The Return of Liberal Talk

The Return of Liberal Talk Radio - I have seen the future of liberal talk radio. And its name is Al Franken Colleen Cruse.

Kruse - longtime local comedian best known for endlessly recycling her life as a single welfare mom in the nineties, and apparently a onetime contender to be on Friends - hosts a new show on WMNN Radio, an AM (1330) station that started life as MPR's all-news outlet, that heretofore has been the Twin Cities' 24-hour news station. Kruse's show is the station's first foray into talk radio. I heard it around 2PM yesterday.

Kruse calls the show, with typical liberal modesty, "Higher Ground". The station's drops between breaks constantly intone "lean left, lean right, or stay in the middle...", but you know exactly where Kruse fits in. Her leadoff guests yesterday: City Pages editor Steve Perry, talking about "the so-called recovery", as Kruse termed it.

Kruse sounds like someone who's used to an audience, trying to get used to working without one; she stammers, she giggles in places where it makes no sense, she has no sense of rhythm in an interview. Her co-host (whose name eludes me; WMNN's website has no mention of the program), apparently someone with small-time radio background, adds little; while he sounds better on the air than Cruse, his input is completely uninteresting.

There are comparisons with Katherine Lanpher; neither of them really belongs in radio, both of their shows slant hard to the left and neither will admit it.

The best comparison I can think of:

• Colleen Kruse - Katherine Lanpher on laughing gas
• Katherine Lanpher - Colleen Kruse on sedatives, only still not as funny during the rare joke that connects