Radio Host Is Clear About Mud

Rumors, Seattle talk show host Mike Siegel learned, have no place on his radio program. Spokane host Richard Clear thinks otherwise.

The two hosted a simulcast April 11 in Spokane and Seattle titled “The Truth About Mayor Norman B. Rice.”

During the program, aired on KGA Radio in Spokane, the two spread an unsubstantiated rumor that Rice, Seattle’s mayor, was shot by his wife when she encountered him in a homosexual tryst with the deputy mayor.

Rice, a Democratic candidate for governor, held a press conference this week to denounce so-called Hot Talk radio and the Clear/Siegel simulcast. It wasn’t hot talk, he said, but hate talk.

Siegel apologized to the mayor after the Monday press conference. “Rumors have no place on my program,” Siegel said Friday. “I apologize to the mayor and his family for allowing a rumor to surface in my program that caused the mayor and family pain and suffering.”

As to the source of the rumor, Kurt Hettiger, a former Seattle water department employee fired from his job, Siegel said, “I don’t give him any credibility. I chose not to have him on the air after one contact. I decided he was not a good source.”

Seattle station KVI, owned by Fisher Broadcasting, is considering disciplinary action. “Mike made a mistake,” said Robert Dunlop, vice president and operations manager for the station.

“Unfortunately, you can’t un-ring the bell. All you can do is apologize. We need to have a conversation with Mike and the other hosts about their responsibilities. It was a terrible error in judgment. It will not happen again.”

KGA host Clear brought the topic up during the simulcast. And he says he’d gladly do it again.

“I feel it was appropriate, correct, and I stand by it. I don’t apologize. … Do I believe it happened? Yes I do. At a gut level I believe it happened.”

Clear said he had no concern about Hettiger’s credibility.

Hettiger has circulated the rumor for years, identifying himself at times as “One of the Four Horsemen,” and distributing pictures of himself with a gun, standing in front of a crucifix.

Clear had no factual basis for the rumor when he brought it up on the air.

He said: “The accusations surrounding this shooting, is there anything that can be talked about, or is that simply something that’s out there hanging with no proof whatsoever and not worth mentioning at all?” a transcript of the program shows.

The two hosts then rehashed the rumor for listeners throughout the state with the help of an on-air guest who wrapped things up by saying “We’re talking about crimes being committed.”

Siegel said he would never do such a thing again. “If it were to come up in the future that there is an unconfirmed rumor about someone’s personal life it has no place being broadcast because of the damage it can do, whether they are a public official or a private individual.”

Rice said he’s had an outpouring of support since the press conference. His decision to confront the rumor was made in part because of the simulcast.

“People in Spokane don’t know me,” Rice said. “All they had heard is a rumor. I sat down with my wife and son and we decided to stand together, and denounce this for what it is: viciousness and hate.”

Rice said he’s not looking for an apology for himself. “These people need to apologize to their listeners, because they are misleading them.” , DataTimes MEMO: West Side Stories runs every other week.