Category: Talk Radio
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A Simple Request…
…for everyone in the mainstream media, alternative media, and talk radio – even conservative talk radio: Unless you work at a Red Wing outlet store and are changing your shelving, could you never, Ever, EVER use the term “Boots on the Ground” again? It’s gone so far beyond cliché, light leaving “cliché” right now won’t reach…
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What Conservatism Needs In Minnesota
In the middle of a year that promises to be a good, if not great, year for Republicans nationwide, Minnesota Republicans are hoping to flip the House, so as to at least contest control for the state, and praying for an upset in the Senate and a come-from-behind miracle for Governor. It was ten years ago…
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Just Stupid
The lefty media has been giggling like schoolgirls over this story – a Texas waitress, who got not one but two $2000 tips from Rush Limbaugh – and gave the money to a pro-infanticide group: “That was like blood money to me,’ Tierce told The Dallas Morning News. Tierce was the former executive director at…
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Swirling About The Drain
I hate to indulge in schadenfreud. But I’m only human. Arbitron numbers are in for the Fargo-Moorhead area – and the two big lib-talk hosts at KFGO (which is sort of the WCCO of the Fargo metro area) are sucking fumes. Joel Heitkamp is off sharply, according to Rob Port. But even more sweet? Mike…
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The Host I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up
Back in the eighties, the first time I worked in Twin Cities radio, you could always tell when a station needed a publicity boost. There’d be an “incident” – a disk jockey would “say” something “objectionable”, or “insult” a “guest”, or some other shenanigan on the air, which would “lead” to a “suspension”, which would…
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Zzzzzzzzzz
Word has it that Fast Eddie Schultz – the single liberal talk show host in the business who understood anything about doing radio – is calling in the dogs and whizzing on the fire. (Yes, I know – Stephanie Miller. But her only good idea is copying Laura Ingraham’s show in every single particular; otherwise,…
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Death Rattle
Liberal-talk radio outlets in major – liberal! – markets are flipping formats: 2014 will mark the beginning of a massive change for liberal talk radio across the country. In New York, WWRL 1600 AM will flip to Spanish-language music and talk, throwing Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, and Alan Colmes off the air. In…
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Open Letter To Radio Advertisers
To: Radio Advertisers From: Mitch Berg, uppity peasant Re: Bad Marketing Dear Advertisers: On the off chance I hear your ad at all, please note that I do tune out every word after the phrase “.,.one weird trick”. That is all.
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The NARN Broadcast
Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network – America’s first grass-roots talk radio show – brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism, as the Twin Cities media’s sole source of honesty! I’m in the studio today from 1-3. Our guest today is Twin Cities radio legend Tom Mischke. We’ll be talking about ancient Talk Radio history, Don Vogel, the…
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On The NARN Tomorrow
It’s probably as good a time to announce it as any. If all goes according to plan, on the Northern Alliance Radio Network tomorrow we’ve got… Minneapolis mayoral candidate Cam Winton, and… Twin Cities radio legend T.D. Mischke. Tune in from 1-3PM!
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Chalk Up A Win For Brad Carlson!
Now, any radio station can compete on weekdays, when network shows lock horns with other network shows for mere money. But the real acid test for a radio station is how do they do on the vital weekend shift – when stations cut the network crap and have to get real. And so as the…
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NARN Tomorrow
First things first: congratulations to AM1280’s Dennis Miller for chasing AM1130 out of weekday evening radio. I count that as a big win for AM1280, the little station that could. Tomorrow on the NARN, it’s going to be a fun show. For starters, I’ll be talking with GOP gubernatorial candidate Senator Dave Thompson. The race…
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Y’Know How You Know Western Civilization Is Collapsing?
Friday night, I was out with some friends out at a bar on Lake Street in Minneapolis. I’d heard there was a thunderstorm warning – but I didn’t expect the deluge we got. I think the wind got up to 60-70 miles an hour on Lake. The power went out, and stayed out. As I…
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Loony Bait
Watch for the the chuckle-and-snark set from the leftymedia to their yapping to “puree” over this: The Rush Limbaugh Program is considering ending its affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media at the end of this year, a move that would bring about one of the biggest shakeups in talk radio history, a source close to the…
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Here Today, NARN Tomorrow
As Ed announced on Hot Air earlier this week, last Saturday was his last regular Northern Alliance broadcast. So some might ask – what’s the NARN’s future? The answer: Lots. The show will carry on on Saturday at the usual time (and Brad’s show on Sunday, of course, is unchanged). I’ll probably focus more on…
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It Actually Works
So I told someone I spent some time talking with Tom Emmer on Saturday. “Oh”, said the person I was talking to, “he’s the guy on those billboards with the guy who looks like David Byrne or Ric Ocasek…”
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The Do-It-Yourselfer
It’s a bit of a whack upside the head to see that George Chapple – better known as “Dark Star” – has passed away: Chapple grew up in Ohio and Long Island, NY. He was a Vietnam veteran, and originally came to the Twin Cities with his parents in the 1970s. After dabbling in the…
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Play Misty For Me, Part IV: Promises Carved In Sand
In an episode of Hill Street Blues (or maybe NYPD Blue, but I think it was Hill Street, on account of the fact that I watched Hill Street addictively, and maybe saw one episode of NYPD Blue), Dennis Frantz’ character (either Sergeant Buntz on HSB, or Sergeant Butt on NYPDB) and his new partner, a…
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Back On The Night Shift
Tonight, I’ll be sitting in for Jack Tomczak on The Late Debate, on the 95.9 in metro Anoka/Ramsey. TLD is the second-best franchise in Twin Cities conservative alternative media (and hence the second-best franchise in the Twin Cities media) behind the NARN (who else?) and I’m happy to pitch in. Tonight, we’ll be talking about…
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Let’s See If I Can Follow This
According to the Twin Cities’ leftysphere and mainstream media: Writing thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of abusive and harassing tweets about people you disagree with, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including over “work” hours? Not stalking. Claiming on a large conversation thread on Twitter that someone has been convicted of driving while…
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Radio Business
It’s not often that I do things to try to improve competing radio stations. Indeed, I usually try to vanquish them. And as the record re the all-important Saturday afternoon day part has shown, the Northern Alliance has done just that; first driving KTLK completely but temporarily out of talk, then taking down Ron Rosenbaum. But…
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Play Misty For Me, Part III: Static
Yesterday, we talked about the complaint filed with the FCC by Dr. Bill Gleason, world-class researcher, and The Late Debate, a talk show at plucky little FM station “Hope 95.9” in Ramsey hosted by Jack Tomczak and Ben Kruse, and about why the complaint was of no merit. I’m predicting that the complaint gets ignored…
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Play Misty For Me, Part II: No There There
Earlier today, we took a first glance at the complaint filed with the FCC by professor William B. Gleason (an associate professor in chemistry at the U of M Medical School) against “Hope 95.9FM”, a little low-power FM station in Ramsey, in the north ‘burbs (with a couple of AM signals serving Saint Cloud) which…
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Play Misty For Me, Part I: Dead Error
Everyone who’s ever worked in radio, especially talk radio, over the past 35 years has had three major pop-culture touchstones. From the classic “WKRP in Cincinnati”, a young radio guy learns that Loni Anderson truly is unattainable – and that for every Gary Sandy, there are dozens of Herb Tarleks and Less Nessmans. Nessmen. Whatever.…
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Oh, This Is Huge. Just Huge.
On the first weekend in March, in about six weeks, the Northern Alliance Radio Network will celebrate its’ eighth anniversary on the air. Not to be un-Scandinavian-ly immodest, but we’ve built quite a franchise; we dominate Twin Cities weekend talk radio ratings against much bigger stations with much stronger signals, we have become appointment radio…