T. D. Mischke

Thomas David "T.D." Mischke (born September 19, 1962) is a Minnesota writer, musician, and former radio talk show host on WCCO NewsRadio 830 based in Minneapolis. He was formerly employed at City Pages, a Twin Cities alternative news, arts and entertainment publication. For 17 years he hosted The Mischke Broadcast on am1500 KSTP, until it was cancelled in December 2008. His show featured quirky regular callers, stream of consciousness humor, and experts on any topic he found interesting. Since 1998, Mischke has been the winner of the "Best AM Radio Personality" award given by the local weekly alternative newspaper City Pages nine times.

Mischke hosted a daily webcast entitled In the Stream for City Pages from March 2009 until February 2010. He was most recently the host of The Nite Show weekdays from 10 PM to Midnight on WCCO Radio. His final show on WCCO was August 1, 2013.

In May 2014 Mischke launched the "The Mischke Roadshow" podcast on the Tom Barnard Podcast Network. The weekly podcast features interviews, music and comedy bits.

Early life

Mischke was born into a large Catholic family of six boys and two girls. He grew up in St. Paul's Groveland Park neighborhood. After a stint at Cretin High School, he graduated from Highland Park Senior High.^[1] He attended Saint John's University, the alma mater of his father and grandfather, planning to follow in his father's footsteps with a degree in journalism. Finding no journalism program at St. John's, he transferred to the University of St. Thomas where he graduated in 1987 and became a freelance writer.

Broadcasting career

In 1986–1987, Mischke was known as "The Phantom Caller" on Don Vogel's show, where he would randomly call in (without identifying himself) with tightly-written, sixty-second comedic bits. He so amused the radio personality that he was invited to become Don's sidekick on his show, Afternoon Saloon, on KSTP in 1992, during Vogel's second stint in the Twin Cities. After the stint as a sidekick, Mischke was given his own program on am1500 in January 1994.

On December 15, 2004, Mischke released Whistle Stop, a collection of his music. He performed on fellow Twin Cities broadcaster Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on the September 2, 2006 show.^[2]

On January 3, 2006, the Mischke Broadcast returned from the Christmas hiatus to a new timeslot and an altered format. The new hours, a late drive-time shift of 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, prompted the new format, the station banning many of the trademark Mischke bits including his prank 411 calls and the pockets of dead air that would occasionally fill large portions of his show. Mischke, in announcing the change, said, "the Mischke Broadcast, as you know it, is finished," though he assured listeners the move was a positive one for both him and KSTP.

Mischke released his second CD, "That Kind of Day" on December 4, 2008.

Mischke was abruptly fired by KSTP on December 5, 2008 for making a phone call on the air without first getting the recipient's permission,^[3] an FCC violation^[4] Mischke said he'd made before.^[5]

Mischke hosted a daily webcast for the weekly Twin Cities alternative newspaper City Pages.^[6] The show, entitled In the Stream, premiered on March 4, 2009. Mischke ended the webcast on February 4, 2010, but continues his weekly column for City Pages.

Mischke started a new radio show on May 10, 2010 10pm-Midnight, Mon-Thurs on WCCO 830 on the AM dial. On August 1, 2013, Mischke did his final radio show at WCCO.

References

External links

• T.D. Mischke: Whistle Stop
• In-depth article about Mischke from The Atlantic Monthly
• The Rake Magazine article on Mischke
• City Pages article on Mischke
• The Madness of Mischke, an online collection of audio clips