Northern Alliance Radio - A Review

I know you're all waiting with bated breath to hear my take on the premiere of Northern Alliance Radio.

As some of you know, I live in the wilds of western Wisconsin, purposely isolated from urban society, in an attempt to prevent premature heart failure in my better half due to overexposure to talk show radio hosts, and away from our former life in the state where nothing is allowed, (which in a cruel twist of fate has now passed concealed carry, elected Norm Coleman to the Senate, and sent Tim Pawlenty to governor's office.)

As such, AM1280 is not easy to access from our home, sweet home. After trying to capture the signal on all the radios in the house and the office, I determined my only option was to sit in the van in the driveway, where we do get reception during daylight hours.

I thought the first hour of the show went well with Mitch, Hindrocket, Saint Paul, and Captain Ed. Starting with gang bathroom graffitti is certainly original content, but it was followed with solid points against John Kerry and his over the top characterization of Bush's foreign policy. The first caller turned out to be "James". If you listen to Hewitt, there's no mistaking that voice. I thought they were going to let him get off the line before they informed their listeners that "James" was none other than James Lileks of Backfence and Bleat fame, but they managed to identify him for the audience before he hung up, (not before he revealed his secret plan to wait until the rest of the Alliance members fade out so he can swoop in and take over the show. Shhhh.)

The host of the Taxpayers League show, David Strom, which airs from 9-11 am Saturdays on The Patriot, called to express his jealousy over the quality of the first show. Always nice to hear from new fans. Followed by more dirt on Kerry, including mention of Minnesota as a "battleground" state in the upcoming presidential election, more irony for anyone who escaped Minnesocold for now even more liberal Wisconsin. (At least we live an entire length of the state away from Madison.)

I couldn't reconcile myself to spending three hours of a Saturday sitting in the van in the driveway. Figuring I may as well accomplish something if I was going to listen to all three hours of the show, I decided to head to the cities, an hour and a half drive, and run some errands. As a result, I missed the first 15 minutes of the second hour when I ran in the house to brush my teeth and get dressed, (at least I can be a clean hick for a trip to the big cities.)

Hour two was hosted by Mitch, King, Big Trunk and Hindrocket covering former President Carter's speech at St. Olaf at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, and the Big Trunk's lecture on Churchill. Big Trunk was invited to St. Olaf by Students for Intellectual Diversity, and billed as "The Man They Didn't Want You To Hear", after their suggestion to include a presentation on Peace through Strength during the Nobel Peace Prize Forum was turned down.

The hour included guest Britt Haugland, from the group of St. Olaf's students who sponsored Big Trunk's talk. Katherine Kersten from the Center of the American Experiement called in to add her take on the Peace Prize Forum, which she also wrote about for Front Page magazine.

Ms. Kersten is the Director of e-Pluribus, an outreach to college students to help them shine a light on the bias in higher education. Her article does a good job describing how the Peace Forum's liberal bias prompted the concern of the conservative students, their appeal to the administration, the regents, and resulted in Big Trunk's "teach in."

Having written about Diversity of Thought here previously, I did try to call in this hour to ask the participants to what do they attribute the apparent swing on our college campuses, with students trending more conservative in recent years? Unfortunately the cell phone kept protesting, "Call Failed." The hour concluded before I would figure out a way around this technical glitch.

The last hour started with Big Trunk relaying the story of the Minneapolis musicians that played on five tracks of Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" album when he recorded a second version in Minnesota, but never received credit on the album. The musicians got together this week and played Blood on the Tracks at the Pantages Theater which the Trunk reviewed here, with a follow up here. Interesting story I hadn't heard before.

The rest of the show focused on chooosing the Biased Liberal Hack Columnist of the Week, and featured J.B. Doubtless, the Atomizer and St. Paul of Fraters fame. Having divorced myself from the egregious liberal bias of the Mpls./St. Paul press corps, to the point of moving out of state, I was less involved in the topic. Of course, this a local show so it's certainly pertinent to the audience, and I can empathize with Twin Citians who still might read these columnists and their need to vent. I recognized one third hour caller as Doug from Belief Seeking Understanding. Brian Lampert won the dubious prize for his portrayal of MPR as "nuetral-and-balance-minded."

Having determined my cell phone was working, just refusing to connect to the call in number, 651-688-3131, I found a way around it and used my AT&T calling card, finally reaching the screener, who rightfully concluded I had little to say on the Biased Columnist topic and promptly hung up on me after I explained I'd driven in from Wisconsin to hear the show. So, I'll say my congrats here on the successful show launch.

Sure, some critics may say these guys have big dog complex now that they've been given a outlet, or it's all a plot to get this guy dates. Not me though. I'm just a little dog and I know my place. Seriously though, the show was well done, moved along well and had interesting content. If they limited the scope to the material on these blogs in a week they could easily fill a three hour show. I know the listeners' of the Patriot had requested more local programming, so it's a cinch to be a big success. They definitely won't need me in the van on Saturdays, but I'm glad I didn't miss the first show. It's kind of historic, the blogosphere invading radio. I'm glad I was there, in a voyeur kind of way.

Captain Ed live blogged after the first hour of course, (with pictures) and a follow up here. (Here's a guy who can give a blogger an inferiority complex.)

Powerline comments with pictures here, and points us to a write up about the show in The American Thinker.

King comments on the show here.

Update Mar. 8: The Lileks review. Excerpt:

It sounded like the third year of a nationally syndicated show. I predict great things.

Comments

[Hindrocket]

We're grateful that you went to such lengths to listen to the show! Your review is more than generous. We'll be back every Saturday at noon, unless and until we get cancelled, and hope to bring some enjoyment to our listeners.

[King Banaian]

I'll join Hindrocket in expressing gratitude. Turns out we goofed up on the phones in hour two, so you couldn't get through because of our mistake. And I backed out on MHotW because I live in St. Cloud and read the biased St. Cloud Times instead.

[mitch]

What Rocketman and King said.

To streaming!

[Douglas]

That was me alright. Most radio shows don't get such a detailed review. They must be doing something right.

[Patrick]

Correct URL for The Patriot is www.am1280thepatriot.com, but thanks for the plugs!!!

[DC]

Patrick,

Thanks for the heads up. It's corrected.

DC

[Mary]

I didn't recognize James' voice, but knew it was him as soon as he called Kerry a "somnambulist". He's the only person I know who would use that word.

[Benjamin Alan]

My favorite quote from the show was in the last hour. It went something like this, “We should quit referring to the homeless as ‘homeless’ and just call them all ‘drunks’ instead.”

Glad to see these guys won't be deterred by political correctness.

Is there a single woman in the Northern Alliance? Perhaps the alliance needs to consider including the dedicated fan and co-blogger who would sit in her van for 3 hours as a guest?! You wouldn't want to be seen as non-inclusive, would you gentlemen?

[DC]

Benjamin,

I sincerely appreciate the sentiment. Hugh asked me about joining the Northern Alliance at his forum, mentioning having 6 months blogging under my belt first, (which I just passed.)

However, I would never want to be included as a token female. It just doesn't jive with my conservative principles.

Time has been an issue for me recently, which is taking its toll on blogging. (It's 10:20 now and I just wrapped up work for the night, which believe it or not is an improvement for me.) I find myself with a serious case of jealousy for those who group blog.