Celebrating his golden anniversary in radio, 101 KXL host Lars Larson is starting 2025 off in a big way. The legendary host is rated #3 in Barrett News Media’s Top 20 for a Mid-Market Midday Shows.
It all started in Tillamook, Oregon.
“While I was in high school, they had an internship for three months and there were three of us in the internship,” Larson recalled, “At the end of that, they came to me and said, ‘Would you like a part time job?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ So I went to work at the radio station when I was 16.”
It wasn’t a career, yet. But it did keep the teen Larson busy, often working after a full day at school. “I usually did evenings, but if they had me fill in on mornings, I’d go and do the show and then leave and go to the high school. And so it was it was a it was a fun way to get started.”
The teen disc jockey had his sights set on law. “But what you find out about in the law field is that most of what lawyers do is not the presentation part. It’s all the prep. It’s writing briefs and doing all this stuff and standing in court and doing the Perry Mason thing is a very small part of most lawyers jobs, most of it,” Larson recalled
While he likes research, Larson was looking for something a little more fun and settled on being a reporter. “When I went off to college, I immediately found a couple of jobs at local TV and radio stations, some internships, some paid jobs,” he said. “And I worked while I was going to school and I stayed about a year and a half.”
Getting a gig in Spokane put a wrench into his degree plans. Fortunately, success does not need a degree. “The biggest place I worked was a TV station in Portland and at one of the biggest radio news operations in Portland.” His love of media led Larson down an incredible path eventually doing 20 years in TV and making it to Managing Editor/Anchor.
“When the TV station finally said, ‘Yeah, we’re a little uncomfortable about you doing opinion radio, but then coming on and [being the] managing editor and the TV anchor [for the Fox affiliate in Portland,]’ I said, ‘Well, ok, what do you want to do about that? Do you ever hear me put my opinion into our TV newscast? I mean, even a raised eyebrow.’ And they said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Ok, then.’”
The back and forth between Lason and the station when on for 10 months before they parted ways. “They said, ‘Well, if you’re going to choose, which one do you choose?’” The station wanted him to stay but ultimately Larson stuck with his first love, radio.
Today, Larson has a local show on 101 KXL from Noon to 3 PM PT then jumps right to his national program from 3 PM-6 PM PT. While this may sound like a heavy lift, he goes with the flow of news and is prepared for anything. “I’ve literally told my producers at at one minute to air, ‘We’re changing. We’re going to go to this. This just happened. We’re going to jump right to that story.’”
Quick pivots are easy in radio, contrary to TV, where breaking news can be like trying to turn an oil tanker, which is part of the beauty of the medium. “I’m going to talk about that as soon as this commercial break ends. But in the meantime, I’m going to put a social media post up. [Radio] really lends itself to people who can multitask and those who can’t multitask are going to have a tough time.”
Just because he’s doing a lot doesn’t mean the show is overly complicated. He has a three step process. “I have a very simple model for building a show. IYou see all these news stories. How do you know? What is the topic? Because it suggests a question. So you start first with a question and you say, ‘What is the question?’ Did Gavin Newsom mismanage the fire protection of California? Now, I would say yes. My second guideline for forming a topic is, could you reasonably answer the question both yes or no?”
His final guideline, “Either have a topic which the audience will automatically understand or can be explained fairly quickly. It’s the three step recipe for success which gives life to six full hours of radio.”
For those looking to follow in Larson’s footsteps, he suggest two things: Do it now and always ask, no matter how crazy a request might be. “Radio means having million dollar or $2 million transmitters, that have to sit on a piece of land and they have to have all this infrastructure tied to them. [Why do this] when somebody can do a podcast literally with a smartphone?”
Larson advised, “If somebody said, ‘I want to do a podcast’, ok, great. Do a podcast. Use your smartphone. Maybe invite some of your friends. As you go, buy little bits of gear and technology because, frankly, the technology we use today is cheaper than it’s ever been.”
As for always asking even for seemingly unattainable, there’s a story behind it which only he can tell. “[It was my first trip to Israel] Our hosts had been very nice. They said, ‘If you ever need anything, ask.’ I think they meant practical stuff, like you need an extra pillow in your room or whatever.
“And so I said, ‘I want us to attend [Ariel Sharon’s National address].’ This would be like asking you to go to the White House briefing room and you’re just in the country and you’re not working for [a network]. They looked at me and kind of rolled their eyes and I said, ‘Well, can we ask? We’d like to be there.’”
Larson not only attended the speech, which was completely in Hebrew, but sat in the front row. “We got a chance to ask [Ariel Sharon] some questions. Can you imagine just saying ‘We can’t ask to go there, we’re never going to get in.’ We got in and it was only because we asked. Sometimes life will surprise you.”
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