Dori tries not to cry in touching farewell to long-time producer

After seven years of putting up with Dori Monson, long-time producer Jake Skorheim said goodbye to KIRO Radio Wednesday. Skorheim spent eight years total at KIRO — meeting his wife and ultimately becoming a father during that time. He is moving to Los Angeles for previously unspecified reasons, which led to many listener guesses: the ministry, adult film industry, assisted care worker (since he spent so much time with Dori) and male modeling.

He revealed Wednesday that none of the guesses were quite right.

“I’ve been pursuing screenwriting for a while and so my wife and I sat down a few years ago and said this is something we really want,” he said. “We set a goal and we’ve gotten to a point where we’re going to go down and try to achieve that goal.”

In an emotional Facebook post after the show, Dori explained further what he will miss about Jake:

There were a few things I wanted to say Wednesday about Jake’s last day – but I would have been a blubbering fool if I had tried on air… so I’ll say it here…

When I was a 21-year-old kid, I got an internship at KING-5 – Tony Ventrella was about 20 years older than me, but we developed a strong, lifelong friendship.

Tony and I worked together for about 10 years… we had the same sense of humor… every day of “work” was me getting to hang out with my best friend. Tony eventually became the Godfather of one of our girls and it’s a friendship that endures to this day. Eventually the day came when I had to break away from being his producer to pursue my dream of being a talk show host.

I never thought I would ever have a work friendship like that again.

And then, seven years ago, Jake Skorheim came into my life as producer of my show.

The age difference was about the same – but this time I was the elder. The dynamics quickly made me realize how blessed I was to have this kind of work friendship for the second time in my life.

We would laugh until we cried – both on and off the air… but, more importantly, I was working with someone I deeply respected. Jake has the qualities I most admire – he is a great family man and is simply a decent person in every way.

We spent a lot of time talking the past couple years about Jake’s dream of being a screenwriter. The talk show host in me wanted him to be my producer forever. The friend in me wanted him to pursue his dream.

And so he’s off to LA to follow that dream.

It’s been a great run – I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to have had this kind of work relationship for the second time in my life.

We will keep you posted on this adventure in Jake’s life – and we have some exciting things to announce coming up with my show.

But for now – I will simply wish my friend Jake my very best – and my sincere thanks for seven great years – on and off the air.

Dori also reviewed some of Skorheim’s greatest moments — from a typo related to a manure explosion to a whistling contest. Take a listen here:

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