Ron & Don Show
| Genre | Variety Talk Show |
|---|---|
| Running time | 4 hours |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | FM 97.3 KIRO: Puget Sound region, Washington |
| Hosted by | Ron Upshaw Don O'Neill |
| Created by | Ron Upshaw Don O'Neill |
| Executive producer(s) | Tina Nole Jen Andrews Carolyn Branson Katie Sprenger Janel Koval Jason Stein Libby Denkmann |
| Recording studio | 97.3 KIRO-FM Headquarters Seattle, Washington 47°38′8″N 122°19′29″W / 47.63556°N 122.32472°W |
| Original release | May 2006 – January 2019 |
| Audio format | Monaural Sound (Mono) |
| Website | www.mynorthwest.com |
The Ron and Don Show was a talk radio show in Seattle, Washington. It aired on 97.3 KIRO FM from 3:00-7:00 pm (Pacific Time) weekdays. The show was hosted by Ron Upshaw and Don O'Neill. The show's cancellation was announced on January 11, 2019.
Hosts
[edit]Ron Upshaw
[edit]Ron Upshaw was born in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He currently lives in Seattle.[1] He enjoys beekeeping and has produced several instructional DVDs for beginning beekeepers.[2]
Don O'Neill
[edit]Don O'Neill was born outside Chicago and raised in New Mexico where he attended high school with Ron Upshaw. He lives in Seattle.[3]
Program
[edit]History
[edit]The show began as a weekend sports radio program on KJR-AM in 1995 before moving to San Francisco in 1997 where Upshaw and O'Neill hosted morning drive on KCTC.[4] While on the Flagship Station for the Oakland Raiders, Ron & Don hosted the Joe Bugel Show, The Tim Brown Show, and The Jon Gruden Show.
The show subsequently moved to Phoenix station KZZP-FM[5] and then Dallas' KYNG-FM[6] In Dallas, Don O'Neill hosted the CBS Network shows on the Dallas Cowboy Radio Network with Drew Pearson and Charlie Waters for the 2001-2002 NFL season. Ron Upshaw hosted the pre- and post-game shows at the first Dallas Cowboy home game after the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.
The Ron & Don Show returned to Seattle in 2002 where they broadcast the morning show on former Hot Talk station KQBZ-FM.[7] After a stop at WKLQ in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Ron & Don Show settled briefly at KKND-FM in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina destroyed the KKND transmitter. An opportunity to fill-in for KIRO-AM host Dave Ross led to a permanent assignment from 9:00pm to 1:00am in Seattle. In May 2006 their time slot was changed to afternoon drive from 3:00pm to 6:00pm.[8]
The program was live on-air at the time of the Seattle Jewish Federation shooting in 2006; KIRO-AM won a 2007 Edward R. Murrow Award for Spot News for its coverage of this incident.[9] The show also received attention for fundraising efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina, in conjunction with the Seattle Seahawks and the Preservation Resource Center, including a live show from the front porch of a rebuilt New Orleans home.[10]
In 2008, following the cancellation of KIRO's short-lived long-form newscast - "The Big Story with Tony Miner" - the Ron & Don Show was extended by an hour to its current time slot of 3:00pm to 7:00pm. As of winter 2008 the program was designated as the top rated radio show in its time slot in the Seattle-Tacoma market but in summer 2009, Arbitron's introduction of PPM's (Personal People Meters) dropped the now FM-only KIRO along with "Ron and Don" to approximately 15th in the market.[citation needed]
The show was cancelled abruptly by KIRO and Bonneville on January 10, 2019, which came as a surprise to both listeners and station employees.[11]
On May 17, 2019, the return of Ron and Don was announced on various Social media platforms. "As the radio tower dies… we now rise." Ron & Don Radio returned on Radio.com on May 27, 2019. [12]
Guests
[edit]Since returning to Seattle, show guests included Sig Hansen and Keith Colburn of television program "Deadliest Catch". Famous guests have included Jimmy Carter, Arianna Huffington, Colin Hanks and Bill Maher.[13]
Topics
[edit]The program was a variety talk show, dealing with a mixture of sports, entertainment and news topics.
Awards
[edit]- The Ron & Don Show was voted Best Local Radio Show by the readers of Seattle Weekly in 2008.[14]
- Presented with the Citizen's Award by the Seattle Police Guild. "The Seattle Police Guild honored the Ron and Don Nation with a citizens award Wednesday for the money raised with Armed Around Our Officers and for the phone tips that helped capture Christopher Monfort."[15]
References
[edit]- ^ "Meet Ron Upshaw of The Ron and Don Show". mynorthwest.com.
- ^ "WorldOfBeekeeping.com". worldofbeekeeping.com.
- ^ "Meet Don O'Neill of The Ron and Don Show". mynorthwest.com.
- ^ Susan Slusser, "On the Air:`Ticket' Targets Gen X Market," San Francisco Chronicle, July 4, 1997.
- ^ Robertson, Anne (August 27, 2000). "Channel 12 lands new morning show co-anchor". Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
- ^ "KYNG Dallas Midday Team Fired During Charity Event," Radio Ink, October 8, 2001.
- ^ "Ron & Don Set To Waken Seattle On KQBZ-FM". Radio Ink. March 4, 2002. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
- ^ "On Radio: Dave Ross reclaims the morning talk-show host duties at KIRO". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. April 27, 2006.
- ^ "2007 EDWARD R. MURROW REGIONAL AWARD WINNERS". Radio Television Digital News Association. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ Dave Walker (April 10, 2008). "Live from New Orleans: It's Seattle talk radio!". New Orleans Times-Picayune blog post.
- ^ Lacitis, Erik (January 12, 2019). "Not even a goodbye: KIRO abruptly cancels 'The Ron & Don Show'". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- ^ Upshaw, Ron (May 17, 2019). "As the radio tower dies… we now rise". Ron and Don Radio. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^ "The Ron & Don Show - Guests" at mynorthwest.com.
- ^ "Readers Reveal the City's Best". Seattle Weekly. August 5, 2008. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
- ^ "Ron and Don Nation receive citizen award". mynorthwest.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.