The Rick Emerson Show is a talk radio show based out of Portland, Oregon and hosted by Rick Emerson, Sarah X Dylan and Tim Riley. The show has been on the air since 1998. The Portland-centric show is focused on pop culture, and its listener base is largely composed of technology geeks.
Content The Rick Emerson Show focuses on politics, pop-culture, news of the day, music and media commentary. Though the show is not shy about taking a moderate-left opinion, politics was most often discussed in sarcastic (but pointed) criticisms of the powerful elite, regardless of party affiliation. Outside of the news-hour, politics is rarely discussed.
Listeners contribute much of the show content and listener email is often read and referred to on the air.
News The 12 o'clock hour is dedicated as From the Ministry of Truth: it's the Noon News Hour with Tim Riley. Most of the major news of the day is relayed to the listeners during the news hour, however, often Rick interjects his opinions and observations during the stories. During the rest of the show, news is interspersed, like informational bacon bits. News stories of special significance or persons often in the news are elevated to the level of gaining their own watch, complete with musical theme. Current Watches Common features of the show include: *The Watch - Any news related to Al Gore. *The Bush Watch - (Theme song to ) Stories related to US President George W. Bush or his family. *The Osama Watch - Stories directly related to Osama Bin Laden. *The Clergy Watch - Stories about clergy doing bad things. *The Penis Watch - Featuring stories of general injury to the male genitalia, usually self-inflicted. *The Cannibal Watch - Just what it sounds like. Stories about man-flesh-eating. *The Corpse Watch - Stories involving grave robbing, defiling, and sometimes - grave buggery. *The Snuff Watch - Rick Emerson's dysphemism to counter terms such as "transition" or "in passing" to convey the news of a celebrity's death. One of the most memorable "snuff watches" was the death of Mr. Rogers, perhaps the only time Rick Emerson weeped and cried on the air. *The Geek Watch - Stories about the many facets of Geek culture. *The Hick Watch - Featuring stories starring United States's hardworking rural & inner city's Yokel. *The Jock Watch - Humorous stories involving athletes and sporting events. *The Watch - Stories about Michael Jackson. *The Paris Hilton Watch - Featuring stories of the general stupidity of media's celebrity Paris Hilton. *The Watch. (Theme Song "I Hope There's Vodka In Heaven" by Nickel Arcade) Stories about Britney Spears and her family. *The Watch. From her cocain use to the famous marital beatings. *The Log Watch - Funny stories where logs fall off from trucks or cliffs and make a squash. *The Teacher Watch - Stories of hot teachers touching or mating with teens going through puberty. *The Religious Nutcase Watch - Stories of the overzealous. *The Sewage Watch - Heart warming, shocking, and relevant stories of regional, national, and international late breaking news related to sewage spills or damage & the people affected by it. *The Clown Watch - Terrifying and amusing stories involving clowns. *The Tonya Harding Watch - Stories about Tonya Harding's current affairs. *The Pope Watch - Partially related to clergy watch above but exclusively reserved for the pope. *The Monkey Watch - Anything from monkeys attacking clubs, to monkeys saving babies.
Additionally, stories about or by the Cleveland Clinic are often accompanied by a clown horn after the name of the clinic is spoken, every time. Stories involving Florida are accompanied by a short piece of the Miami Vice theme, and when the story involves Miami, an excerpt of Will Smith saying Miami accompanied by the same piece of the Miami Vice theme, but from the 2006 movie. Stories from Los Angeles are accompanied by a short piece . Tim Riley also narrates the The Top Five, a listing of five items, and an honorable mention, usually songs, that are either the best or worst of a particular subject.
Past/Retired Watches Certain watches have been retired over the years. *How Chicks Think with Jolie from the front desk (and occasional substitutes)- This segment hasn't been heard since the KOTK/MAX910 era of the show. *The Saddam watch- This watch featured news about Saddam Hussein. This watch was retired following his execution. *The Suburban Perspective with Scotty J- This segment has been retired with the departure of Scotty J.
The show would also often feature guests, many local notables, including former KPTV and KWBP weatherman Richard Nunn, Fairly Honest Don (owner of Fairly Honest Don's Machine Gun Parlor), musician Richard Cheese and The Oregonian television critic Peter Ames Carlin. Emerson's show, as a rare non-political local talk show on the air daily in Portland for a number of years, also occasionally interviewed local politicians like Portland mayor Vera Katz, who appeared on the program soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Regular Guests * Aaron Duran from Geek In The City and Film Fever Radio reviews films bi-weekly, alternating weeks with Scott Dally. * Scott Dally from Film Fever Radio reviews films bi-weekly, alternating weeks with Aaron Duran. * Peter Carlin is a television reviewer from The Oregonian that reviews television on a regular basis. * Dennis Pittsenbarger from Miles Around joins the show to discuss automotive news and reviews every week or two. * Mr Skin is an almost-weekly guest who reviews celebrity nudity. * Dorothy Carcicarie from the National Enquirer - Discusses the latest issues of the Enquirer and Celebrity Meltdowns. * Bruce Agler, KOTK Programmer Emeritus.
CNN Correspondents Throughout the show, CNN Radio correspondents call in to discuss current events, however Rick often sidetracks the conversations.
:Washington, D.C. :: Lisa Desjardins (formerly Lisa Goddard) - The West Wing Theme :: Dick Uliano :: Bob "Noodles" Constintini - Fanfare for the Common Man
:New York, NY ::Steve Kastenbaum - Star Wars Theme/Theme from Fish ::: Former Correspondent - Gary Baumgarten
:Atlanta, GA ::Ed McCarthy ::Amanda Moyer
:Los Angeles, CA :: Jim Roope - I Love L.A. :: Rachael McGraff - Twentieth Century Fox Theme
Special Events and Productions ===Ebenezer? I Barely Knew Her!=== The Rick Emerson Show broadcast a radio play called on December 21st of 2007. This play was written and produced by Rick Emerson and Joni DeRouchie and included a cast of regulars, including friends of the show, CNN correspondents and former associates of the show.
The production was essentially a morality play loosely formed around A Christmas Carol. The main character, Rick Emerson, is a workaholic talk show host, intent to broadcast live on Christmas day as he has his entire life. This, at the frustration and contempt of his co-workers who feel that his lack of a social life and insistence on working the holiday unfairly impacts the rest of those who do have a life and plans. He is taken to his youth where he missed out on a date with a girl who was a sure-thing, because he felt he had to man the studio. Then we're taken to a future where Timmy Ryan (another radio personality at KCMD) has replaced Emerson as a beloved host and program directory who allows everyone to enjoy their holidays. In addition, he is shown a future in which his wife is drinking in a bar alone, because Emerson is working on the holiday and she is the recipient of flirtatious advances by another man who chastises her husband for leaving such a lovely lady alone on an important holiday.
The production concludes with Emerson returning to present reality with moments left before the end of the broadcast. In a moment reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life, he frantically greets the vending machine and offices and rushes to the studio to let his colleagues, including Tim Riley and Sarah X Dylan know that they will be free to enjoy their holidays and that he is going to spend his with his wife. There is also a final included nod toward the audience where Emerson says that they know the audience appreciates them, loves them and that they will be glad for the hosts to take a holiday off, for once, to recharge their batteries and return to the show with a renewed vigor later.
Listener Parties April 2007, there have been ten listener parties.
Listener parties are thrown in area bars or clubs on an infrequent and occasional basis. Listeners are welcome to attend and local bands who are usually associated with or fans of the show provide some of the entertainment. These parties include plenty of drinking and socializing. Each party is themed with a title and tee-shirt. Both the title and tee-shirt design are usually the invention of one or more listeners, leading up to the event. Women are always encouraged (but not required) to come dressed as school girls or goth dress.
Parties are held on Thursday nights, so stories and events about the night can be told the next day on the show. The morning after listener parties, Rick is usually worn and the ragged exhaustion can be heard in his voice.
Common Phrases The Rick Emerson Show also accepts listener phone calls and participation. During incarnations 3 and 4, callers might identify themselves as "first time callers, long time listeners", which was rewarded with a sound cue of Phil Hartman playing Ed McMahon on Saturday Night Live shouting "yes!". Callers would also often finish their calls by saying "F-Matt with a (insert object or scenario)". This was a reference to staffer Matt Peterson's revelation that at the age of 16 he received a BMW as his first car that snowballed into an essential part of the listener lexicon. Alas there are several common catch phrases of the Rick Emerson Show.
I barely knew her Words ending with an er sound (banker, mother, together) are often either responded to with a digitized computer voice saying I barely knew her or someone simply repeating the er word with great exclamation. Often, both occur. Someone will say a word ending with er, then someone will repeat the word with exclamation, then the computer voice will compliment it with I barely knew her.
The origin of this phrase can be found in British slang, where to make someone is to have sex with them. Someone would say "Maker her? I barely knew her!".
Welcome to day twelve Rick has a habit of often opening the show with this greeting. It seems that he often doesn't realize he is even saying it, but it is a reference to Bob and Doug McKenzie's version of The Twelve Days Of Christmas. At one point, when they reach Day 12, they say "Good day, and welcome to day twelve".
Best ever The phrase is used by Rick or listeners after an extremely entertaining event but it can also be used on the inverse to mock the last event with sarcasm. ex: Best call ever. Best show ever. Best story ever.
Incarnations Over the nearly 10 years that the Rick Emerson Show has been based in Portland, there have been many incarnations. Below is a break down of these different versions.
Rick Emerson Show 1.0 Hot Talk 1080 KOTK-AM 12pm-3pm Host: Rick Emerson
Rick Emerson Show 2.0 Syndicated Nationwide Host: Rick Emerson Producer: Clyde Lewis
Rick Emerson Show 3.0 Hot Talk 1080 KOTK-AM 12pm-3pm (2001-2004) Hosted by: Rick Emerson Newsman: Tim Riley Producer: Christina Carlson (2001-2002), Sarah Dylan (2002-2004) Executive Producer: Matt Peterson (F-Matt)
Rick Emerson Show 4.0 MAX 910AM 9am-12pm (2004-2005) Host: Rick Emerson Newsman: Tim Riley (9am-10am) Producer: Sarah X. Dylan Phone-screener: Kyle the Intern
Rick Emerson Show 5.0 Johnson 970AM 12pm-3pm, station later became AM970 Solid State Radio (March 13, 2006 - August 25, 2006) :Expanded to 11am-3pm (August 28, 2006 - present) Hosted: Rick Emerson Newsman: Tim Riley Producer: Sarah X. Dylan Telephone Screener: Ritchie Bristol Former Intern/PA: Scotty J. (June 2006 - October 19, 2007).
The current incarnation of the show is currently podcasted after each hour on the AM970 Website, and the entire show is podcasted on a listener site, The Tegian Zone.
Rick Emerson Show 5.1 On August 28, 2006 the Rick Emerson Show expanded to 4 hours to allow for a dedicated hour of news, which before would be hijacked by Rick to have endless rants.
Rick Emerson Show 5.2 On January 19, 2007 AM970 and the Rick Emerson Show moved to a new studio. After-which the quality of the broadcasts and the processing changed significantly. In this version, Rick often goes on rants about how much he likes the new studio and ironically praises the engineers for the 'flawless' move.
Rick Emerson Show 5.3 On September 24, 2007, Rick returned from is first trip out of the US. He and his wife had gone to the UK for vacation, ever since Rick has been interjecting British phrases he learned while there, and continuously refers to observations of the British culture. As a result, many feel that the show has changed ever-so-slightly since his return.
Rick Emerson Show 5.4 Beginning on March 24, 2008 for Glorious Bastards, the AM970 Listener Club, and expanding to the general public on April 1, 2008, The Rick Emerson Show will be streamed online live. As a result, many listners outside of the Portland market will be able to interact directly with the show. It is expected that this will increase the number of callers, many of whom shy away from calling into the show as they wish to know what is going on with the show when they call in to prevent the flow of the show from crashing.
Isn't that right donkey? Developed after a hilarious news story about a guy having delusional conversation with a fictional donkey in court after being detained for bringing a real donkey into a hotel and calling it a "breed of super rabbit". This phrase was common for a few weeks but has not seen use since early 2007.
The Coffee Cup Crusade The abrupt cancellation of MAX 910's lineup caused consternation amongst Emerson's listeners. The change occurred only 2 hours after the Rick Emerson Show had signed-off for the day, and prior to the airing of the 3rd hour of the Don and Mike Show, an unusual move by radio companies. They began a campaign organized by local bloggers to encourage Entercom to return Emerson to the airwaves, dropping coffee cups off at the company's studios with messages saying "I need my morning fix, bring back Rick Emerson". These efforts were unsuccessful in bringing Emerson back to Entercom, but was integral in bringing them to CBS radio. According to internal Entercom emails, the number of coffee cups that were sent to the radio studios numbered in the thousands. The first song played as part of 910AM's new KKSN (KISN) format was Creedence Clearwater Revival's Green River which Rick will occasionally play after some technical malfunction on AM970, and causing many listeners to berate him ad nauseam via phone calls and e-mails.
