Just when Luke Burbank thought he’d left mainstream radio behind for good, KIRO came calling.

Burbank, known for his The Too Beautiful To Live podcast, signed on last week to join Dave Ross as co-host of KIRO’s mid-morning news and talk program.

While Burbank didn’t plan out his move back to commercial radio, he’s discovering he relishes the opportunity.

“It’s pretty cool having my mom and girlfriend listen to me on the radio each day again,” Burbank said. “I’m enjoying it more than I thought.”

Burbank was first approached by KIRO in September. At the time, he was happily riding the rising popularity of his podcast, which is known to listeners as TBTL. Since KIRO canceled his show by the same name late last year, Burbank had been producing it on his own.

By this fall, TBTL was pulling in an impressive 1.7 million downloads each month. Burbank loved having control of his on-air future, and figured he’d never need to work for commercial radio again.

But KIRO’s station leaders had other plans. About six months ago, Burbank started calling into the Dave Ross show every Tuesday for a chat and update on TBTL. In September, KIRO called Burbank and said they thought the conversations were going so well, would Luke be interested in sitting in with Dave on the show on a trial basis?

Burbank didn’t know if the gig would be permanent, but he decided to give it a whirl. And just last week, he was offered the formal co-host position.

Burbank didn’t take the decision to move back to KIRO lightly. He didn’t want to compromise the rising success of TBTL. And he also didn’t want to put the fate of his career back in the fickle hands of commercial radio.

“I think I’d talked myself into believing there was no benefit to being on commercial radio,” Burbank said. “But that was also probably partly because no one was offering me a job.”

Burbank decided that he would join Ross, but he wouldn’t end TBTL. With advertisers now paying for spots on TBTL, the podcast has become its own self-sustaining enterprise. Burbank didn’t want to give that up.

“TBTL is my baby,” Burbank said.

To keep TBTL running, Burbank brought back Jen Andrews as a producer. She helped Burbank start the show at KIRO, but didn’t stay on once it became a podcast. With TBTL pulling in large audiences and such high profile guests as Adam Carolla, David Sedaris, Ben Gibbard, and Ira Glass, Burbank figures he can afford to pay a producer.

Even with Andrews on board, Burbank’s days are hectic. He’s at KIRO by 7 a.m. to plan the day’s show with Ross, and goes on the air from 9 a.m. to noon. In the afternoon, he records the TBTL podcast, either from KIRO’s studio or from his house. Burbank also juggles voice over gigs and a regular role on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.” His many roles means he’s now talking for a full four to six hours a day.

“My schedule is a little crazy right now,” Burbank said.

This marks the first time that Ross has taken on a permanent co-host since he began doing The Dave Ross Show in 1987. Ross said it’s inherently less natural to maintain a monologue alone in a studio, so he welcomes the new addition. Not only is Burbank smart and talented, Ross said, but he’s far younger and brings the perspective of another generation.

“It’s probably tougher on him because I make him explain his obscure cultural references,” Ross said. “I’m working on an iPhone app that can translate them in real time.”

Burbank, for his part, enjoys working with Ross. He finds his co-host “smart, flexible and level headed.” Burbank also commends Ross for not resorting to loud, fake outrage, as so many radio hosts tend to do.

“That kind of personality would be really hard for me,” Burbank said. “I really like Dave.”

When Bill Radke returned to Seattle two weeks ago, he needed to hit the ground running.

Radke stepped into his new job as morning host on KIRO-FM at the height of election season. After six years working for NPR out of Los Angeles, he needed to catch up on Washington politics in a hurry.

He also needed to embrace 2 a.m. wake-ups, four-hour stints on the air, and Seattle-style rain.

“It’s a shock to the system after living in the San Fernando Valley for six years,” Radke said.

Drizzle and all, it’s been a welcome homecoming for Radke. He became a familiar voice for Seattleites during the 1990s, when he hosted NPR’s Morning Edition on KUOW. Radke also was known around town for his stand-up comedy work and humor column in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Radke didn’t plan to return to Seattle this year. He enjoyed his gig with NPR’s Marketplace, and his wife felt equally satisfied with her job at a law firm. The couple and their three children were settled in a house in the sunny San Fernando Valley.

But when KIRO on-air talent Luke Burbank called Radke up with a tip that the station wanted a new morning co-host to join Linda Thomas, Radke began to seriously consider the idea. His parents live in Lacey and his seven siblings all still reside in the Seattle-area. Radke envisioned his children growing up around their cousins.

Radke even welcomed the chance to return to Northwest weather. He missed the lush, green landscape. He thought fondly of cozy days indoors, book in hand, with rain pounding down outside.

His wife, however, was a different story.

“I said, ‘I know you don’t like the rain, but what if we give it a shot?’” Radke said. “In the end, she was game.”

Radke also liked the idea of working for KIRO again. He’d listened to the station since high school and interned there at the beginning of his radio career. Radke knew and respected Linda Thomas, and looked forward to getting the chance to team up with her.

“Linda is warm, funny, and knows so much about this area,” Radke said.

Though Thomas has only known Radke for a couple of weeks, she’s gung ho on the partnership so far. She said he’s smart, can be both serious and funny, and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

“He’s exactly what I would want to listen to on the radio, so it’s going to be so much fun to do the show with him every morning,” Thomas said.

Thomas and Radke don’t plan a major overhaul of the show’s current events content, but the flavor and delivery may shift a bit. Radke wants to spend more time on feature stories, rather than just present the facts in a fast paced manner. Thomas said the team will continue trying to find unique stories someone won’t hear anywhere else.

In the past two weeks, Radke’s life has been a whirlwind of catching up on the Seattle scene and learning his new role. At Marketplace, he was on the air for just seven minutes at a time. At KIRO, he and Thomas control the airwaves for four hours straight.

Radke also must live with constant sleep deprivation. He’s at the studio each day between 2:30 and 3 a.m. He tries to catch a mid-day nap, and then picks up his three-year-old daughter and six-month-old twins. Oftentimes, Radke is in bed for the night before his wife or children.

But Radke is embracing his hectic life. He reasons he’s lucky to re-enter Seattle radio at the height of an exciting political season.

“I’m playing catch-up, but that’s part of the fun in this businss,” Radke said. “I’m always learning.”

In the last year, Mark Matassa left journalism behind to steer Mayor Mike McGinn’s communications staff through controversial budget cuts, bike-friendly road policies, and tunnel debates.

And he’s done it all while fighting brain cancer.

Remarkably, Matassa expresses only optimism and gratitude for where he’s at. He’s embracing his hectic life, stress and all.

“I really love working for the mayor,” Matassa said. “I feel lucky to have landed here.”

Matassa didn’t set out to become McGinn’s director of communications. When the mayor’s office reached out to him last December, he’d been working as an editor at online news site Crosscut for only a few months. He’d been a reporter and editor at news outlets up and down the West Coast his entire life, and hadn’t given much thought to leaving journalism.

But out of pure curiosity, Matassa decided to take the invitation for an interview at the mayor’s office anyhow. Upon meeting with McGinn, Matassa instantly took a liking to the man, both for his values and his open, comfortable attitude.

“If Dino Rossi had called looking for a communcations director, I would not have taken the job,” Matassa said. “But I felt a political and personal connection with McGinn.”

Matassa also became intrigued by the idea of witnessing behind-the-scenes operations of city government for the first time. He’d covered politics throughout his journalism career, and wondered about the view from the other side.

Almost a full year later, Matassa isn’t sorry he took the leap away from journalism. For the first time in decades, he feels he can engage in political debate at a party. After years of trying to be objective, he’s happy to say that he feels McGinn’s budget is brilliant, agrees with the mayor’s anti-tunnel stance, and advocates for cycling and mass transit.

“I’ve found it really refreshing to come out and say what I think about stuff,” Matassa said.

Matassa won’t talk politics, however, in his own home. His longtime partner, Michelle Nicolosi, is the executive producer at Seattlepi.com. To counter any potential perceived bias in Seattlepi.com’s coverage of City Hall, Matassa and Nicolosi steer away from business and political discussions. Nicolosi, in turn, won’t work on or edit stories that involve the mayor’s office, and Matassa communicates with other reporters at Seattlepi.com.

While Matassa’s political gig marks a shift from the attempted objectivity of reporting to clear bias, he also finds similarities between City Hall and a newsroom. Both jobs carry equal pressure. In the news business, he hurried to meet deadlines, report stories accurately, and produce copy quickly. At the mayor’s office, his stresses come from managing relationships with various groups and people. Both types of pressure, Matassa has found, suit him well.

“I’m good under stress,” Matassa said. “I find the challenges in journalism and at the mayor’s office incredibly invigorating.”

Day to day, Matassa also finds his role as communications director not so different from being an editor. In both jobs, he spends significant time managing other people and sitting in meetings.

For Matassa, the challenge of adapting to a new career pales in comparison to his larger fight. Since 2006, he’s been battling brain cancer. He’s gone through two surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation.

This summer, Matassa took two months off from his duties at the mayor’s office to undergo radiation therapy. He’s been back at the office for four weeks now, but struggles with fatigue. Matassa credits coworkers with filling in for him when needed.

“Everyone at the mayor’s office has been so cool and helpful,” Matassa said. “They’ve all pitched in.”

Even though he’s constantly tired, Matassa embraced his return to work. He loves being part of Seattle’s political scene, and he missed the action while on sick leave.

“I wake up happy,” Matassa said.