. I still enjoy Tom Martino, though a few nights ago he was promoting this nutritional-therapy doctor fellow who seemed close to quackery.

KPAM:Only two reasons to listen during the weekdays; Bob Miller and Clark Howard. Bob's act presumably hasn't changed much; since I ususally listen to Morning Sedition or Linnman I've never gotten into the Miller on KPAM habit. Clark Howard is, of the two major consumer advocates of the day (the other being Tom Martino) the happy warrior on the side of the little guy, and as opposed to Martino has a 'ducks-in-a-row' approach to protecting yourself.

KPOJ:My most-listened to station. I love Morning Sedition, Riley and Maron have real chemistry, and it takes wit and charm to keep laughing whilst they discuss what they discuss. Al Franken is my current hero, he and Katherine Lampher also have good chemistry and Al has really grown as a talk host. Al's in the theater right now on a USO tour, so Joe Conason is standing in for him. I like Ed Schultz's plain talk, and Randi Rhodes just rocks my world, no question about that. I don't listen to Majority Report as much as I'd like to, and Mike Malloy is most entertaing when in Righteous Anger mode–which, given the activities of the Bush administration, happens often. The only weakness is KPOJ local talent, which is limited to voices borrowed from the other Clear Channel station-KEX-to do the news on the "Northwest Radio News Network". It gives the station something of a 'branch-outlet' feel. But the KPOJ hosts usually mention Portland in fairly glowing terms. Maron was pleasantly astounded when a flock of Portland listeners drove up to Seattle when he did a recent gig, Franken is very good to us, Schultz thinks we rule, and Rhodes always speaks kindly of us. They say there's now 41 stars in the Air America constellation. Who says there's no percentage in telling the truth?