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Shirley Bartholomew passes at 84

Didn't ever hear her reports, but do remember seeing her name all the time at the bottom of local AP teletype stories. It sound like she lived her passion, which in my mind makes living very worthwhile.
RIP Shirley.

Speaking of which, just heard this morning on KOMO's midday show about murder of the Tuba Man, the guy who played before and after sporting events on the streets. What a shame!! Funny story by Shramm about he and Richard Peterson not getting along before and after games because Richard would join in on the Tuba mans songs. Turf war.

RIP Tuba Man.
 
Growing up in Snohomish County, everybody knew Shirley! Sad to see her go...the energy she brought to her radio and print work was extraordinary.

My county was well known as a "dirty" county- Shirley was one of the four who spearheaded an effort to clean us up and get us into the late 20th century, back in 1977. She lead a bipartisan effort to root out the corruption in the sheriff's office and in the planning commission as well. It got pretty brutal...but in the end she won out. All this, and a long local radio and print career as well.

Good work, Shirls. RIP
 
IndigoCoyote said:
Growing up in Snohomish County, everybody knew Shirley! Sad to see her go...the energy she brought to her radio and print work was extraordinary.

My county was well known as a "dirty" county- Shirley was one of the four who spearheaded an effort to clean us up and get us into the late 20th century, back in 1977. She lead a bipartisan effort to root out the corruption in the sheriff's office and in the planning commission as well. It got pretty brutal...but in the end she won out. All this, and a long local radio and print career as well.

Good work, Shirls. RIP
Click to expand...

Shirley was hip. She knew a story and she whipped it right out...with style to spare...

KRKO could have used Shirley right to the end....she was cool......
 
I believe I have the distinction of being KRKO's second News Director when Shirley moved over to spearhead the bonehead owner's attempt to apply for a TV license (what eventually became KONG). Shirley had the title for something like 32 years. I had it for about 5 months, until I was let go in favor of someone willing to work for $250/month less.

It was my first real full-time news gig in the fall of '79. I lived in Belleuve but commuted north each morning, and knew nothing about Snohomish County. Shirley didn't care. She referred to every newsmaker as if I knew them all, forcing me to catch up very quickly.

What was very weird at first was that Shirley had an Army of stringers doing proper radio voicers. They were the PR directors of every police department, school district and other government agency in the county! They'd call in, and I would try to conduct a proper phone interview, and they'd start off with '3, 2, 1...' and launch into their scripts! The Everett PD guy was the best: big voice and great presentation. Only thing was EVERY story he wrote began with 'Everett Police are CONTINUING to investigate....' .

I saw her a couple of times on the top floor of the Snohomish County building when she was on the council. She loved that gig. After decades of living on small town radio money, she finally got some security. I'd say she finally got to make her mark in her home town. But she'd accomplished that mission long before wining an election.
 
A long time radio friend told me about this site today. Frankly, I'm less than impressed with many of the posts from so called radio people. Really boring childlike junk. But that's a subject for a future post. Just as I was about to exit and likely not return I came across this post about Shirley. Not a nice way to find out about the passing of a friend.

I worked with Shirley at KRKO for about a year back in '68. I knew she must be someone special early on because she was allowed to bring her dog (she loved boxers) to work. I soon discovered she really was someone special outside of radio duties. A couple of weeks into my tenure she entered the control room, put hands on hips and said, "A little bird told me your birthday is this Saturday. What are your plans?" I told her I hadn't really thought about it. She said, "Good, be at my house at 6 and I'll fix you a nice birthday dinner. You need to fatten up, you're too skinny." Was I going to say no to that? I don't think so.

It was a wonderful dinner where I learned Shirley had a great sense of humor as we shared radio stories for several hours.

Not long after I was occupying a bar stool on Broadway shortly after getting off work at midnight. Suddenly the tv blared with "Robert Kennedy has been shot!" Holy smoke, I raced back to the station to find the all night guy in a panic situation with the phone ringing, the wire service dinging constantly and him running back and forth from the newsroom to control room trying to keep up with bulletin after bulletin.

I played newsman for the rest of the night. Shirley came through the door at 5AM, took one look at me and said, "You look terrible, go home." She walked out to the parking lot with me. As I fell behind the wheel she said, "Thanks for staying all night Jack." I said anybody would. She said, "No they wouldn't Jack and never forget that. You're a good radio man."

That was over 40 years ago and I've never forgotten. And if I get to Shirleys corner in heaven I'm gonna fix her a nice dinner and we're going to share some more radio stories. Love you Shirley. God bless.
Your friend,
Jack Allen
 
Wow, Jack...

Your recollection takes me back. Today not sure a station would even HAVE a news presence (much less one after 6pm). They wouldn't do local coverage of a national story .... and, above all, wouldn't DREAM of extended coverage of the shooting of a political figure unless they could put it over the :18 intro of a record. Even THEN the consultants would frown because the content is "too topical" and "doesn't promote the station's main contest". You made me recall days when radio news was much more of a service that many took seriously.

Am sorry for your loss ... and how you heard about it.
 
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