KPTZ’s favorite irreverent Friday afternoon talk and music show is coming to a close. Tune in from 1-3pm this Friday to say farewell to Filter. Host Paul Rice presents his last episode with special guests and maybe a few slices of pizza?? Read Paul’s reminiscences on his short and very intense experience in broadcasting.
From Filter Host Paul Rice:
Filter is ending after a year-and-an-eighth months and, god, it feels weird. It feels too soon, especially when I promised myself the show would go on for ninety-nine years.
I made that assertion several times on the first few broadcasts.
On the evening after my third broadcast, when I played a setlist of songs chosen by my wife because it was our anniversary, my wife told me that she wanted a divorce.
This turned out to be a really good thing, just so we’re clear. We are so much better off not together. Our children, who recently guested on Filter, they are better off without us being together. That’s enough said about that.
I start out with this story to show you how mercurial my life has been since Filter began. Since the pandemic began. And Filter began because of the pandemic.
The legendary Phil (Philter) Andrus ran a KPTZ institution from the moment the station shed its birth caul and stood up and became the community radio station it is today. The show was called Tossed Salad and it was LEGENDARY. Four hours (FOUR HOURS) of talk and music and community. That’s what Phil presented every week. It’s impossible to describe how difficult that is, until you actually produce one or two hours of live radio yourself.
I had listened to Tossed Salad since close to its birth in 2011. I moved to Port Townsend in August of that year, so Tossed Salad was a few months old. I made an effort to listen whenever I could. KPTZ brought this libertine urbanite closer than ever to his new community, and Tossed Salad was one of my favorite listens.
Phil loved having live music and live interviews on his show so much. So when everything went virtual, he decided that it was time to call it. After nine years, he would leave the Friday 1-3pm slot and move over to Sundays. And now KPTZ had to figure out what to put in its stead.
This is when KPTZ Program Director Ruby Fitch called me. It was late April and she told me that KPTZ wanted me to create a talk and music show to fill in for Phil’s. The best news was, I only had to do two hours, not four!
Of course I said yes, and set about creating a show that was designed to showcase community members doing great things, with some weird adventures of my own. I always wanted to find the fun and personal stories through what was happening in our community. I scripted out a bunch of shows at the start, and stayed up late coming up with musical setlists. I was in heaven. It was the biggest honor in the world to be asked to do it. I felt so lucky.