Secrets of the City

Brauer, upon watching this 28-minute video of KSTP News from 1977 (with a truly kickass theme), waxes nostalgic for old-school teevee news reporting: “What was then a top-rated newscast (yes, KSTP was once Number One) looked more like PBS’s NewsHour today, spending the first several minutes on legislative policy.”

David Brauer reports the shocking news that KSTP-AM has fired popular radio personality Tommy Mischke: I called up Mischke Saturday morning and he was gracious, diplomatic and cautious. “I want to be able to talk about it, but I need a little time before I can,” he said.

MnPost responds:

First, the context: KSTP was the only major Twin Cities TV station that didn’t have a staff member arrested covering the demonstrations, according to an assignment desk staffer this afternoon. That might’ve altered the Channel 5 staff’s perspective.

Second, the must-do: KSTP’s owner, Hubbard Broadcasting Inc., was an RNC Host Committee sponsor and HBI patriarch Stanley Hubbard is on the Host Committee’s executive board. (Via)

Minnesota Brown calls out KSTP for a report they did on Ironworld, and on the Iron Range in general: The first problem with the story was the one I pointed out last week when I heard they were working on this. KSTP makes it sound like the state taxpayers are paying for Ironworld when that is just not true. Mining taxes pay for Ironworld and these taxes are paid by the mining companies in lieu of local property taxes. These funds are funneled through a state agency, Iron Range Resources, but the money belongs to the region, not the state. So the people who have the right to be angry about Ironworld are the residents of Iron Range cities, and most of them recognize the unique role Ironworld plays in preserving and sharing Iron Range culture.

The Strib on KSTP’s long-awaited afternoon talk show: “Twin Cities Live” offers some very good company — but will it be good enough to survive on daytime TV? A Day in the Life provides their own report.

I was heading to YouTube to view some fine videos of underworked folks with webcams when I saw the freeze frame of a sponsored clip had a KSTP Channel 5 news anchor on it.

Any idea why news reports from a Minnesota station with Minnesota anchors and reporters would be on a documentary-style movie about something that happened in New York?

It’s on this link: go almost to the very end and listen.

This may be the most useless Google Maps application ever. Oh, and be sure to check out the video “One Woman’s Pothole Story“.

Did anyone see the preview for tonight’s 10pm newscast on channel 5. Apparently downtown is unsafe, as it has been taken over by roving drunken gangs of fratboys on the weekends. Sensational!

Mike Mosedale at City Pages has a great piece in the Blotter about the media and blog coverage of the Uptown murder. MnSpeak somehow avoided a mention, but I’m not sure if we deserved to. (A few of our users made it in for their comments on other blogs.) Mosedale cited KSTP, Rambix and the Red Star, the Anti-Strib, and Fraters Libertas as the worst offenders while praising WCCO and the Strib for their discretion. Be sure to read the bloggers’ responses in the comments.