Lars Larson

Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959) is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon.

Larson worked in television and radio news from the 1970s to 1990s and has hosted The Lars Larson Show from flagship station KXL in Portland since 1997.

Two versions of the show exist: the Northwest show airs from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. (Pacific) and discussing Pacific Northwest issues.

The Northwest show is syndicated on the Radio Northwest Network which is owned and operated by Alpha Media.

The nationally syndicated program airs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (Pacific) and discusses national issues.

The national show is syndicated by Compass Media Networks.

Larson began his broadcasting career at age 16, at KTIL in his hometown of Tillamook, Oregon, learning his trade under Mildred Davy.

He later became an announcer at Eugene-based KWAX.

From 1977 to 1979, Larson attended the University of Oregon in Eugene, but quit "after just a year to work in radio and television".

Larson served as news director for KATR in Eugene from 1977 to 1978 and KBDF from 1978 to 1979 with internships at KEZI television and KPNW radio.

He was later news director at KZEL in Eugene before moving to KJRB in Spokane, Washington in 1979 to be a reporter.

While in Spokane, Larson took classes at Gonzaga University.

In 1980, Larson moved to Portland, Oregon, and KXL for what would become the first of two positions.

Larson did the afternoon news.

In 1983, he moved back to Eugene and was a reporter and eventually anchor for KVAL-TV.

In 1985, Larson moved back to Portland, when he was hired by KPTV as a reporter for The 10 O'Clock News.

In 1988, he hosted a weekend talk show on KEX and transferred to KGW, where he would stay from 1989 to 1991.

Previously, since at least 1990, KPTV had aired documentaries or investigative stories under the name "Northwest Reports with Lars Larson" as segments within regular newscasts or occasionally as one-time specials, but not as a regular program.

For the new weekly show, Larson was both executive producer and on-air anchor.

It was a "60 Minutes-style investigative show" but focused on the Portland area and the Northwest.

The program won a regional Emmy Award for a story that exposed careless handling of customers' private financial information by certain local banks.

The Oregonian reported that Northwest Reports had "decent ratings" against "strong network competition", but not enough to attract sufficient advertising revenue.

In 1992, he helped to create the KPTV news magazine program Northwest Reports, a weekly one-hour show which debuted in September of that year.

The program lasted more than four years, but was canceled in fall 1996, after which Larson resumed anchor duties on KPTV's 10 O'Clock News.

In his radio career, Larson moved back to KXL in 1997, this time hosting a talk show, The Lars Larson Show, which aired from noon to 4 p.m.

After continuing to anchor the news for KPTV until 1998, Larson left the station in November of that year, "after months of pressure from station management over his other role as an outspoken radio talk-show host" on KXL.

KPTV management viewed his radio talk-show role as a conflict of interest with his role as a news anchor.

He later began working at KOIN TV, hosting a morning program The Buzz until 2000.

On January 31, 2000, The Lars Larson Show began airing on nine radio stations (currently 22) via "The Radio Northwest Network".

In 2002, Larson was listed in Talkers Magazine's Heavy Hundred (the most important radio hosts of 4,000 nationwide) for the first time.

In July 2003, Larson began filling in for Talk Radio Network talk host Michael Savage.

On August 14, 2003, Larson was hired by Westwood One Radio Network to host his own show for national syndication.

The Lars Larson Show officially debuted on Westwood One on September 1, 2003, with 105 affiliates and grew to 175 affiliates.

In a story reported in The Oregonian in June 2004, however, former Goldschmidt speechwriter Fred Leonhardt said he told Kulongoski about the abuse as far back as 1994, 10 years before Goldschmidt publicly admitted to it.

Larson wants the state bar to determine if Kulongoski lied about the matter and whether his bar license should be suspended or revoked.

After an investigation, the state bar determined that both Kulongoski and Leonhardt were "credible" in their accounts of the matter, and closed the investigation for want of sufficient evidence to continue.

On October 15, 2007, Larson requested that the Oregon State Bar Association investigate whether then Governor of Oregon Ted Kulongoski lied about having knowledge about the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl by ex-Governor of Oregon Neil Goldschmidt in the 1970s.

Kulongoski, a lawyer, has denied knowing anything about Goldschmidt having sex with an underage girl.

On March 19, 2009, Westwood One canceled The Lars Larson Show.

Larson's national network show re-launched on newly formed Compass Media Networks on March 30, 2009.