John Carlson (radio host)

John Carlson (born June 3, 1959) is a popular American conservative talk radio host on KVI, a Seattle talk radio station owned by Fisher Communications. His show formerly aired during the afternoon drive time. He now co-hosts a show on the same station in a post morning drive time slot called "The Commentators: Ken Schram and John Carlson." As of November 12, 2007, the show has been moved back to the 3-6 p.m. afternoon drive time slot, replacing the Bryan Suits Show.

Politics

Carlson is "right leaning" or "conservative" and disagrees with much of what he has termed the "Seattle liberal elite." Carlson has consistently criticized liberalism and the left leaning political trends that permeates much of urban Seattle as too tolerant of criminal behavior.

History

Biographical

Carlson graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Washington. He was later listed as one of the university's one hundred most influential graduates of the century.

He worked as the Communications Director for the state Republican Party under Jennifer Dunn and co-founded Washington Institute Foundation in 1985 and served as president until 1994. Carlson also became a KIRO-TV commentator on a debate segment called "Point-Counterpoint" from 1986 to 1993 and a newspaper columnist in 1990.

He then shifted from TV to radio in 1993, taking the afternoon drive-time slot on KVI. Carlson's show, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time, which was preceded on the air by Sean Hannity and followed by Bryan Suits. In 2006, John moved to a late morning time slot to co-host a talkshow called "The Commentators: Ken Schram and John Carlson" aired in the post morning drive time of 9:00 a.m. to noon.

In 2000 he ran against former Governor of Washington Gary Locke and lost. For figures, see Washington gubernatorial election, 2000.

Political activism

In 1998, conservative activist Tim Eyman launched Initiative 200, which attempted to prohibit affirmative action. The campaign was soon handed over to Carlson, who took over. The initiative received enough signatures to earn a place on the ballot, and in November 1998, voters approved it.

He successfully promoted the passages of several other citizen's initiatives including the "Three Strikes You're Out" measure in 1993, which began putting three-time violent criminals in prison for life, and the 1996 initiative for "Hard Time for Armed Crime", which increased sentences for felons caught with weapons.

He unsuccessfully promoted a citizen's initiative in 2005 to [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247656_gastax09.html roll back] a nine-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax passed by the State Legislature.

Hobbies

Carlson rides a Harley-Davidson and works with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's "Climb to Fight Breast Cancer." [http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/events/climb/]

External links

* [http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/retr_story.pl/18447 King County Journal] dead link|date=September 2008
* [http://www.republicanradio.com/ Republican Radio]
* [http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/events/climb/competition.html Media Personalities Climb to Fight Breast Cancer]
* [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/231445_radiobeat07.html Political talk isn't cheap, according to ruling]
* [http://www.psrba.org/History/kvi_History.htm KVI-AM History] (2002)
* [http://www.talkcheck.com/johncarlson talkcheck.com]