Mike Webb (September 4, 1955–April 14, 2007) was an American

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

. Originally a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

news reporter, he later became a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

host and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. Webb was

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ed in 2007.

Early life and career in San Francisco

Webb was born and raised in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. He had an early interest in radio. As a teenager, he was a street reporter broadcasting observations of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

, anti-Vietnam war protests, and youth issues for San Francisco radio stations KMPX,

KQED KQED may refer to: * KQED (TV), a PBS member station in San Francisco * KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a NPR-member radio station in San Francisco, California. Its parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns its television partners, both ...

and KCBS. KMPX was the nation's first

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

station, started by

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

disc jockey

Tom Donahue Thomas or Tom Donahue may refer to: * Thomas R. Donahue (born 1928), American trade union leader * Thomas Michael Donahue (1921–2004), American physicist, astronomer, and space and planetary scientist * Tom Donahue (DJ) (1928–1975), pioneerin ...

, and practiced

advocacy journalism Advocacy journalism is a genre of journalism that adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose. Some advocacy journalists reject that the traditional ideal of objectivity is possible or practical, in part due to ...

. One of Webb's most notable on-air experiences was reporting the murders of San Francisco

City Supervisor A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenci ...

Harvey Milk and Mayor

George Moscone George Richard Moscone (; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. He was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He was known ...

by ex-City Supervisor Dan White. Working at KGO, just blocks away from the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

tragedy, Webb climbed to the station's rooftop, giving live reports of a city in great shock and grief. Later, when a jury found White guilty of voluntary manslaughter rather than

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

, outraged citizens took over City Hall, bashed in the doors, overturned

police car A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

s and started fires in what came to be known as the

White Night Riots The White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of a lenient sentencing of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone, the mayor of San Francisco, and of Harvey Milk, a member of the city's Board of Supe ...

. Reporters from every major

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

joined Webb on the same rooftop reporting all the activity. During 1973, Mike worked with Steve Newman of KCBS-FM to open San Francisco's The EndUp. The Endup was a popular gay dance club (still open in 2013). Mike's contributions enabled the Endup to become "the spot to be at" in the mid '70s. Mike's radio eventually over-took his club work. Webb went on to other Bay Area radio stations, working as an on-air personality for KIOI, KFRC and KSFX.

Career in Seattle

In the 1980s, Webb moved to Seattle and hosted shows at

KPLZ KPLZ-FM (101.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. KPLZ is owned and operated by Lotus Communications and airs a hot adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. KPLZ ha ...

, KEZX, and

KZOK KZOK-FM (102.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station located in Seattle, Washington. It airs a classic rock radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KZOK's transmitter is located near Issaquah, Washington, on Tiger Mountain, and operates from ...

. He served intermittent terms as program director of

KVI KVI (570 AM) is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. Owned by Lotus Communications, it airs a conservative talk radio format called "News Talk 570 KVI." Its transmitter is on Vashon Island and its studios and offices are located ...

between 1984 & 1991, and KIXI until 1994. Webb was best known for his work at

KIRO Kiro was a colonial post in what is now the Central Equatoria province of South Sudan on the west side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It was in part of the Lado enclave. In 1900 there were said to be 1,500 troops from the Congo Free ...

, where he started in 1996. Webb was also an activist, lobbying for

hate crimes A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

legislation and

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Ted Kennedy's Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). In the late 1990s, Webb worked for John McMullen on his Internet radio project, GayBC Radio Network. On GayBC, Webb hosted a talk show, but also handled live broadcasts of breaking news events such as gay pride events and the protest activity surrounding the World Trade Organization's 1999 Ministerial Conference in Seattle. Outside of his radio show, Webb produced audio and did voiceover work on

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

, industrial videos,

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and commercial work at his studio. Webb remembered his interviews with attorney

Gerry Spence Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. Spence has never lost a criminal case before a jury either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and has not ...

, documentary filmmaker

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

, Norman Solomon, United Nations Weapons Inspector

Scott Ritter William Scott Ritter Jr. (born July 15, 1961) is an American author and pundit and a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector. He served as a junior military analyst d ...

, and ''

Serving in Silence ''Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story'' is a 1995 American television film that aired on NBC and stars Glenn Close and Judy Davis. Plot The film recounts the events in the life of Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer which led to her ...

'' author

Grethe Cammermeyer Margarethe "Grethe" Cammermeyer (born March 24, 1942) is a former Norwegian-American military officer. She served as a colonel in the Washington National Guard and became a gay rights activist. Early life and education Born in Oslo, Norway, ...

as among his favorites. Webb was fired from KIRO in December 2005 after he was charged with making a fraudulent insurance claim after an automobile accident the previous June, when his Lexus was struck by an uninsured driver. He was found guilty in February 2007,

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

d, and sentenced to perform community service.

Murder

Without explanation, Webb ceased producing his

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

talk show, with the last show being recorded on April 13, 2007. Subsequently, he was reported missing by his sister, who stated she had not talked to him since April 13. Webb's sister told Seattle's KOMO 4 News that she thought he might be in danger. On June 28, 2007, the Seattle Police Department reported that a decomposed body had been found at Webb's Queen Anne home. Discovered by the property manager, the body was located in a crawl space underneath a blue plastic tarp and several storage boxes. Following identification on June 29, the body was confirmed to be that of Mike Webb. The King County Medical Examiner's Office further determined Webb's death to be a

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

due to

stabbing A stabbing is penetration or rough contact with a sharp or pointed object at close range. ''Stab'' connotes purposeful action, as by an assassin or murderer, but it is also possible to accidentally stab oneself or others. Stabbing differs from ...

("multiple sharp force trauma"). On July 19, 2007, it was announced that Scott White was arrested for the murder. According to Seattle police, White allegedly killed Webb with an axe as he slept. White was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder.McNerthy, Casey.
Radio host Mike Webb's killer sentenced to 20 years in prison
. ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

''. July 10, 2009. Retrieved on July 10, 2009.

References

External links

Official website

mikewebbmedia.com
* ttp://www.seattlepi.com/local/321845_webb30.html "Former radio host was stabbed to death" (''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Mike 1955 births 2007 deaths 2007 murders in the United States Radio personalities from San Francisco Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area American reporters and correspondents American talk radio hosts LGBT people from California Axe murder People murdered in Washington (state) American LGBT broadcasters American murder victims Deaths by stabbing in the United States Stabbing attacks in the United States 20th-century American LGBT people