KQ Morning Show - Cure for Minnesota Homesickness

There is a lot that I miss about the Twin Cities.  I miss major league baseball and hockey.  I miss the music scene.  I miss the good restaurants.  I miss the lakes.  Hell, I even miss the StarTribune.  But one of the things I really missed was the KQRS morning show.  

It is juvenile, sophomoric, repetitious, and unequivocally Minnesotan.  And successful.  From a ratings standpoint, this show consistently decimated its competition at a level that was (and is) the envy of just about every other radio show in the nation.  And one of the reasons that they're not known outside of the state is that they never took the show outside of the market.  Their head guy very adeptly knew that part of the popularity of the show was that it was Minnesotan.  The jokes wouldn't work in Detroit, and they weren't going to change the jokes.   

Every morning I used to drink coffee, eat my breakfast, read the paper, and listen to the show as part of my daily routine.  Yeah, they've been laughing at the same jokes for 20 years now, but bits and drops from their show have become part of Minnesota vernacular.  Don't believe me?  Then go up to a Minnesotan and say something like "you know damn right," "a pair of choppers," or "everyone's a winner," and see what kind of reaction you get.   

On a recent morning when I was struck with a greater-than-usual amount of homesickness, I wondered aloud what the KQ morning show was up to.  Lo and behold, my wife's laptop happened to be in the kitchen, and with a few clicks of the mouse, Tom, Terri and the crew were back in the kitchen with me.   

You can listen along with me here.   

At least one of my daily routines is back.  Now if I could just get the dog to fetch the newspaper every morning from the mailbox...