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Host, Seattle's Morning News

Charlie Harger

About

I’m a journalist with more than 30 years of experience covering the stories that shape life in western Washington. I host Seattle’s Morning News on KIRO Newsradio, where I help listeners start their day informed, prepared, and sometimes even entertained.

My reporting has earned multiple national and regional awards, including several Edward R. Murrow Awards. I’ve also been named APTRA’s Radio Reporter of the Year and recognized for investigative reporting on major stories like the Boeing 737 MAX crisis and interviews with serial killer Gary Ridgway.

I specialize in making complex issues understandable, focusing on how news affects real people. I’m a fourth-generation western Washington resident and have called Auburn home for over a decade.

Before hosting, I served as News Director at KIRO, worked at KOMO for nearly two decades, and taught journalism at Green River College. I take news seriously — but believe the best reporting connects on a human level.

Expertise

  • Broadcast Journalism and Storytelling
  • Investigative and Accountability Reporting
  • Community Impact and Public Service Journalism

Experience

  • Host, Seattle’s Morning News – KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • News Director – KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • Reporter and Anchor – KOMO Newsradio
  • Broadcast Instructor – Green River College
  • Communications and Digital Media – Microsoft and tech startups

Education

B.A., Communications – Thomas Edison State University
M.S., Strategic Communication – Arkansas State University

Achievements & Awards

  • Edward R. Murrow Award – Hard News (2020)
  • Edward R. Murrow Award – Continuing Coverage (2019)
  • APTRA Award – Best Investigative Reporting (2019, 2014)
  • Edward R. Murrow Award – Best Newswriting (2015)
  • APTRA Award – Radio Reporter of the Year (2015)
  • APTRA Award – Best Spot News Coverage (2015)
  • Edward R. Murrow Award – Best Documentary (2014)
  • APTRA Award – Enterprise Coverage (2014)
  • Emmy Nomination – Investigative Journalism (2014)

Social Media Profiles

Harger: Mayor Katie Wilson skipped the North Aurora march Saturday. Several city leaders showed up instead

Several hundred North Aurora residents marched the avenue Saturday evening, blocking traffic, demanding the city take action. Mayor Katie Wilson did not show up. Again.
2 months ago

Harger: HUD pulls funding from Housing First. King County spent 20 years and billions on it. It got worse

King County adopted a 10-year plan to end homelessness in 2005. We are in year 20. Homelessness has roughly doubled.
2 months ago

Harger: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson on the defensive over homelessness, dodges on KCRHA and Spencer Pratt at Civic Cocktail

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson walked onto the Civic Cocktail stage Wednesday night and got a sustained grilling from Fox 13 Seattle anchor Hana Kim.
2 months ago

Seattle heatwave forecast: Models hint at 90s in Western WA

Some forecast models are flirting with a real heat wave across the Puget Sound region in about 10 days. It's not a lock. It could fall apart.
2 months ago

Harger: Mayor Katie Wilson walked Seattle into an avoidable World Cup security trap. Every day she waits, it spirals

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced the Stadium District cameras would be installed, but not turned on unless the city became aware of a credible threat.
2 months ago

Harger: Auburn fired a cop in two weeks, while an Arlington cop is charged with 10 counts. WA’s police chiefs have stopped circling the wagons

The Auburn Police Department fired one of its officers on May 28. He had been arrested two weeks earlier on a felony charge of immoral communication with a minor.
2 months ago

Harger: Amid explosion of violence, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson applauds her team for going to the Aurora safety walk. She could not be bothered to go herself

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson wrote that her team was deeply saddened by the stories they heard. Her team. She used the words "my team." She did not write that she was there.
2 months ago

Harger: An unelected Sound Transit board just decided which of your transit projects live and which die. You did not vote for any of them to do that

The Sound Transit board decided Ballard would get cut off at Seattle Center. They pushed South Kirkland to Issaquah to 2050. They raised a car rental tax.
2 months ago

Bear traps at the doors: Illegal marijuana operation in Pacific nearly hurts firefighters

Firefighters who rushed into a burning warehouse in Pacific last weekend narrowly avoided stepping into a set of bear traps positioned near the doors of an illegal marijuana grow operation.
2 months ago

Gunfire returns to Aurora Avenue less than 48 hours after Seattle replaced neighbor barriers with drive-through bollards

Less than two days after SDOT removed neighbor-installed steel planters and replaced them with concrete barriers, gunfire again rattled the Aurora Avenue neighborhood.
2 months ago

Harger: Seattle removed the Aurora Avenue planters and installed barriers a driver can pass right through. The pimps and prostitutes were back by Thursday night.

This is the fifth piece I have written about the pimp war on Aurora Avenue in 12 days.
2 months ago

Harger: Watching Mayor Katie Wilson govern Seattle feels like a body-switching comedy. The reality of the job is catching up to her

This is Katie Wilson's first real job. It is like one of those body-switching comedies from the 80s where the kid wakes up in the adult body and isn't really sure what they're doing.
2 months ago

Trump plan could halt all international flights at SEA Airport just before World Cup

International travel through SEA Airport could grind to a halt under a plan the Trump administration is drawing up to punish so-called sanctuary cities.
2 months ago

Harger: Sound Transit votes Thursday on which promises to break. And if you think ST4 isn’t coming, I have a train to sell you

At 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Union Station in Seattle, the Sound Transit Board of Directors will vote on which promises to keep and which to quietly set aside.
2 months ago

Harger: North Seattle residents begged for action after 95 Aurora Avenue shootings. Katie Wilson’s City Hall gave them process.

After 95 shootings near Aurora Avenue, North Seattle residents blocked their own streets. Katie Wilson's City Hall offered meetings.
2 months ago

WA’s redistricting battle could be headed to the US Supreme Court. Here’s what’s at stake

A federal court decision earlier this month could shape who represents Eastern Washington in Olympia for years to come, and the fight is far from over.
2 months ago

Harger: 95 shootings in two years on Aurora Avenue. The city sent someone to argue about planters

Neighbors hauled in large industrial steel planters and blocked off three residential side streets near Aurora Avenue. Not the city. Not SDOT. Not the mayor's office.
2 months ago

Harger: Rob McKenna says the Democrats Christine Gregoire served with wouldn’t recognize what Olympia has become

Former Governor Christine Gregoire said her own party has a spending problem. Not a revenue problem. A spending problem. She drew applause.
2 months ago

Aurora Avenue neighbors revolt, blocking off street access after yet another shooting

By daylight, the neighbors had had enough. Residents along Seattle's North Aurora Avenue corridor stopped waiting on City Hall.
2 months ago

Harger: WA’s new 394-page climate plan admits the 2030 target is ‘hard to meet,’ can’t close a 7-million-ton gap

The Climate Commitment Act isn't free. Combine it with state fuel taxes, and Washington drivers pay some of the highest gas prices in the country.
2 months ago

Harger: CBS Newsradio signs off after 99 years. I’ve been chasing that sound since I was 4

Whatever that was, I wanted more of it. That was CBS Newsradio. And today, after 99 years, it airs its final newscast.
3 months ago

Seattle-area gas prices hit all-time high of $6.05 as Iran tensions rattle oil markets

Gas prices in King County climbed to an average of $6.05 a gallon, a fresh all-time high, and the rest of Washington isn't far behind.
3 months ago

Harger: Austin suffered 12 shootings before reconsidering its camera ban. Seattle shouldn’t wait that long

Twelve separate shootings. Four people were shot. One critically. A man walking his dog. Kids in apartments where bullets came through the wall.
3 months ago

Harger: FIFA wants to ban the Iranian freedom flag at the 2026 World Cup in Seattle. Mayor Katie Wilson stood up when Iran came for Pride. Where is she on this?

FIFA's position is that the Lion and Sun flag is political. Under Article 3.1.24 of its Stadium Code of Conduct, any materials of a "political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature" are prohibited.
3 months ago