Dave and Colleen’s final ‘SMN:’ KIRO colleagues, politicians say their goodbyes

Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien hosted their last edition of “Seattle’s Morning News” together Thursday morning after spending more than 10 years together. Dave is retiring after an esteemed 47 years at the station, while Colleen is departing to move on to other ventures.

Looking at the end of the show first, when Dave ended his broadcast career Thursday morning, the last words on-air for the veteran radio man after 47 years were, fittingly for the one-time CBS commentator, “Hit the network!” At that moment, the Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien era on “Seattle’s Morning News” officially came to a close.

Joining Ross and O’Brien in the studio were Dave’s wife and one of his two adult daughters, along with Dave’s granddaughter. KIRO Newsradio colleagues Ursula Reutin, Gee Scott and Chris Sullivan said their farewells, shaking hands and hugging, while resident historian Feliks Banel bravely and stoically kept filming, capturing the final moments in the studio before Dave headed out to give a final address to a newsroom full of cheering colleagues.

Final goodbyes: KIRO Newsradio colleagues bid Dave and Colleen farewell

Traffic and transportation reporter Chris Sullivan, a key member of the “SMN” team replaced his final traffic report of Thursday’s show with his final on-air goodbye to Dave and Colleen.

“(Dave) just does his job, so I’ve kind of emulated that, Chris said. “And Dave, as I told you in the in the card I left, there are two things that I will always think of when I think of Dave Ross and that’s humility and integrity. You have done this job better than anyone.

“I don’t have many icons in my life that I look up to, but I do and it’s you and I don’t say those kinds of things very often. I try to live my news life like you do and pay attention to your family life like you do that you try to break those things up right and it’s hard.”

Moving over to Colleen, Chris then said Colleen was like his younger sister even if they may have had their dust-ups over the years. He then went on to praise her professionalism.

“When I think of you, I think of a dogged journalist. you won’t let go. You won’t let go … until you get an answer and you’re conscientious. You try so hard to make others better and have worked so hard to promote people in our business, in our newsroom, to help them and help me. And I’m going to miss you guys tremendously.”

Toward the end of the portion of the segment, Dave paid Chris a significant compliment.

“I dreaded Phys Ed class. I dreaded coaches,” Dave said. “You’re the coach who picked me for the team.

Dave and Colleen may be moving on, but Chris will be back on the “SMN” team at the end of 2024 and in 2025 as well.

Ursula Reutin, one of the hosts of “The Gee and Ursula Show,” said her final goodbyes during the final segment of Thursday’s show as well. She started by addressing Colleen.

But it’s just be it’s beyond the talents,” Ursula said. “It is your kind heart. You are such an empathetic person. You are brilliant. You are an incredible broadcaster that we are going to miss, but most of all I’m just going to miss you.”

Moving over to Dave, Ursula first noted she is going to be the longest-tenured KIRO Newsradio employee and she wasn’t a fan of that. But more importantly, Ursula called out how much Dave means to so many people.

“You have been a mentor for so many people. You have been a mentor for everyone who has come through these doors,” Ursula said. “That it was always … ‘What would Dave do?’ ‘What is it that I can learn from Dave?’ That’s a lot we’ve all learned from you. But what I’ve loved and appreciated most is that with the amount of talent you have and every station in the country would have died to have you, you chose to stay here and you chose to stay humble and there’s not going to be another Dave Ross.”

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell declares Thursday ‘Dave Ross Day’ on ‘Seattle’s Morning News’

During their final episode Thursday, a series of guests made appearances. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell visited the KIRO Newsradio studio to wish Dave and Colleen well.

“What brings you here today?” Dave asked the mayor at the beginning of his appearance Thursday morning.

“You, simply put with all of these great morning radio voices,” Harrell said in response. “I’m breaking my no talking for 8 o’clock rule, by the way.”

Harrell went on to read a proclamation that honored Dave, calling Dec. 19 “Dave Ross Day.”

“Whereas the city of Seattle recognizes and celebrates the important contributions of Dave Ross that he’s made to our community in the field of journalism now. Therefore I, Bruce Harrell, proclaimed Dec. 19 to be Dave Ross Day,” the mayor said.

More details: Dave Ross, Colleen O’Brien retiring after co-hosting ‘Seattle’s Morning News’ for a decade

Gov. Jay Inslee: ‘What would Dave Ross do?’

Later Thursday, Washington’s outgoing Gov. Jay Inslee called into “Seattle’s Morning News” and he shared a series of light-hearted exchanges with Dave.

“We have, you know, a couple (of) iconic figures in the state of Washington, one being Mount Rainier and the other would be in Dave Ross,” Inslee said at the beginning of the call. “And so the fact that you’re going off to be a full time opera singer instead of keeping us wise every morning is is a major event in the history of the state of Washington.”

Later, Dave asked Inslee what his secret to achieving longevity in politics.

“Well, you just have got to ask yourself … you have some tough decisions to make, when your governor: (COVID-19), how to deal with climate change and everything else, and you just when you reach a fork in the road, you have a big decision to make. Finally, you know you listen to your advisers, you get briefed, you talk to all your constituents and just before you walk out the door to announce your decision, you say, ‘What would Dave Ross do?’ And that’s that’s how I make decisions.”

“What you’re saying is you’re blaming me,” Dave wryly responded. “Find somebody else to blame if it goes wrong, huh?”

Dow Constantine also declares Thursday ‘Dave Ross Day’

Toward the end of Thursday’s show, King County Executive Dow Constantine also visited the KIRO Newsradio studio and honored Dave with another proclamation.

“I was just wondering if you might have a proclamation of any sort to share with us this morning,” Dave said to Constantine.

“Well, I do indeed,” Constantine responded. “And I am mightily impressed with the City of Seattle proclamation. It is but one of 39 cities in King County. We have a proclamation on behalf of the 2.3 million residents of King County declaring this day, Dec. 19 to be ‘Dave Ross Day’ in our fair county.

Dave had a burning question to ask once it was declared “Dave Ross Day” in the county.

“Wow, well, now, does that entitle me to like free bus pass or anything like that,” Dave asked.

“Today, the bus is free for Dave Ross,” Constantine responded. “Really. Yes.”

In another exchange later, Constantine asked Dave about what can be done to bring some “civic discourse” back to the forefront.

“Dave, what I’m interested in is the presence you brought to Seattle Radio as the Voice of Reason, as the voice of Gentilly. Because in my job I get to experience kind of the new wave, the new way of extremism, maybe, and and overheated talk on the radio. I was wondering if you could give me some hope about a path back to civil civic discourse,” Constantine said.

Dave tackled the answer to that question in an answer with several parts.

• Open communication: “Well, I think the key is to be open with your communications and tell people what’s actually going on,” Dave said.
• Remembering the role of a public servant: “People have a deep distrust of government these days,” Dave said. “I think what they have to understand is that public employees are people just like them, who in most cases, at least in my experience, are dedicated and are in public service for a reason. They want to give service to the public …  I think you can speak frankly about that.”
• Be honest: “I think you can speak frankly about that and also then tell people when you’ve made a mistake,” Dave explained. “Say you know this plan was a bad idea and we screwed up, but we’re going to learn from it. And I think people appreciate that kind of honesty.”

Using ABBA to pay tribute to Dave Ross on ‘Seattle’s Morning News’

KIRO Newsradio board operator and on-air personality Nick Creasia paid tribute to Dave in a song to the tune of ABBA’s ‘Fernando’ that aired on Dave and Colleen’s last “SMN.”

“Before you head out, I wanted to rip a page from your classic book of Radio 101 as a farewell to you,” Nick said. “So, I grabbed my old ’70s records, picked up the mic, and wrote up a song parody, but as a tribute to you. So on behalf of everyone you’ve worked with to finish off or start up your remarkable career to the tune of ABBA’s ‘Fernando.'”

“I think we have crowned a new parody king on KIRO Newsradio,” Dave said after hearing the song.

“That was incredible,” Colleen added.

An Ex-KIRO Newsradio colleague shares Dave Ross stories

Diane Duthweiler, a former editor, anchor and reporter for KIRO Newsradio, also appeared on “Seattle’s Morning News” Thursday. She wrote a tribute story to Dave in the Winter 2024/25 edition of The Eastlake News, the neighborhood quarterly publication for the Eastlake Community Council in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood.

“You may well have passed ‘The Voice of Settle Radio’ on Eastlake without recognizing him. Anchor, reporter and talk show host Dave Ross has ‘walked all over the neighborhood’ since KIRO Newsradio moved to Eastlake Avenue nearly three decades ago,” Duthweiler started her story about Dave.

Duthweiler recounted the story Dave has told about how he got into news.

“You went to Cornell (University) to be a physicist. But you told me it was the (Vietnam) demonstrations on campus shut down the campus, and that’s how you got into radio. You started filing stories for the local radio stations,” Duthweiler said. 

“That’s not exactly how I got into radio. It’s how I got into news,” Dave responded. “I thought I was going to be, you know, a disc jockey, or like an entertainer, because that’s what I did on the like the student station.”

From Jason Rantz: A farewell poem to the retiring Dave Ross of ‘Seattle’s Morning News’

Colleen O’Brien leaves KIRO Newsradio’s ‘Seattle’s Morning News’

Colleen has been an integral part of the morning show, offering sharp insights and a compassionate presence to Seattle listeners.

She joined Dave one year after “Seattle’s Morning News” officially kicked off. The University of Washington graduate worked a plethora of journalism gigs before becoming co-host of Seattle’s Morning News, including news anchor, reporter, photographer, video editor, producer and web editor.

“Colleen cares deeply about the community and she wants you to be informed and aware by sharing stories that affect you,” KIRO Newsradio’s outgoing News Director Charlie Harger said in a Tuesday commentary. “There’s no pretense the person you hear on the air is the person you meet in real life.”

What’s next for ‘Seattle’s Morning News’

Charlie Harger, a veteran Seattle journalist, will be taking over for Dave and Colleen as the new host of “Seattle’s Morning News.”

Learn more: Charlie Harger to replace Dave Ross as host of ‘Seattle’s Morning News’ on KIRO Newsradio

Harger’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including being named Major Market “Radio Reporter of the Year” for the Western U.S. by the Associated Press Television Radio Association (APTRA) in 2015. He has received multiple APTRA and RTDNA Murrow Awards for investigative reporting, enterprise coverage and documentaries, among others, and was nominated for an Emmy.

“I’ve known Charlie for 20 years, my whole career, and he is such an inspiring storyteller and a good steward of journalism,” Colleen said. “When I heard that he was going to be taking over the show, I went, ‘OK. This show is going to be OK.’ Our listeners are going to be OK because you’re going to do a bang-up job, and you’re going to bring true journalism and great storytelling.”

Traffic and transportation reporter Chris Sullivan, who has worked in the morning drive timeslot for more than 20 years, and provides valuable information to listeners during their morning commutes every day, will also be staying on in his current role on “Seattle’s Morning News” in 2025. Chris also writes multiple Chokepoints stories and columns per week for MyNorthwest.

More on MyNorthwest from Colleen O’Brien:

• Who’s afraid of little old TikTok?
• Mount McKinley became Denali; will Mount Rainier’s name also change?
• Sen. Karen Keiser explains why this is the time to retire

More on MyNorthwest from Dave Ross: 

• ‘Don’t cut a cent:’ Dave Ross on why the national debt never gets under control
• ‘The Love Fest’ that was also known as ‘The Insurrection’
• Blue Angels, and their noise, a good reminder of America’s war machine

Contributing: Steve Coogan, Julia Dallas and Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest; Feliks Banel, KIRO Newsradio

Follow @http://twitter.com/Mynorthwest