Earlier this month, KIRO Newsradio 97.3 underwent a round of budget cuts that resulted in afternoon co-host Shari Elliker departing the Seattle news/talk outlet.
Elliker, who joined the Bonneville station in December 2021, was paired with co-host John Curley. She admitted she wasn’t surprised by the news.
“You’re always disappointed, because you like the job. That’s a disappointment, but I wasn’t blindsided by it,” she said. “I knew KIRO had had some financial problems and that there were budget cuts coming … I don’t believe it had anything to do with my performance or any problems with John, because we got along great. I think it’s just one of those things.”
Shari Elliker only had high praise for the station and its leadership after her departure.
“KIRO is a great place to work. Bonneville is a great company. They care about their employees. It was fun, but I was disappointed, because I wanted the job,” she said with a chuckle. “I miss doing it. I miss being on the air.”
“I loved working there and I loved working with John. It was a great experience and it was fun every day,” Elliker said. “I laughed. I mean, how many times do you get paid to laugh? It was, really, an ideal job.”
Elliker, who was based on the East Coast despite working for the Seattle news/talk station, said the time difference was a challenge in the role.
“They’re very dedicated to having people live in-studio,” Elliker said of the Bonneville philosophy. “So, because of the distance, that was also a factor,” she said.
“I was on the air from 6-9 PM ET. And then, of course, you had the prep work that you have to do during the day. So it was a long day,” Elliker added. “But I looked forward to it every day, I’ll be honest. I really did. You can’t say that about many radio jobs.”
Despite the manner in which she left her latest job in radio, Shari Elliker — who continues to be active in the voiceover world — said she still loves the medium and is open to what the future might hold for her talk radio career.
“I love radio, so I’ll look for other opportunities and hope they appear … It’s not so much about the hours or the whatever, but if you can spend four hours talking with someone and not get bored, it’s a joy. It’s great.”
“If I could do another show like I just came from, that’d be great,” she continued.
When asked what the ideal situation for her going forward would be, she joked that winning the lottery would be fantastic. Back in reality, she said that her voiceover work and spending more time doing video games would be a great situation.
“I’d love to do voiceover work as much as possible, especially the video game stuff, because that’s really fun,” she said with excitement. “It’s cool, and you’re not doing a long, drawn-out type of narration. That can be tedious … so, I’d love to do something like that, if I could.”
Shari Elliker admitted that the format of talk radio that KIRO employs is more closely aligned to her style than many other genres.
“AM Radio, AM talk radio, is kind of synonymous now with talk radio. They’re so embedded in that format that I don’t think that’s ever gonna go away. I don’t think that’s ever gonna flip over,” she said. “So, those FM talk stations, they really began gaining popularity in the late 90s. They were entertainment shows, they weren’t political. Now, it’s pretty much if you’re doing talk radio, you’re going to be doing political talk radio.”
Elliker said that while she’s disappointed she’s no longer working with KIRO Newsradio 97.3, she wished her former co-host John Curley and his new partner Jake Skorheim well.
“I’m in touch with John and I miss doing the show, but he and Jake are going to make a great team.”
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
