Thursday, December 03, 2009
A blessing to be busy
There's no question in my mind that he'll be confirmed; I'd be long on a contract that paid for every vote for confirmation over 60.
In the meantime, please enjoy a profile of a very special woman in my life. My aunt was the one who didn't live in New England, who treated me with UCLA (NOT USC) gear as a kid, who let me stay at her house when I first moved to southern California and didn't have my dorm room secured yet so she potentially was stuck with nine boxes of my junk, and remains my LA home-away-from-home. She is probably my most liberal friend (in a family with dots all over the political spectrum) who takes a joke as well as she emails one. It is inspirational what she is doing at 78 years old; I hope I can keep up the family tradition of long lives and long careers. Or, to borrow a styling from Larry Miller, REMEMBER: IF YOU WALK OUT OF BED THIS MORNING AND LOOK IN THE MIRROR THINKING "I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I'M 75 AND still WORKING???", YOU'VE WON THE GAME AND THANK GOD FOR GREAT GENES.
P.S. And I'll be walking out of bed and into a 6am studio for the KNSI Morning Show tomorrow, at least that's it for this week.
Labels: blogging, economics, humor, KNSI
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Media reminder
Monday, November 02, 2009
Media alert
Labels: KNSI
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Quick media alert
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Media alerts
- Due to a technical glitch, I am covering for Don again on the KNSI Morning Show, 6-8am tomorrow.
- If you are in St. Cloud, you have a great opportunity to hear an alumnus of my department who has made quite a name for himself. Jim Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, will be speaking at Atwood Little Theater tomorrow at 1pm on the economy. There will be a brief Q&A at the end of the hour. Admission is free. Here are directions to Atwood.
- As to the status of Final Word, please check back tomorrow for news. I'm 98% sure of what happens next and need time to get the details. But it's going to be a different and I think an exciting opportunity.
Labels: Final Word, KNSI, Media, NARN
Friday, October 02, 2009
No radio tomorrow (UPDATED)
I apologize for how sketchy this note is, but there are many details that are TBD at this point and probably will be for another five days or so.
If you're really desperate to hear me, besides needing to get your head examined you could hear me on KNSI next Thursday 6-8am on its Morning Show, filling in for Don Lyons.
UPDATE: Forgot it was first Saturday, so I'll take my usual turn on the David Strom Show at 10am.
Labels: AM1280, Final Word, KNSI, NARN
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Media alert
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Too good not to share
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Media alert: KNSI
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Media alert: Hot Talk
There's streaming audio from the KNSI link; please listen in, and call 320-251-1990 to participate!
Labels: Final Word, KNSI, Media
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Media alert
Labels: KNSI
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Quick media note
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Fourth and inches
So close...
...The page proofs are dropped in the mailbox.
...There's one more day of radio: �KNSI 6-8am (call-in line is 320-251-1990) and then an hour with Fausta's BTR show at 9am. �Been a while since doing some BTR, should be good.
And then, we celebrate the end of a five-year project to get that book to a publisher, get writers, and get the thing done. �How? �Golf, a cigar, some Scotch. �Rinse and repeat. �
See you in the morning.
(And yes, we're doing NARN Saturday. �Most fun day of the week.)
From Janet: Congratulations!!!! Well done, King!
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Can't get enough of this radio thing
Media alert: �I'll be hosting the Morning Show on 1450 KNSI for through Friday from 6 to 8am. �Streaming available on the link; the call in number is 320-251-1990. �It gets a little lonely in that first hour sometimes so if you're up and interested, give us a call please.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Media alert
Labels: AM1280, Feminists, KNSI, Media, NARN, Northern Alliance Radio Network
Monday, August 18, 2008
Goodbye Garcia?
No announcement has been made on a replacement.
Labels: Feminists, KNSI, St. Cloud
Friday, July 11, 2008
Radio daze
Then the usual shenanigans of the NARN begin at 11 with the First Team of the Fraters and Ringo Hinderaker, followed by the Headliners, Mitch and Ed, and then us in the Final Word at 3pm. I'm pretty sure I saw something about Franken on Michael's blog; he might want to talk about it. Or maybe we'll just spend two hours playing with his new iPhone.
For the local St. Cloud listeners, I will be sitting in for the vacationing Don Lyons next week at KNSI's Morning Show, 6-8am Monday through Friday.
All of these shows stream (Patriot; KNSI); the Saturday shows can be found here (for Strom) and here (NARN.)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Another day, another radio
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
KNSI tomorrow and Friday
Labels: KNSI
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
KNSI tomorrow and Friday
We'll be taking the week off on Final Word, and we'll instead replay the interview with Governor Pawlenty. You can get the podcast if you can't wait.
Labels: Final Word, KNSI
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Back to KNSI
UPDATE: Whoops! Missed communication had both me and Don Lyons there this morning. "The Senator" will be trying his hand at the host chair tomorrow. I'll be on next week.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Quick media note
And for those of you who missed me on KNSI's Morning Show this morning, you can try again tomorrow and Wednesday.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Radio daze
- Today with Captain Ed on Heading Right Radio, 2pm. Scott Swett of "To Set the Record Straight" will be on for the first half hour, then I suspect we'll swing into talking about holiday sales.
- Tomorrow, 7-9am as co-host of Hot Talk on KNSI in St. Cloud. (Streaming occasionally works here.) Tony Garcia will be with me. Our usual nuttery will commence, though from time to time we steer into serious things like the Bhutto assassination, the funding of the St. Cloud schools and Northboonstardoggle.
- Saturday, 3-5pm as usual on The Final Word on AM 1280 the Patriot. We will be live with a wrapup of the year in Minnesota politics. Winners? Losers? Best piece of political art drawn by Freedom Dogs? (You know how I love "put your fork down!")
- Monday, 6-9am, back to Hot Talk, sans Tony. Last day of the year, what happened that affected lives of local St. Cloudians? The local paper has a list of difference makers. I have something to say about that. And of course there will be gloating as my Giants defeat the Patriots.
Labels: Final Word, KNSI, NARN
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Wait! I know that voice!
I have not heard whether the station is searching outside for another host or choosing from its in-house personalities. So far, though, there's been no change in format and that's good news.
Labels: KNSI
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The saga continues
Labels: KNSI
Monday, November 05, 2007
Murkier talk
Andy is posting his story. Speed Gibson comments:
My heart goes out to Andy Barnett, but from what I've read and heard, including Barnett's own account, my head is with the station management on this one. Regardless, the worst behavior by far was that of the complaining candidate(s). I again ask, why are liberals so convinced they're right yet are so uncomfortable defending them in public?As I updated in the earlier post on this topic (not sure when it got up on this site, but I had tried to post this without success when our wireless modem went down yesterday), we have to be careful about besmirching the candidate -- as you will hear in the interview, she's adamant about her disapproval of the questions on-air, but that is the only evidence of disapproval we have. Leo has updated his post which started the ball rolling in the blogosphere saying that the station manager, John Sowada, has written to another blogger stating he did not speak to the candidate after the interview, and that in his conversation with Barnett earlier tonight Barnett said he did not see the two speaking, that "several people at Leighton told me." That's consistent with what I've found; it was not my understanding when I spoke with Andy Friday, but that came out in the interview Saturday (podcast now available -- interview begins about 12 minutes in) and confirmed by other discussions.
Getting back to KNSI, abortion and same-sex marriage just aren't local issues. Barnett gave a couple of weak examples showing how they could relate to other local issues, but this just isn't good enough. Frankly, I think the intent was there to embarrass the candidates. If Barnett was adamant with management as I think I heard him say he was, then yes, he'd be gone at my station, too.
The part that one has difficulty with is how one goes from on-air debate to fired in four hours; given that Sowada made this decision without speaking with the candidate, one can conclude one of two things -- either it's an overreaction to an uncomfortable interview (to him as well as to the candidate), or there's more here that we do not know. Answer c: Answers a and b are correct, is permitted.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Did KNSI just change format under duress?
Let's review the pressure the station has been under:
- In April, Pscymeistr reported on the newspaper's criticism of Steve Gottwalt, in which the local newspaper referred to KNSI as "KGOP." (The article is down, as is the comment stream, but Leo has captured most of what's written.)
- In July, state Senator Tarryl Clark stops by the station and inter alia informs talk show host Andy Barnett that she is not interviewing on his show any more because "is not comfortable doing opinion based entertainment talk shows."
- Over the summer, according to sources, the station has been advised by a consultant, and the talk show -- the only weekday local programming on the station -- underwent several changes at the behest of management. When I guest-hosted on the show in October I saw the new "clock" or hourly chart you follow to know when to do sports, news, commercials, etc. It was very different from what I had seen before. "Why?" I asked Andy. He indicated this was management-inspired.
- There has been criticism of Barnett's parodies, and those had created some criticism from mostly liberals.
- Barnett inherited a show from Dan Ochsner, and the show was singular in the KNSI format.
- The station runs syndicated conservative talk (e.g., Limbaugh, Soucheray, Savage) the rest of its weekday. It has a weekly show by the local mayor, former Republican state Senator Dave Kleis, as well as current Republican state Representative Steve Gottwalt. The KGOP tag isn't exactly wrong.
- Nevertheless, it does not appear the station was happy with the format.
- The station was pressured by local DFL and appears to have been stung by the Times' criticism.
- It fired Barnett within four hours of the disputed interview, between which times it had received a complaint from a city council candidate, canceled a debate, pulled Barnett from the air, and then waited two hours to make its move. This would seem to imply that the CEO, Bob Leighton, was at least informed and approved of this event, though nobody at the station will speak on the record. At least one member of the family that owns the business was in the station Friday morning.
This should not be construed that I think the station had no right to fire Barnett. It can do what it wants as long as it's not agreed to not censor Barnett through its contract with him; I agree with most that I do not think I would have fired someone for asking those questions (you can hear what was said by listening to this audio on Andy's site and decide for yourself.) It is quite possible that the decision to let Barnett go was made a while ago. But if you expect to be a news talk radio station that has credibility, appearing to cave in to pressure from the DFL and competing media outlets is counterproductive.
I hope the station has a plan to maintain itself as the news talk station that has served the city well as balancing its media ideological spectrum for the last several years.
UPDATE (11/5): Based on additional conversations at the station, I want to clarify that when I said "it had received a complaint from a city council candidate", I do not necessarily mean that the city council candidate ever went to the manager's office or even spoke to him. The only person who says she did was not a witness but says "others tell me." Meanwhile, the candidate and one other person says they saw her leave after a discussion outside the studio. More than this we cannot say with any confidence. I will emphasize again that Barnett's firing may involve more than this one incident but outsiders will be left with that impression, much to the detriment of the station.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Back to morning drive
Tomorrow morning I sit in for Andy Barnett on KNSI from 6-9AM, 1450 on your AM dial, here in the Cloud. (Hmmm, now that I look at your site, Andy, I notice a link missing from your blogroll?) Topics will be all over the place, I suppose, as I haven't been able to rustle up my usual collection of guests. Three hours of my voice? Maybe we'll invite Mrs. Scholar to her first radio experience!
Pray for me; I get up early enough, but talking to a corner of the world at that time will be quite the experience.
Labels: KNSI, Media, Northern Alliance Radio Network
Friday, August 03, 2007
How people can help
DONATIONS
Minneapolis Red Cross - donate blood and money
* Web site: www.redcrosstc.org/
* Donate blood: 1-800-448-3543
* Donate money: 612-460-3700
United Way (2-1-1)
The United Way has an established protocol for handling donations. They work with state and local officials by consolidating offers of emergency assistance and making them known to responders. Contact United Way's 211 hotline for donations. Just dial 2-1-1 or 651-291-0211. (Full disclosure: I am a board member of the United Way of Central Minnesota.)
FAMILY ASSISTANCE CENTER
Minneapolis Red Cross has established a Family Assistance Center at the Holiday-Inn Metrodome, 1500 Washington Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55454
We'll talk more about this tomorrow on The Final Word at 3pm on AM 1280 the Patriot, and I will guest host for Tony Garcia on The Tony Garcia Show on 1450 KNSI Sunday at 1pm. (Links go to sites where streaming audio is available.) More about the bridge tragedy as infomrmation develops, otherwise, we'll see you Monday.
Labels: AM1280, KNSI, Minneapolis, Minnesota, NARN