News of Dori Monson’s death was like a sucker punch of pain, leaving fans and friends (was there a difference for Dori?) grappling with the enormity of the loss.  On January 2, 97.3 KIRO FM hosted an extended tribute to Dori, hosted by John Curley. 

I didn’t listen to a word.  I couldn’t. Just thinking of Dori’s death brought tears to my eyes and expanded a feeling of emptiness that accompanies such loss.  I couldn’t listen, but I was glad it was on. I am sure it was hard for everyone at the station. When you’re at the station and on the air, you share yourself. The pain you may have heard in people’s voices was absolutely real . . . as was the love and admiration.

I used to fill in for Dori a lot.  Lately, that honor has fallen more frequently on the wonderful Brandi Kruse (another long-time radio colleague, friend, and host of her independent podcast “[Un]divided”).  People often think that if you fill in for someone, you know them well.  But I didn’t know Dori that well. While I worked near him and around him for almost a decade and a half, the deadlines of our individual shows kept our interactions limited.  Nevertheless, life is lived in small moments. And small interactions across our desks and in the halls, every conversation I had, in-depth or otherwise, confirmed to me that he was a good man. I considered him a friend.  I had two producers that were promoted from my show to his, and both confirmed what I already believed: Dori was a great guy.

People say “Dori was a talented host.” I catch myself saying the same thing. But that’s just stating the obvious.  We might as well say, “Dori walked and talked and breathed air.”  You don’t host a #1 rated show on a legacy station like 97.3 KIRO FM and spend years hosting the Seahawks pre-and post-game shows without talent.  I think what most people mean, but haven’t quite found the words for, is much more than that.  They mean that Dori was an exceptionally talented, unusually gifted, irreplaceable host who not only made them feel informed, but made them feel like they were listening to a friend.  And the beauty of it is, they were.  When Dori talked about loving his audience, he meant it. 

Brandi Kruse articulated some of this when on Facebook, after being asked repeatedly who would “replace” Dori, she posted that the answer was “no one” because Dori could not be replaced.  Stepping in for Dori isn’t like an actor taking over a roll – Dori’s show was Dori himself. It was his sense of humor, his joy of life, his frustrations, curiosities, joys and pains.  You could feel the love he expressed for his wife and daughters, his friendship with his producer, the compassion he had for those experiencing misfortune.  

Dori brought the enthusiasm of a sports fan into the world of politics and state and local policy. Most hosts with a political emphasis are serious in temperament and dour in expression, Dori had a gift of being able to deliver these issues as relatable stories of human ambition, ignorance, compassion or corruption as the case warranted.   When outraged, his outrage was real.  Dori asked tough questions.  He demanded accountability.  He called-out corruption when he saw it.  These are the kinds of things that leave some cheering and others cringing – especially if Dori was challenging your side of the political aisle.

A lot of friends and colleagues eulogized Dori with the caveat that they disagreed with his politics. Some have told me they are offended by that, but I don’t think the distinction is unfair. Some loved Dori because he was their voice for delivering messages with political implications.  He said what others were thinking.  That said, I think most friends and colleagues who’ve said they loved Dori but “disagreed with 90 percent of his politics” are wrong. I don’t think they actually do.  The probably disagree with a few policy prescriptions here and there, but not nearly as much as they might first imagine. 

Dori has been labelled a “conservative talk show host,” but he really wasn’t, at least not in any partisan sense.  Dori challenged wasteful and irresponsible spending, political lies, and sought accountability for promised results.  None of these things need to be partisan, but because Dori operated in Seattle, a town where the primary ideological struggles are between Democrats and Socialists and in a state that has had 38 years of single-party control of the Executive Branch, Dori’s challenges to people in power were almost always challenges to Democrats. And even in an environment with such limited competition, to challenge one side is to be judged a member of the other side.

Dori was a friend to Washington Policy Center.  He shared WPC work with listeners and interviewed WPC research directors many times.  It was far from uncommon for him to use WPC work to challenge politicians or other people in power on his show. WPC’s Center for Education Director Liv Finne shared a recent example in her tribute to Dori and I’m sure Todd, Jason or Mark could do the same.  I recall Dori’s amusement of how the recently-passed income tax on capital gains was being described by advocates, including the governor, as an “excise tax” rather than an income tax despite the IRS and the revenue departments of all 50 other state’s confirming it is an income tax.  Dori was amused both by the politicians and by many in media who were willing to go along with the charade. WPC CEO Mike Gallagher captured Dori well with his description of Dori as “always prepared, always clear, passionate, and unflagging in his advancing common sense.”

Dori was an important and unique voice for challenging those with power in Seattle and Olympia, but politics and policy was only a fraction of his show. It stands out as definitive because it is rare outside of niche stations, but on a daily basis Dori’s show tackled as much pop culture and human-interest stories as politics and that was by design. His producer, my former producer and friend Nicole Thompson, was careful to create the proper topic balance. Too much brings spirits down, too little and you’re missing the intellectual energy of the show.  So every day it was a challenge to be just right, and more often than not, they succeeded.

Frank Shiers, another long-time radio colleague and regional political cartoonist published a cartoon showing Dori standing at Heaven’s gates and Saint Peter welcoming him to “The Big Show.” I can picture Dori there, smiling, and stopping to talk with St. Peter a while before stepping through.

Photo credit KIRO Newsradio