CHARLIE KIRK, Radio Personality & Political Activist, 1993-2025

In a day when political figures are maligned by their opponents, people need to remember that they have families, too.

Charlie Kirk, a radio talk personality and political activist, was shot and killed at a speaking event in Utah on Wednesday, September 10th. Kirk was speaking at the Utah Valley University campus, and a sniper shot him right when he was addressing a question from a student about mass shootings.

Kirk was known for his political activism, and was well known and followed in US conservative circles. Being quite outspoken and opinionated, he was often a polarizing figure. He concentrated his efforts on getting out the conservative message to young people and college students, and was very effective at it, making him popular among conservatives, and very unpopular among liberal Americans.

But one thing that doesn't get mentioned much in the US news press is that Charlie Kirk was also a radio personality.

I first heard of Charlie Kirk when I was tuning around my AM radio at night, and I first heard his radio show on a local conservative station, probably some time in 2020, right after his radio show started. If I remember correctly, the station was KLFE 1590. a station owned by Salem Media Group. For the past 15-20 years, both KLFE, and its sister station KOL 1300, had a slew of talk shows come and go, with the shows moving to KOL after KLFE went Catholic about 2-3 years ago.

Charlie Kirk's show had been more or less a mainstay on KLFE during the night-time hours, often between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. When KLFE went Catholic, his show moved to KOL.

Kirk struck me as a quick-minded conservative, and he seemed to be very effective at debate. He seemed to take to radio naturally.

THE 2010's & Early 2020's -- THE NEXT WAVE OF TALK HOSTS

Kirk and a handful of other Millennial conservative influencers and speakers -- like Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, and Matt Walsh being the better known ones -- were not only on conservative radio stations nationwide, they also migrated with ease to the internet, adapting to the new medium with aplomb, and several of them started successful conservative podcasts.

 KLFE 1590 was a key 'second tier' conservative talk station in the 2010's and early 2020's, up until it flipped to Catholic Relevant Radio in August, 2022. Charlie Kirk was on KLFE, along with other up-and-coming conservative radio talkers over the latter half of the 2010's, until such programming was moved to KOL 1300 when KLFE went Catholic.

Here in Seattle, shows by these youthful GenX and Millennial radio conservatives were on several stations, with the stations changing as ownerships changed, while shows got added and dropped, and formats flipped over the years. KLFE 1590 had a few of these shows, including shows by younger talk influencers Steve Deace and Andy Dean. So did KTTH 770. When KLFE 1590 went Catholic, several of KLFE's conservative shows went to KOL 1300. Charlie Kirk's show was one of them.

Kirk, like the others -- Andy Dean, Steve Deace, Michael Knowles, Ben Shapiro, etc. -- struck me as a sort of 'next wave' of conservative talk hosts and personalities, ready to take over after the Boomer and older GenX hosts either retired or left the radio airwaves.

The younger conservative hosts' talk shows varied in success. Some, like Andy Dean and Steve Deace, seemed to disappear from the Seattle airwaves by the mid 2010's. But tuning around the AM band at night during the 2010's, you could hear a lot of these 'next wave' of talk hosts, Kirk included.

Progressive talkers had less success than conservative talkers, and -- unlike the conservative radio talk shows -- the progressives had no 'next wave' of liberal, radio talk hosts. The progressive talkers had no equivalents to Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro. Instead, the younger liberal talkers showed up on the internet only. 

On the other side of the political spectrum, progressive radio shows seemed to die out soon after Air America went defunct in the early 2010's, and any 'next wave' of progressive talkers eschewed radio, in favor of internet podcasts.

I remember listening nightly to KPTK 1090 in the early 2010's. KPTK (now a conservative talk station, KPTR) had a lively set of liberal talk hosts -- from Randi Rhodes to Ed Schultz and Mike Malloy. After the last few progressive talk stations folded or flipped to other formats, liberal and progressive commentators like David Pakman, TYT and Democracy Now! were found on the internet only. For some reason, progressive talk never had the same success that the conservative talk shows had.

The conservative talkers -- older and 'next wave' alike -- had more success and staying power on the radio airwaves, with Charlie Kirk being one of them.

'SCOTLAND THE BRAVE'

I last heard Kirk's show while tuning around at night a couple weeks ago, when Kirk's show -- which usually opened and closed with the bagpipe tune "Scotland The Brave" -- was playing. It was a radio broadcast of what sounded like a speaking event.

Now, of course, Mr. Kirk is gone, and the political scene in the US right now is in turmoil because of his assassination. The shooter / sniper, who apparently used a high powered, bolt-action rifle, is still at large as of my writing this, and there are numerous questions about this assassin, and the assassination, that need to be addressed and answered.

Any time that a major political figure is shot and/or killed -- regardless of their politics -- it is a dangerous time for America. Any perusal of social media after Kirk's death indicates this -- tempers are running high.

Democracy can only thrive if there is freedom of speech, and the tolerance of free speech that should go with it. Americans of all political persuasions need to remember this. At times like this, we need to remember the things we have in common, and concentrate on those things, over the things that may divide us.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Kirk's wife and two little kids. My family is all dead, so I at least have some semblance of great loss. When my father died in 1984, my mother started to get a mental illness. It was like someone had dumped a ton of boulders on my shoulders. Eventually my mother's illness was abated by a new medical drug, and for 30 years she led an active, fulfilling life -- but my dad's death was still devastating. I still miss him.

That said, I can not fathom what it must feel to be in Charlie's wife's and kid's shoes.  I hope that in some way they are able to overcome their pain, especially those two little kids.

Peace, folks.

C.C., September 11th, 2025.