It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part CXXXI

I’ve told the story so many times, I sometimes wonder if the details have gotten burnished in the re-telling.

Many of the things in my life that actually worked out, started as offhanded, sarcastic, frustrated or intoxicated jokes. My move to the city, my career, this blog…

…and, in 2003, the kind of “what the heck, why not?” vibe that caused me to send an email to the other principals of the “Northern Alliance of Blogs” and ask “Why not try to do a talk radio show?”

The answer was…well, “find the opportunity, and we’ll think about it”. I can’t imagine how far out of left field the idea must have sounded to the rest of the guys – John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson of Powerline, Brian and Chad and Atomizer and JB Doubtless from Fraters Libertas, Ed Morrissey then of Captain’s Quarters, King Banaian of SCSU Scholars, and – trivia alert – a husband and wife pair of lawyers from a short-lived blog called Spitbull whom Hugh Hewitt had added to the NAoB in a frenzy of solicitousness, who weren’t interested in doing the show, and whose names I can’t even begin to remember.

So on Halloween 2003, we met with AM1280 – and to my amazement, they were interested. On January 23, 2004, at a get-together with Hugh Hewitt at the long-defunct Billy’s Lighthouse in Wayzata, we got the formal go-ahead.

And 20 years ago today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network did its first show.

It was a very different production back then: I was the only one who’d done radio (other than King Banaian’s stint as a college radio jock), so I served as more of a traffic cop to keep people from stepping on each other’s lines and prevent the pandemonium that’s usually inevitable with these sorts of group shows.

It has, of course, morphed a lot over the years:

• Atomizer left after one segment. JB, after a couple of months. Scott Johnson, after ten months.
• In 2006, we morphed into two shows – Brian, Chad and John took two hours, King and Ed and I the next two.
• Shortly after, King and Michael Brodkorb split away to do a 3-5PM show on Saturdays.
• In 2010, King moved to our at-the-time Business station to focus on economics radio and run for office, surviving a ludicrous campaign finance accusation in the process. The show moved with the Business format to AM1440 sometime since then.
• In 2011, Michael left to take the Senate Communications Director Job. Chad, Brian and John departed, and Brad Carlson joined the lineup on Sundays.
• In 2012, Ed Morrissey left to pursue a solo project. No idea what happened to him.
• And finally, in 2021, Jack Tomczak joined from 3-5 Saturdays.

And it’s funny how talking about events nearly every weekend makes it harder to see the slow crawl of history around you. Brad pointed out on his show on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine how much the landscape in Minnesota has changed since the show started.

In 2004:

• RT Rybak was mayor of Minneapolis, and seemed “far left”. The MInneapolis City Council was divided between union guys and “Greens”.
• Randy Kelly was mayor of Saint Paul. The Saint Paul city council still had people with private sector experience on it. There was still an elected Republican office-holder, Tom Conlon, on the School Board.
• Minnesota’s congressional delegation included five Democrats and three Republicans.
• CD7 was Collin Peterson. One could see the district flipping red, maybe – but only when he left office.
• CD8 was Jim Oberstar. Thoughts that CD8 would even become a close race were pure madness.
• Tim Pawlenty was governor, having eked out a win against Roger Moe and Tim Penney.
• North Dakota’s congressional delegation was Democrat – rural moderates like Peterson – who seemed likely to continue the dynasty.
• Texas and Florida, we were reliably informed, were going to flip Democrat. It was inevitable.
• Minneapolis was a great city. Saint Paul was hanging in there.
• The “Blue Line” was under construction. The Green Line was lurking in the future.
• “Murderapolis” was a memory ten years in the past. Minneapolis was a very safe city by major urban standards.

And writing that list, right there, was the first time in 20 years I thought “daaaaaamn. Thinks really have changed.

Anyway – I have to thank the whole crowd of people who made it possible:

• Four rounds of General Managers – John Hunt who agreed to put us on the air in the first place, Ron Stone, Nik Anderson and, now, Mike Murphy.
• Four “Operations Managers” – Pat Campion, who got us in the door, Nick Novak, Lee Michaels and, now, John “The Consigliere” Berg, who is no relation but was the NARN producer for a bit.
• And of course, all the producers. There’ve been a bunch – I can’t pretend to remember all the names, but Joe Hansen, Irina Malanina, Matt Reynolds, Megan Fatale, Terminator N, Tommy Huynh (who now sings in Elephant in the Room), The Consigliere and G-Money were all notable .

And if you’re so inclined, the 20th Anniversary party is coming up on April 6th at Exchange Food and Drink in New Brighton. I haven’t thrown a party since the last MOB event in probably 2013, so it’s about high time to retire the running joke that the 10th Anniversary party is coming soon…

Hope see you there.

And thanks for tuning in all these years!