Rick Emerson
Encyclopedia
Rick Emerson formerly known as Rick Taylor, is a radio personality most known for The Rick Emerson Show, currently broadcasting daily from RickEmerson.com, and has been broadcast in Portland, Oregon
, in one form or another, since 1997. The show was nationally syndicated for a period from 1998-2001 by NBG Radio Network
. The current show is subscription based, which according to Rick is so that the subscribers/listeners are in control of the show, instead of corporations who don't get the show and only see it as a line item on a budget. In addition to The Rick Emerson Show, Rick is also the host of Legion of News (LoN), available on Cascadia.fm (formerly PDX.FM) from noon to 1pm. He is ably assisted on both shows by his co-host Dawn Taylor, a Portland journalist. Rick also hosts Outlook Portland a public affairs show that airs at 6:30 am Sundays on NW 32 TV
. Emerson has also co-authored a book, with CNN Radio correspondent Lisa Desjardins titled Zombie Economics, released May 3, 2011.
.
At age 14 he began volunteering at a local radio station. After graduating fourth-to-last in his high school class, he moved to Spokane, Washington
, where he eventually landed his first talk show
, broadcasting from a bomb shelter in the basement of the station's building. During this time he managed to earn a small, but loyal following. For many years listeners knew him as Rick Taylor, a last name that he picked out of a phone-book at the beginning of his career. During this time, Emerson was arrested after being pulled over for a broken tail-light due to a bench warrant issued after he forgot to pay the last $10 on a traffic ticket.
He was promoted to a position broadcasting during the afternoon drive in Salt Lake City where he co-hosted a show with Clyde Lewis
. He became Program Director of KCNR in Salt Lake and helped create one of the most popular radio stations in Utah
. KCNR was flipped to Radio Disney in 1997, with no warning, leaving Emerson without a microphone. According to his semi-biography "Bigger Than Jesus", he found out about KCNR's new programming by tuning in one morning while getting ready for work, and finding it playing music, followed by Radio Disney liners.
where he worked as a convenience store clerk. KOTK 1080AM Portland Program Director, Bruce Agler, offered Emerson a job in Portland, Oregon in November 1997. He stayed in that job for only a few months before Emerson was offered national syndication. Emerson hosted his nationally syndicated show, for three years until he was again fired. Emerson was rehired by KOTK in the summer of 2001, and was soon paired with Tim Riley
, a veteran broadcaster who brought a unique style of news coverage to his show. Mixed with a series of producers, Emerson was finally with Sarah X Dylan
in December 2002, as producer. Rick often considers the day that Sarah joined the show to be the turning point that allowed for the show's success.
Emerson's program and cast has been subject to the fluctuations of the Portland radio market. There have been three significant periods where Emerson was off the air. First was the "unpleasantness" that occurred between Emerson's syndicated show and his transition back to Hot Talk 1080, KOTK. A second gap occurred after the show was pulled off the air by Entercom, which spawned the "coffee cup crusade". The show's listeners, incensed that the show had been taken off the air, deluged the Portland headquarters of Entercom with coffee cups to show their support for Emerson.
CBS Radio, reacting in part to the strength of support for Emerson throughout the metro area, decided to give Emerson an opportunity to re-tool Johnson 970, an all-comedy radio station. Broadcasting from "the plushly appointed but not overly ostentatious studios high atop the bottom of the KOIN tower", Emerson was back on the air with producer Sarah X. Dylan and Tim Riley. Within months, the station was retooled as "AM 970, Solid State Radio" and took on a line-up of syndicated broadcasts from around the country, including Tom Leykis
and Phil Hendrie
, both of whose programs had been previously paired with Emerson on other stations. Rick's fans are loyal, as evidenced by a May 2008 listener party, where friends of his show and listeners held a roast
in his honor. Under Rick's leadership, KCMD-AM became a talk powerhouse, and changed its name to "The Talker" in mid-2008. After a seven year run with the program, Mr. Riley was laid-off from the program after December 8, 2008 as CBS Portland went through a series of staff reductions. In order to continue to feature news on the show, Emerson invited many other laid-off Portland media personalities to fill-in for Tim. On March 9, 2009 Rick announced that the show would be moving from KCMD's midday slot to sister station KUFO-FM's morning slot beginning on March 12. It was simultaneously announced that Tim Riley would be returning to the show under his former capacity. As part of the move, Emerson would no longer be Program Director of KCMD, that job would instead go to KUFO Program Director Chris Patyk. The new show on KUFO has received low marks from Emerson's long time fans. Some even going so far as to not even bother listening any more. The consenus is that what once was a unique, funny show is now a formulaic and boring "Morning Zoo." A website had even been formed to attempt to reform the show, it an incarnation similar to the AM970 version. This site has had some moderate success, as musical breaks have become shorter, the content of the show, more substantial, and news, more prevalent. Emerson was also program director for AM 970 while his show was on the station. He gave up the position when the show moved to KUFO FM 101.1. On October 23, 2009, Rick Emerson was canceled, along with other programming, by KUFO-FM's parent company Alpha Broadcasting. In a blog post to fans on his website, Emerson asked them to "please forgo the gathering of coffee cups", alluding to the previous "Coffee Cup Crusade".
from RickEmersonShow.com and requires a $6.99/month subscription. According to Emerson, both shows are widely listened to, including listeners from all over the world.
entitled Outlook Portland, which airs Sundays at 6:30-7:00 am.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, in one form or another, since 1997. The show was nationally syndicated for a period from 1998-2001 by NBG Radio Network
NBG Radio Network
NBG Radio Network was an American radio network. The Portland, Oregon based company created, produced, distributed and marketed ad time for nationally syndicated radio programs. At its peak, the company offered 30 programs and over 1,800 radio station affiliates...
. The current show is subscription based, which according to Rick is so that the subscribers/listeners are in control of the show, instead of corporations who don't get the show and only see it as a line item on a budget. In addition to The Rick Emerson Show, Rick is also the host of Legion of News (LoN), available on Cascadia.fm (formerly PDX.FM) from noon to 1pm. He is ably assisted on both shows by his co-host Dawn Taylor, a Portland journalist. Rick also hosts Outlook Portland a public affairs show that airs at 6:30 am Sundays on NW 32 TV
KRCW-TV
KRCW-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for Portland, Oregon that is licensed to Salem. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter in the Sylvan-Highlands section of Portland. Owned by the Tribune Company, KRCW has studios on Southwest Arctic Drive...
. Emerson has also co-authored a book, with CNN Radio correspondent Lisa Desjardins titled Zombie Economics, released May 3, 2011.
Early life
Rick Emerson was born March 7, 1973 in Kennewick, WashingtonKennewick, Washington
Kennewick is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, near the Hanford nuclear site. It is the most populous of the three cities collectively referred to as the Tri-Cities...
.
At age 14 he began volunteering at a local radio station. After graduating fourth-to-last in his high school class, he moved to Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, where he eventually landed his first talk show
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
, broadcasting from a bomb shelter in the basement of the station's building. During this time he managed to earn a small, but loyal following. For many years listeners knew him as Rick Taylor, a last name that he picked out of a phone-book at the beginning of his career. During this time, Emerson was arrested after being pulled over for a broken tail-light due to a bench warrant issued after he forgot to pay the last $10 on a traffic ticket.
He was promoted to a position broadcasting during the afternoon drive in Salt Lake City where he co-hosted a show with Clyde Lewis
Clyde Lewis
Clyde Lewis is a talk radio personality and actor. He is the creator and host of Ground Zero, a talk radio show dealing with paranormal and parapolitical topics....
. He became Program Director of KCNR in Salt Lake and helped create one of the most popular radio stations in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. KCNR was flipped to Radio Disney in 1997, with no warning, leaving Emerson without a microphone. According to his semi-biography "Bigger Than Jesus", he found out about KCNR's new programming by tuning in one morning while getting ready for work, and finding it playing music, followed by Radio Disney liners.
The Rick Emerson Show
Emerson then moved to San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
where he worked as a convenience store clerk. KOTK 1080AM Portland Program Director, Bruce Agler, offered Emerson a job in Portland, Oregon in November 1997. He stayed in that job for only a few months before Emerson was offered national syndication. Emerson hosted his nationally syndicated show, for three years until he was again fired. Emerson was rehired by KOTK in the summer of 2001, and was soon paired with Tim Riley
Tim Riley
Tim Riley is a Northwest media personality in Portland, Oregon. He is currently an Anchor/Reporter with AM 860 and KKOV, Portland Oregon. He served as News Director/Anchor for Hot Talk 1080 KOTK, Max 910 during Imus In The Morning, and KUFO during The Rick Emerson Show from 2001 until 2009...
, a veteran broadcaster who brought a unique style of news coverage to his show. Mixed with a series of producers, Emerson was finally with Sarah X Dylan
Sarah X Dylan
Sarah X Dylan is an American radio producer and talk show co-host. Formerly of the The Rick Emerson Show and KOIN-TV, and current co-host of Funemployment Radio, and is based in Portland, Oregon...
in December 2002, as producer. Rick often considers the day that Sarah joined the show to be the turning point that allowed for the show's success.
Emerson's program and cast has been subject to the fluctuations of the Portland radio market. There have been three significant periods where Emerson was off the air. First was the "unpleasantness" that occurred between Emerson's syndicated show and his transition back to Hot Talk 1080, KOTK. A second gap occurred after the show was pulled off the air by Entercom, which spawned the "coffee cup crusade". The show's listeners, incensed that the show had been taken off the air, deluged the Portland headquarters of Entercom with coffee cups to show their support for Emerson.
CBS Radio, reacting in part to the strength of support for Emerson throughout the metro area, decided to give Emerson an opportunity to re-tool Johnson 970, an all-comedy radio station. Broadcasting from "the plushly appointed but not overly ostentatious studios high atop the bottom of the KOIN tower", Emerson was back on the air with producer Sarah X. Dylan and Tim Riley. Within months, the station was retooled as "AM 970, Solid State Radio" and took on a line-up of syndicated broadcasts from around the country, including Tom Leykis
Tom Leykis
Thomas Joseph Leykis is an American radio personality. He currently hosts The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis, a weekly lifestyle program dealing with fine food and drink, airing weekends mainly in West Coast markets...
and Phil Hendrie
Phil Hendrie
Philip Stephen Hendrie is an American radio personality. He is best known as the host of The Phil Hendrie Show, a comedy talk radio program that is syndicated throughout North America on Talk Radio Network...
, both of whose programs had been previously paired with Emerson on other stations. Rick's fans are loyal, as evidenced by a May 2008 listener party, where friends of his show and listeners held a roast
Roast (comedy)
A roast is an event in which an individual is subjected to a public presentation of comedic insults, praise, outlandish true and untrue stories, and heartwarming tributes, the implication being that the roastee is able to take the jokes in good humor and not as serious criticism or insult, and...
in his honor. Under Rick's leadership, KCMD-AM became a talk powerhouse, and changed its name to "The Talker" in mid-2008. After a seven year run with the program, Mr. Riley was laid-off from the program after December 8, 2008 as CBS Portland went through a series of staff reductions. In order to continue to feature news on the show, Emerson invited many other laid-off Portland media personalities to fill-in for Tim. On March 9, 2009 Rick announced that the show would be moving from KCMD's midday slot to sister station KUFO-FM's morning slot beginning on March 12. It was simultaneously announced that Tim Riley would be returning to the show under his former capacity. As part of the move, Emerson would no longer be Program Director of KCMD, that job would instead go to KUFO Program Director Chris Patyk. The new show on KUFO has received low marks from Emerson's long time fans. Some even going so far as to not even bother listening any more. The consenus is that what once was a unique, funny show is now a formulaic and boring "Morning Zoo." A website had even been formed to attempt to reform the show, it an incarnation similar to the AM970 version. This site has had some moderate success, as musical breaks have become shorter, the content of the show, more substantial, and news, more prevalent. Emerson was also program director for AM 970 while his show was on the station. He gave up the position when the show moved to KUFO FM 101.1. On October 23, 2009, Rick Emerson was canceled, along with other programming, by KUFO-FM's parent company Alpha Broadcasting. In a blog post to fans on his website, Emerson asked them to "please forgo the gathering of coffee cups", alluding to the previous "Coffee Cup Crusade".
Internet Broadcasting
Rick, along with Dawn Taylor and his old KOTK program director Bruce Agler began building the Emerson News Network in May 2010. Rick called in the expertise of members of his audience, many of whom had continued to support him through his unemployment, in order to build the new network. June 14, 2010 brought Emerson to guest on the Cort and Fatboy Show on pdx.fm. He used his guest appearance to announce his intentions to launch his new network on June 21. He outlined his plan to host two shows. The first being Legion of News, which is structured much like the 'news hour' of his previous shows, however without his many diatribes. The second show, dubbed The Rick Emerson Show, will continue with news stories, along with guests, observations, and audience interaction. Legion of News is broadcast weekdays from 12 Noon to 1 PM on Cascadia.fm. The Rick Emerson Show is broadcast via Live365Live365
Live365 is an Internet radio network where members can create their own online radio station or listen to other Live365 broadcasters' online stations. As of October 2006, there were about 6,500 active stations, some of which play niche genres seldom heard on AM/FM radio...
from RickEmersonShow.com and requires a $6.99/month subscription. According to Emerson, both shows are widely listened to, including listeners from all over the world.
Television
Emerson is the host of a Portland local programming for NW 32 TVKRCW-TV
KRCW-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for Portland, Oregon that is licensed to Salem. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 33 from a transmitter in the Sylvan-Highlands section of Portland. Owned by the Tribune Company, KRCW has studios on Southwest Arctic Drive...
entitled Outlook Portland, which airs Sundays at 6:30-7:00 am.
Filmography
- Remote Control (20042004 in filmThe year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
) - Bigger Than Jesus: The Diary of a Rock & Roll Fan (20052005 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
) - Rock Roundtable (20052005 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
)
External links
- Rick Emerson's Website The Landing Page for The Rick Emerson Show, Legion of News, and Outlook Portland
- The Rick Emerson Show Website Official Page for The Rick Emerson Show
- Legion of News Website Official Site of Legion of News
- The Official Bigger Than Jesus Website
- Commercial-Free Podcasts of the AM970/KUFO versions of the Rick Emerson Show
- Episode Minutes
- The Wonderstrucks Website
- Return of the Pleasantness - Willamette Week
- The Bottom Line Brigade: Fan Movement
- Cascadia.fm