A Man Ahead of His Time

A perusal through InstaPundit today revealed a name from Minnesota's radio history past. None other than Mitch Berg, who was a side kick (and engineer?) on the late Don Vogel's lamentably lost radio show back in the 80's on KSTP-AM. The station was a much different animal back then, and the on air personalities concentrated more on entertainment than on politics. However, when the hosts did bring in their political biases, they were more in line with what you'd expect from the mainstream media, that is decidedly left of center. But, for the most part, guys like Geoff Charles, Bob Yates, and Vogel were legitimately funny (at least to my naive, teen-aged ears). When they stuck to entrainment, they had more in common with Howard Stern than Howard K. Smith (hmm- let?s try that analogy again). They had more in common with J. Fred Muggs than J. Edgar Hoover. (ugh - I?m giving up, even though there?s gold in there somewhere.)

I think Mitch Berg might have been the only admitted Conservative who had an on air presence on KSTP at that time. (Soucheray was there of course, with Reusse on Saturdays, but back then he was much more of a Randy Kelly style DFL Lite Mayor, compared to his rock ribbed iteration of today). Vogel's too easy characterization of him as nothing more than a right wing gun nut served as the subtext for any exchange between the two. But Berg was always a good sport and it usually resulted in some good give and take.

But the station changed, largely due to the appearance of Rush Limbaugh in mid afternoons. His prodigious broadcasting talent, astute political analysis, and the corresponding high ratings drove the station to the right. Before you knew it, Yates was ultimately replaced with a newly baptized Conservative Soucheray and Jason Lewis finally ended the parade of dreadfully dull and overtly liberal commentators occupying afternoon drive time. (Morning drive remained painfully mediocre and against type, although the most recent Morning Spin reconfiguration shows some promise). As I recall, Mitch Berg didn't survive Don Vogel's first departure from the station (around the time of Rush?s emergence), which was long before KSTP?s content became more aligned with his own perspective. And now that seems to be a shame. His blog, Shot in the Dark, provides articulate and smart commentary on Twin Cities politics and culture and it?s reasonable to conclude a radio show that allowed him more leeway than Vogel did would have been good.

A month ago I didn?t know of any quality blogs devoted to the local scene, which made me think that perhaps a niche existed that was crying out to be filled. But since then, I?ve become aware of both Power Line and Mitch Berg and they?re both outstanding in exactly this type of coverage (and they consistently link to local media nuggets before I do!) It makes me think that maybe I can dial back my own political coverage and commentary and concentrate more on my real interests. That would be college women?s volleyball scores, my continuing search for the perfect Hungarian Ghoulash recipe, and celebrating the poetry of Leonard Nimoy. Now that?s a niche that needs filling. (And don?t tell me Boone and Erickson have a blog devoted to exactly these topics too.)


Posted by Saint Paul--Link