It has been interesting to live through the evolution that has taken place at AM 1500 since the August 1, 2006, announcement of our affiliation with the Minnesota Twins. At first it didn't seem real. The Twins came to Minnesota and started broadcasting on WCCO the year I was born. Come on . . . it's not really ending, is it? Slowly but surely it started to sink in. It is hard to describe the effort put in by lots of people to have this thing ready to go. I can't even imagine how much of management's time has been put into this.

I suspect you, the listener, were a little behind us on the internalization curve. Nothing much changed for you until game one aired on February 28, 2007. All of a sudden there was a change in on air content. That got your attention. So now we are getting feedback on the change. The stuff you send me generally has one of the two following themes.

First, there are those who think this is great, and look forward to a mix of traditional KSTP talk with the connection to the best run sports franchise in Minnesota. These folks like their news stories, politics and hard content, but also like to sit back and enjoy a ball game and some light hearted discussion. They tend to believe that good talk radio, like life, is multidimensional. "Give me some news, some weather, some sports and an occasional belly laugh."

Then there are those who want hard nosed, hard news, current events analysis 24 - 7. They think that somehow AM 1500 has forsaken its calling by taking on anything as trite as Major League Baseball. There seems to be this thought that AM 1500 should be above that, and that for us to broadcast sports is like the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in three part harmony. These same people tend to think that talking sports and doing a post-game show are a waste of my time.

I guess I must be among the first group. If you listen to my program, you know that I started a regular segment with 5 Eyewitness News sports anchor Rod Simons long before the word Twins was ever used in the same sentence as KSTP. I have been known to indulge my interest in music, my kids and many other things on air. There really is more to life than the Iraq war and frustration with government inefficiency. There is obviously a very different level of importance attached to all these things. But life is not lived entirely within the realm of the important.


Don't misunderstand me. I am not trying to convince anyone to become a sports fan. But just keep in mind that very different people and stories can live on the same radio station. That has been true at AM 1500 long before the Twins arrived. If you don't believe me, listen to my show for a couple hours and then tune in Mischke the following day at noon.

"The Dave Thompson Show"
AM 1500 KSTP
dthompson@am1500.com

Posted by Dave Thompson
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