The murder of KIRO 7 reporter, Larry Sturholm
March 31, 2026
Larry Sturholm, a 46-year-old Emmy award-winning features reporter for KIRO-TV 7, was murdered on the evening of July 31, 1989, in a brutal double stabbing that also claimed the life of 35-year-old emergency-room nurse Debra Sweiger. Sturholm and Sweiger were killed in Sweiger’s home near Issaquah. The perpetrator, William J. Pawlyk (then about 50), a former Richland businessman, Naval Academy graduate, and Naval Reserve officer, ambushed them. He apparently believed he was part of a love triangle and acted out of jealousy after learning that...
August 1962 - Portland's Most Obnoxious DeeJay
March 18, 2026
Oregon Daily Journal - August 8, 1962 ‘Fenwick’ Wins By Whisker An equal number of ballots was cast for KPOJ’s ‘Fenwick’ and “all KISN DJ’s.” Because my contest was limited to finding the “most objectionable deejay” (singular), the first prize of a package of steel phonograph needles and scroll goes to the indomitable Fenwick.Only one vote behind Fenwick were two KEX disc jockeys—Jack Par and Barney Keep, who tied for second place. Fenwick beat them by a crystal set catwhisker. Runners-up were: Bill Wade, KPOJ...
Bill Drake, KHJ and . . . ‘The History of Rock and Roll’
March 19, 2022
Originally posted May 1, 2019 It was maybe the biggest thing to happen to rock and roll since Bo Didley, Bill Haley or Chuck Berry, discounting Elvis and the Beatles. It’s a definitive historical account of the transition of rhythm & blues to the most marketable genre in radio. It still stands as the longest and most listener-impacting documentary of any American medium. The History of Rock and Roll was so successful it was produced in numerous versions over three decades. The HRR was...
The Road to Top 40: Pacific NW Radio - PT. 1
December 11, 2023
When baby boomers speak of the first "rock 'n' roll" radio station in town, usually a station that began playing pop and rock music in the late-1950s to the early-'60s, they are in fact describing the first "Top 40" radio station in town. The birth of actual "rock" radio trailed behind Top 40, arriving in the late-'60s and early-'70s. This article began in 2022 when I contributed material for the book Sock Hops and Snowball Dances: A Look Back at Whatcom County Rock and Roll...
Mr. Wizard - He answers questions for young scientists
April 6, 2026
The Province, March 31, 1956 -- “Mr. Wizard,” Don Herbert’s award-winning science show for children, which began with a 14-station network in March, 1951, at the NBC studios in Chicago, is celebrating its fifth year with a 140-station network. Saturday at 12 on 4. THE PROGRAM — now originating in New York every Saturday — has an estimated viewing audience of 3,000,000 children. The attraction is a 38-year-old former teacher-actor who has the ability to bring the magic of science in everyday living to the...
