The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

So what do you get when you take a huge risk on launching a female-oriented FM talk radio station back in June of 2002?

You get blackjack!!!!!!

When Todd Fisher first told me that Hubbard Broadcasting was going to launch a new talk-radio format.... I was elated! Finally, a well-respected family-owned business was going to put their money into a venture ridiculed by so many people in the world of broadcasting. Guess who's laughing now... I hope the Hubbard Family!

I made a mistake the other day and accidentally tuned in to KTLK and whatever right-wing boob they have on during the late morning. With a little checking after I got back to the office, I found his name is Dan Conry, and he has, like so many of his ilk, the IQ and eloquence of a doorknob…or of Katherine Kersten, whichever is higher.

For he was haranguing about Kersten’s column of Monday, in which she asserted (surprise) that the government was out to take your kids and brainwash them.

Dark evergreen silhouettes loom against a wash of indigo sky on both sides of Minnesota Highway 1. Driving southwest out of Ely, toward Tower, the early autumn moon is so bright, so close and full, that driving without headlights seems only appropriate. 

Over several nights about a year ago, a small miracle of human interaction took place on KSTP late-night radio. Host Tommy Mischke was embarking on a self-styled pitch for the Spectacle Shop, one of his show’s handful of loyal sponsors, when a call came over the transom. It had been a slow night and Mischke, who regularly acts on whims and lives for surprises, interrupted the ad mid-sentence to pick up the line.