Rick Emerson

Rick Emerson (born March 7, 1973), formerly known as Rick Taylor, is a radio personality most known for The Rick Emerson Show, formerly broadcasting daily from RickEmerson.com, and had been broadcast in Portland, Oregon, in one form or another, since 1997. The show was nationally syndicated for a period from 1998-2001^[1] by NBG Radio Network.^[2] 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.

Early life

Rick Emerson was born March 7, 1973 in Kennewick, Washington.

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.^[3]

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" ( directed by Joni DeRouchie), 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, California, where he worked as a convenience store clerk. KOTK 1080 AM Portland's Program Director, Bruce Agler, offered Emerson a job in Portland, Oregon in November 1997.^[4] He stayed in that job for only a few months before Emerson was offered national syndication. Emerson hosted his nationally syndicated show^[5] 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. Mixed with a series of producers, Emerson was finally with Sarah X Dylan in December 2002, as producer.

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".^[6] 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.^[7]

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. Emerson'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.^[8] Under Emerson'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, 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 Riley. On March 9, 2009, Emerson 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 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. 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, 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".^[9]

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 Live365 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. Cascadia.fm was sold in December 2011, moving Legion of News under the Emerson News Network subscription service.

On January 2, 2012, Rick announced that he would be retiring from the broadcasting industry at the end of January 2012. While the Internet station he started has continued, under the moniker Funemployment Radio Network reflecting the new management team of Greg Nibler and Sarah X Dylan.^[10]

Television

Emerson is the host of a Portland local programming for NW 32 TV entitled Outlook Portland, which airs Sundays at 6:30-7:00 am.

Filmography

• Remote Control (2004)
• Bigger Than Jesus: The Diary of a Rock & Roll Fan (2005)
• Rock Roundtable (2005)

References

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
• Mark of the Beast? - NBC KGW news segment on Horns Across the Hawthorne event.
• Radio Show Host Rick Emerson, from Pizzazz Magazine