2008 Woodie Awards
Owning the air: the fine days of broadcasting on KMSU
Issue date: 2/5/08
Section: Letters to the Editor
I was one of the co-hosts of "The Porch," the world-renowned (at least that's what our inflated egos told us) sports commentary show to which Brittney Hansen referred in last week's Reporter article on KMSU.
Just to clarify, our show ran for approximately five years, and featured a rotating cast of talented and silver-tongued MSU journalists - Myron Medcalf, Tanner Kent, Dana Croatt, Tom Froemming, Andrew Miller, Bruce Wahl, Dan Myers (respectively) and, ah what the hell, I suppose I'll include myself in "The Porch's" long line of eccentric sports 'personalities.'
The article misleads the reader into thinking "The Porch" ended its reign "a few years ago." Indeed, we had a pitiful and demoralizing timeslot for a sports show on a college radio station (Saturdays at 8 a.m.--even the pre-recorded obligatory high school show received a more generous timeslot! We were the Rodney Dangerfield of public radio. But I digress...) So maybe no one noticed when Mr. Froemming and I woke up at 7:30 a.m. every Saturday (OK, I admit, sometimes my alarm clock malfunctioned) for the last two years (up until last November), no matter how much our weary heads throbbed from the previous night's activities.
We strived, with varying degrees of success, to break down and critique the week's events in sports and played some primitive blues music for the listeners who wanted some good music and loose conversations with their morning coffee.
It's a bummer most of you were too far gone from the hazy events of Friday night to listen (though I hardly begrudge you), or were even aware of "The Porch's" existence.
Alas, as Kevin Garnett - one of my favorite philosophers - might say in this situation: "It is what it is."
I'm not asking for a pat on the back for a job well done. My co-host(s) and I did enough of that while smoking our cigarettes outside the studio after each show.
I write with great pride for the content we had on "The Porch." We had a raw, unique and intelligent show, and our loyal listeners (we know they were out there somewhere) told us as such.
It's a pity that more KMSU students aren't given ample opportunity to work at the station, but it's equally discouraging that students don't seem very interested in contributing to the station's content.
Jim Gullickson is right - it takes a lot of commitment, even more so if you're doing the show live. "The Porch" was 100 percent live; warts, stammers, stutters and all. We preferred it that way.
Volunteering at a first-class public radio station KMSU was an invaluable experience that I miss every time I turn on FM radio and hear the same tired tunes from the Eagles or Steely Dan.
Out here in Portland (which I must say, has some fine public radio programming), I flip through the dial, and wish I was listening to 89.7 and kicking out the jams to the White Bread Blues Boys, or Maverick Slim's Thursday night jazz show.
Public radio is a crucial outlet for those of us worn thin on commercial radio, and my modesty won't prevent me from boasting that the "The Porch" gang fought the good fight, one listener at a time.
There's something incredibly empowering about 'owning' the airwaves for an hour, even if circumstances forced us on a nearly weekly basis to lament the endless disappointments often found in the professional sporting landscape in Minnesota.
I miss the anxiousness when our intro song ("Shimmy She Wobble" by the North Mississippi AllStars) began playing, and we'd strap on our headphones and let the weirdness role.
But indeed, old friends and neighbors, all things must pass. And I am most grateful when my alarm doesn't pester me every Saturday at 7:30 a.m.
Drew Lyon, 2006 MSU graduate, Portland, Ore.
Just to clarify, our show ran for approximately five years, and featured a rotating cast of talented and silver-tongued MSU journalists - Myron Medcalf, Tanner Kent, Dana Croatt, Tom Froemming, Andrew Miller, Bruce Wahl, Dan Myers (respectively) and, ah what the hell, I suppose I'll include myself in "The Porch's" long line of eccentric sports 'personalities.'
The article misleads the reader into thinking "The Porch" ended its reign "a few years ago." Indeed, we had a pitiful and demoralizing timeslot for a sports show on a college radio station (Saturdays at 8 a.m.--even the pre-recorded obligatory high school show received a more generous timeslot! We were the Rodney Dangerfield of public radio. But I digress...) So maybe no one noticed when Mr. Froemming and I woke up at 7:30 a.m. every Saturday (OK, I admit, sometimes my alarm clock malfunctioned) for the last two years (up until last November), no matter how much our weary heads throbbed from the previous night's activities.
We strived, with varying degrees of success, to break down and critique the week's events in sports and played some primitive blues music for the listeners who wanted some good music and loose conversations with their morning coffee.
It's a bummer most of you were too far gone from the hazy events of Friday night to listen (though I hardly begrudge you), or were even aware of "The Porch's" existence.
Alas, as Kevin Garnett - one of my favorite philosophers - might say in this situation: "It is what it is."
I'm not asking for a pat on the back for a job well done. My co-host(s) and I did enough of that while smoking our cigarettes outside the studio after each show.
I write with great pride for the content we had on "The Porch." We had a raw, unique and intelligent show, and our loyal listeners (we know they were out there somewhere) told us as such.
It's a pity that more KMSU students aren't given ample opportunity to work at the station, but it's equally discouraging that students don't seem very interested in contributing to the station's content.
Jim Gullickson is right - it takes a lot of commitment, even more so if you're doing the show live. "The Porch" was 100 percent live; warts, stammers, stutters and all. We preferred it that way.
Volunteering at a first-class public radio station KMSU was an invaluable experience that I miss every time I turn on FM radio and hear the same tired tunes from the Eagles or Steely Dan.
Out here in Portland (which I must say, has some fine public radio programming), I flip through the dial, and wish I was listening to 89.7 and kicking out the jams to the White Bread Blues Boys, or Maverick Slim's Thursday night jazz show.
Public radio is a crucial outlet for those of us worn thin on commercial radio, and my modesty won't prevent me from boasting that the "The Porch" gang fought the good fight, one listener at a time.
There's something incredibly empowering about 'owning' the airwaves for an hour, even if circumstances forced us on a nearly weekly basis to lament the endless disappointments often found in the professional sporting landscape in Minnesota.
I miss the anxiousness when our intro song ("Shimmy She Wobble" by the North Mississippi AllStars) began playing, and we'd strap on our headphones and let the weirdness role.
But indeed, old friends and neighbors, all things must pass. And I am most grateful when my alarm doesn't pester me every Saturday at 7:30 a.m.
Drew Lyon, 2006 MSU graduate, Portland, Ore.
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