Bryan Suits

Bryan Suits
Born 1966
Honolulu, Hawaii[1]
Allegiance  United States
Service/branch  United States Army
*Army Reserve
*California National Guard
*Washington National Guard
Years of service 1989[2] - Unknown
Rank First Lieutenant[2]
Unit 161st Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars Operation Desert Storm[2]
1992 Los Angeles riots[3]
SFOR[2]
Operation Iraqi Freedom[2]
Awards Bronze Star Medal[2]
Purple Heart[2]
Other work Talk Radio host

Bryan Suits is an American war veteran of three military conflicts in Kuwait, Bosnia, and Iraq, and has been a talk radio host for more than 10 years and active in the Tea Party. He has hosted talk-shows for radio stations in Seattle, WA: KIRO (AM) and KVI, and in Los Angeles: KFI AM 640. Suits was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and grew up in Washington. He was heard weekday afternoons on KOGO-AM/FM in San Diego in 2011-12 and Saturday evenings on KFI from 2009 to November 2013. Suits has announced that he will begin broadcasting on KABC 9am-12pm in 2014.

Biography

After graduating from Washington State University, Suits became a broker-trainee at Drexel Burnham Lambert.[1]

Personal life

Suits is married to Rachel M. Suits., who formally worked as a King County Sheriff's deputy. They have one child named Reagan Ladybug Suits. In June 2010, Mrs. Suits was stabbed during an armed robbery in Lake Forrest Park, WA.[4][5]

Military service

Enlisting in the United States Army Reserve in 1989, he served in Operation Desert Storm as a medic. In 1998 he deployed as a member of the California Army National Guard to Bosnia as part of SFOR. In 2002, he attended Officer Candidate School and received his commission. As a member of C Company, 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, Washington Army National Guard he deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Due to events during his deployment to Iraq he became a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.[2] While serving in Iraq he meets individuals who state they were involved in the transportation of Iraqi WMDs to Syria.[6]

While in Iraq he occasionally called into the Kirby Wilbur Show and reported on his experiences. He was also a contributor to the Iraq election log on the BBC news website.[7] Lieutenant Suits collected rubber boots from his radio show listeners and distributed them to Iraqi children in what became known as "Boots for Suits".[8] Upon his arrival back from his tour of duty in Iraq, he claimed that his ballot for the November 2004 general election, which he said was mailed to his wife from Iraq, was never counted. His claim became part of the public debate surrounding the contested 2004 Washington gubernatorial election. During the peak of the Tea Party movement, Suits spoke to Tea Party rallies as both a radio host and a soldier with experience in the War on Terror.[9]

Media career

The "Bryan Suits Show" first ran Monday to Friday from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. PST on KIRO (AM) from 1999 to 2002.[10][11] Suits then moved to the prime drive time hours of 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 PT on KVI, following Sean Hannity.[12] The topics on the show ranged from local news to kicker stories to the War on Terror. Suits usually employed his sense of humor on all topics. He referred to the last hour of his show as "The Iraq Block" and devoted it mostly to discussion on the war in Iraq. It is in this hour that his experience in Iraq helped put some news items in perspective. Suits was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and returned to KVI in 2005 to continue his show.[13] Suite's reported on his KVI show that during his 2003 Iraq deployment, he received an injury to his groin area from a roadside IED and now suffers from BPS.

On March 6, 2003, an Iraqi caller named "Mohammed" confronted United for Peace and Justice spokesperson Andrea Buffa on Suits' show. The clip was posted on the KVI website and quickly circulated around the Internet. However, some individuals noted that the individual did not have an Iraqi Arab accent.

Suits' show was canceled by KVI on November 9, 2007.[14] Some listeners complained that November 9 was the Friday preceding the Veterans Day holiday (observed on November 11, each year in the U.S.).

Suits' show was replaced by the KVI show The Commentators with John Carlson and Ken Schram, formerly aired from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon. KVI aired the Laura Ingram show from 3pm to 5pm. Ironically, KVI put Peter Weissbach in for an hour of Bryans old time slot (5-6pm), the very host whom Suits had been brought in to replace.

Suits periodically filled in as a guest host from 7-10pm, following the contentious removal of John Ziegler in December 2007 on KFI, AM 640 of Los Angeles.

Suits announced December 31, 2007 that he had accepted a position from 7-10pm, following John and Ken beginning January 2008 on KFI AM 640 of Los Angeles. In April he was joined by long-time friend and fellow radio host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, and they performed the show together under the banner of "The Kennedy & Suits Show". Kennedy's final broadcast on "Kennedy & Suits" was September 30, 2009, with Suits going it solo again as the "Bryan Suits Show". In addition, Suits hosted The Dark Secret Place from 2pm-4pm on Sundays, in the time slot formerly held by Kennedy before she moved to weekdays.[15]

Suits announced, on his January 8, 2010 show, that his last day at his current 7:00 pm KFI Los Angeles time slot would be on Friday, January 15, 2010. He planned to continue his Sunday show, Dark Secret Place on KFI. Citing family reasons, and not specific on his career move, he and his family were returning to the Seattle, Washington area. His replacement on KFI, Tim Conway Jr., would begin at the 7:00 pm time slot on Monday, January 18, 2010.[16]

KVI AM 570 in Seattle, announced the return of The Bryan Suits Show weekday mornings, from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., starting Monday morning, January 25, 2010.[17] Some 10 months later, KVI AM 570 in Seattle cancelled its conservative-talk lineup and switched to an Oldies format, on November 8, 2010.[18]

While The Bryan Suits Show had been canceled, once again, by KVI in the days preceding Veterans Day, the Bryan Suits Show Facebook page stated that he had a safety net in place when hired back by Fisher Radio. In addition, Suits continued to host The Dark Secret Place, on Sundays from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, on AM 640 KFI Los Angeles.[19] Beginning early March 2012, the show was moved to Saturday evenings, following the end of the Saturday installment of the Phil Hendrie show.[20] The show has since also been picked up by XM Radio's America's Talk, airing Sundays at 5 p.m. pacific time.[21]

In November 2011, Suits became the mid-day host on KOGO in San Diego while continuing to host his weekend "The Dark Secret Place" program on KFI. Suits left KOGO in 2012.

Starting on Monday, December 16, 2013, Suits took over for Geraldo Rivera on KABC Talk Radio AM 790 from 9-to-noon (Pacific time).[22] He briefly revived his renowned "Dark Secret Place" program, in which he confines his topics of discussion to military-related matters and interviews with current or former members of the military. He abruptly ceased broadcasting the show, leaving listeners to find a note on his Facebook page stating that he would only continue doing the show in podcast form. His explanation declared in the post that the show had become "a pain in the ass" because he would have to give up personal time on the weekends to do it live, or have unspecified problems (possibly continuity errors related to developing stories) if he tried to pre-record it.

Bryan Suits last 9-to-noon show on KABC was on 16 Jan 2015, resulting in KABC losing nearly all of the 9 to noon audience.

Brian Suits' Dark Secret Place is returning to KFI AM-640 (Los Angeles) on Saturday April 4, 2015 and will be heard from 10PM to Midnight (local time) per spots currently running on KFI and as noted in their weekend program line-up.

Political Views

Suits was involved in a conflict between Geraldo Rivera and radio talk show host Tom Leykis in 2013 when Rivera apparently called both of them a "right wing jerk off." Rivera later clarified that he was only referring to Leykis.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 "Bryan Suits". KFI. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Meet the Soldiers". Military Channel. Discovery Communications, LLC. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
  3. ↑ Devore, Chuck (28 April 2012). LA Riots Revisited. Interview with Bryan Suits. Dark Secret Place. KFI.
  4. ↑ http://blatherwatch.blogs.com/talk_radio/2010/06/bryan-suits-wife-stabbed-in-northend-robbery.html
  5. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/76516/wife-of-kvi-s-bryan-suits-recovering-from-attack
  6. ↑ Bryan Suits (15 July 2012). "Arab Spring (7/14)". kfiam640.com (Podcast). Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  7. ↑ BBC News- Middle East- Iraq election log contributors
  8. ↑ Bryan Suits (9 December 2004). "Iraq log: 9 December 2004". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DsLluRnv0I
  10. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20121007223724/http://www.seattlepi.com/tv/radi10.shtml. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ Virgin, Bill (13 November 2002). "Radio Beat: Latest word on radio talk: Listen for more changes". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  12. ↑ Virgin, Bill (12 March 2003). "Radio Beat: KVI's Suits suiting up for the Army -- again". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  13. ↑ Virgin, Bill (16 March 2005). "Suits re-ups with KVI after duty in Iraq". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  14. ↑ Virgin, Bill (14 November 2007). "On Radio: Jim Wilke, host of 'Jazz After Hours,' celebrates 50 years in radio business". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  15. ↑ Bryan Suits News! Goodbye Seattle, and hello LA!
  16. ↑ Orange County Register: Tim Conway Jr. to replace Bryan Suits on KFI.
  17. ↑ "Welcome back Bryan Suits and John Carlson to KVI", KVI.com.
  18. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/83060/kvi-a-goes-oldies-on-nov-8th
  19. ↑ Richard Wagoner (14 January 2010). "Suits' KFI evening show comes to an end". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  20. ↑ Gary Lycan (24 February 2012). "Phil Hendrie ending KFI Saturday night show". OC Register. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  21. ↑ Andy Dean (16 August 2012). "Bryan Suits - Military / National Security". America Now Radio. Clear Channel Media. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  22. ↑ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/124683/brian-suits-to-host-9-noon-on-kabc-a
  23. ↑ http://www.mediaite.com/online/geraldo-loses-syndication-trashes-replacement-as-right-wing-jerk-off-rush-wannabe/
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