He hosted the public affairs television show Outlook Portland, and is the author of two books: Zombie Economics: A Guide to Personal Finance (2011, co-authored with Lisa Desjardins) and Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries (2022).
After graduating fourth-to-last in his high school class, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he landed his first radio talk show.
[3] During this time, Emerson was arrested when pulled over for a broken tail-light; a bench warrant had been issued after he forgot to pay the last $10 on a traffic ticket.
[4] In January 1995, Emerson was hired by KCNR in Salt Lake City, where he co-hosted the afternoon drive show Drive-By Radio with Clyde Lewis.
Salt Lake City Weekly described Rick Taylor as "everything a talk radio fan under 50 could ask for: Confrontational, funny, smart, vaguely liberal, pop-culture obsessed and driven to Get Your Attention!
Journalist Bill Frost later wrote: "From January 1995 to November 1996, KCNR AM 1320 (later 860) brought the Salt Lake Valley the most in-your-face, vibrant, talk-radio format it had ever heard.
Rick Taylor, Martin Davies, Todd Herman, and Clyde Lewis took back the airwaves from the old guard of creaky conspiratorialists and political pontificators and, at least in small part, introduced it to a younger, hipper audience.
His former KCNR co-worker Todd Herman recalled the dire financial straits of this post-firing period: "We were literally, swear to God, asking for credit at the convenience store.
The show's most enduring lineup featured Rick, Sarah X Dylan and news reporter Tim Riley.
They were joined by regulars Matt "F Matt" Peterson, Kyle the Intern, Jolie from Corporate Accounts Payable, and Kristin from Accounting, as well as frequent guests like Aaron Geek in the City, film reviewer Dawn Taylor, Jen Lane of Barfly Magazine, Scott Dally of filmfever.org, and Ground Zero host Clyde Lewis (Rick's former Drive-By Radio co-host).
[8] They would chat about (and skewer and dismantle) pop culture topics like music, movies, television, tech, celebrities, and news and politics.
"[9] Kristi Turnquist of The Oregonian described Emerson's style as a "distinctive blend of arcane references, multisyllabic vocabulary and mythic grasp of old TV shows.
"[11] In November 1997, Bruce Agler, program director for KOTK 1080 AM, offered Emerson a job in Portland, Oregon.
Emerson's program and cast were often subject to the fluctuations of the Portland radio market, and there were periods when the show was off the air.
Broadcasting from "the plushly appointed but not overly ostentatious studios high atop the bottom of the KOIN tower," Emerson was back on the air with Tim Riley and producer Sarah X. Dylan.
After a seven-year run with the show, Tim Riley was laid off in December 2008 when CBS Portland went through a series of staff reductions.
In order to continue featuring news on the show, Emerson invited many other laid-off Portland media personalities to fill in for Riley.
Emerson called on the expertise of members of his audience, many of whom had continued to support him through his unemployment, in order to build the new network.
The pair also collaborated on the short thriller film Remote Control (2004), the television pilot Rock Roundtable (2005), and the radio play Ebenezer?
Emerson hosted Outlook Portland, a public affairs show that aired Sundays at 6:30-7:00 am on NW 32 TV.