Last week, for the first time in more than 20 years, Manda Factor drove to a different office to have her voice heard on a different station. After more than two decades at Northwest NewsRadio, Manda Factor is now the morning co-anchor of Seattle’s Morning News on KIRO Newsradio 97.3.
For Factor, she said the move was the culmination of a longtime dream.
“I am just thrilled. It’s an honor to be here,” she said. “I started in news radio 35 years ago, moved around a bit, and I’ve been lucky enough to be in the market for 23 years. But KIRO Newsradio was where I’ve always wanted to be. The fact that I am sitting in the same chair with really legendary journalists and broadcasters? I don’t take it lightly. It’s a big responsibility and I’m just thrilled.
“I started listening when I was probably seven or eight years old and so it was a little bit young to be a news junkie but that’s when I started and I knew that I always wanted to land a KIRO Newsradio,” Factor, who grew up in nearby Olympia, continued. “I mean, it’s legendary not just in Seattle, but across the country.”
The longtime Seattle radio journalist noted that situation just “fell into place” between her and the Bonneville International news/talk station. When Dave Ross announced he would retire from the morning show after spending the past 48 years working at the station, his co-host, Colleen O’Brien, also exited the station.
When KIRO tabbed News Director Charlie Harger to take over for Ross, it set out to find a suitable replacement for O’Brien, too.
But, as many have heard or learned in the broadcasting business: it’s a small world. You see, when Manda Factor first came to Seattle at Northwest NewsRadio — then KOMO Radio — her first board op? Charlie Harger.
“When I walked into KIRO Newsradio for the first time, I saw Charlie. He got up, gave me a big hug, and I thought ‘You know what? I’m in good hands. This feels right.’ It’s very exciting to be working with a friend.”
Factor joked that despite her familiarity with her co-host and the market, she’s focusing on plenty of things to improve her craft as she makes the move to Seattle’s Morning News.
“I am thinking a lot,” she said with a chuckle. “I have a lot of the old habits that need to be broken after doing the same thing for 23 years. But I find I’m looking at things through a different lens, obviously much more mature than when I started in Seattle 23 years ago. It’s a lot of focusing and following the lead of Charlie Harger … so, it’s comfortable. It feels like home. I know a lot of people here and they have just made me feel so welcome.”
Manda Factor shared that she hopes the morning program helmed by her and Harger is able to impart a fun, upbeat presentation to its audience.
“We want to just reassure people in this beautiful city of Seattle that the world is still spinning, that we’re gonna be ok, and get through everything together,” she said. “We just really want to be friends and have great respect for our listeners in this community. I hope that shows through.”
She added that the challenge of presenting hard-hitting news while still allowing her personality to shine through isn’t as difficult as one might think, because she isn’t defined by her career.
“When it comes down to it, I’m a person with a job,” said Factor. “It happens to be as a broadcast news journalist, but when it comes down to it, we’re all just people. So you can’t take yourself too seriously. Obviously, I have deep respect for the people around me and I love the job I do. But we’re all just people and I don’t think that you need to always take yourself too seriously.”
Seattle’s Morning News — anchored by Charlie Harger and Manda Factor — airs from 5-9 AM on KIRO Newsradio 97.3.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
