Unfiskable

I finally got a chance to listen to "Minnesota Matters", over on the local FrankenNet affiliate, AM950.

The good news (if you're a leftyradio fan - and the latest ratings show that there are several dozen of you out there); they suck less than their "live", local predecessors, Nick Coleman and Wild Wendy. Coleman combined the unctuousness of his column with the flailing incompetence of someone who thinks he knows radio, but demonstrably doesn't. Wilde was worse, of course - shrill, shallow, relentlessly dull.

Bob Hill and Mark Heaney do the one-hour daily show as a freebie, from 5-6. I don't know which is which - but they bring both a certain naive enthusiasm and just enough "Radio 101" polish (naming the station and the show in and out of breaks, resetting topics, etc) to not sound like the complete train wreck that Nick Coleman was.

The bad news for leftyradio fans: They still have to talk with liberals.

Yesterday, they interviewed Colleen Rowley, who is running against John Kline in the Second District.

Talking point: "Go to Kline's web site. Look for his takes on issues. Nothing!"

Of course, John Kline has four years in Congress. His record on the issues should be pretty darn clear - although it'd be nice if Kline would post some positions. But then, Rowley herself never addresses issues at less than a 50,000 foot, feet-in-the-clouds conceptual level, either - as opposed to Kline, who has a long voting record on every conceivable issue.

Oh, and on the David Bailey issue - where a Rowley volunteer and current head of "earned" media - walked into the Kline office and tried to give a patently, baldy illegal contribution to the Kline campaign - a trick straight out of the DFL playbook - her response was (paraphrasing closely) "See? How awful is politics when John Kline attacks unpaid campaign volunteers!".

Mindless propaganda? They have that too, interviewing Matt from local leftyblog MNPublius about the Zogby poll that shows Mike Hatch beating Tim Pawlenty for governor, and with Amy Klobuchar up by seven over Mark Kennedy. Unmentioned, of course - Zogby is a bought-and-paid-for Democrat shop these days, and the poll's methodology is apparently no more proven than the loathsome Minnesota Poll.

So as far as content goes, "Minnesota Matters" is no worse than any Twin Cities leftyblog (heh heh) and makes for better radio than anything Janet Robert has tried before.

Which is, of course, damnation by faint praise. But faint praise is more than Janet Robert's FrankenNet affiliate has earned in three years of existence. Limited, qualified, muffled, mildly-chuckled kudos to all involved.