Shameless? You decide. Oregon Media Insiders carries this "open letter" from the radio host to recently laid-off media professionals this morning:

Hi, I’m Rick Emerson. You may know me from such programs as The Rick Emerson Show...or from my many bouts with unemployment.

It’s no secret that the recent and ongoing economic implosion has claimed any number of victims, not a few of them members of the media. Print, television, radio, and online outlets have all felt the crunch. We at The Rick Emerson Show are no different: our longtime friend, colleague, and News Director, Tim Riley, was laid off in mid-December. CBS, being an honorable and decent company -as fine as I’ve ever worked for- gave Tim the nearly-unheard-of opportunity to say goodbye to the audience, bidding them a fond, though bittersweet, farewell.

Whatever the future holds -and, at this point, anything is possible- the current reality is this: jobs are being lost, and will continue to be. Until this trend reverses, we’re all in the same position—-fighting to stay afloat in swirling and uncertain waters.

As such, we’re extending the opportunity to any and all laid-off Portland media personnel: join us for a day, perhaps more, filling in at the AM 970 news desk and participating in the four-hour block of juvenile mirth that is The Rick Emerson Show.

Can we pay you? No. But you’ll get some exposure, all the high-quality caffeine you can handle, and, perhaps, a chance to say goodbye/hello to your audience...to explain your sudden disappearance, or to tell your side of a multi-faceted story.

No need to have worked behind the mic; we’re accepting editors, writers, on-camera reporters, DJs, newsmen, and gaffers. If you can hold a conversation, have something to say, and don’t mind our rather elastic definition of “news”, then please get in touch. At worst, you’ll get an aircheck out of it, and at best, you’ll reconnect with folks who might have picked up the newspaper (or turned on the radio/TV), only to find that a familiar voice was gone, probably without explanation.

I can be reached at rick@970.am. So far, we’ve welcomed such luminaries as Tom Parker, Heidi Tauber, Todd Tolces, Ron Pivo, Dave Schmitke, Dawn Taylor, Byron Beck, Liz Hummer, and David Walker.

By all means, let us know if you’re out there. As the Schooner Tuna man said, we’re all in this together.

Rick Emerson
Program Director/midday host
AM 970 - The Talker
CBS Radio Portland
rick@970.am