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Jim Swanson

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
4 years 23 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 03/02/13 at 12:39 pm in response to Three short films, years apart, capture slices of Minneapolis street life

"Walk" is from the spring of 1985, despite the clip being labeled 1983. Among other shots proving this, "A Passage To India" was released in 1985. No car horns from the Mall, either; Nicollet has had no car traffic since its 1967 makeover. Virtually all of the audio in "Walk" is manipulated.

Posted on 05/09/12 at 04:24 am in response to New Buz'n, K-TWIN formats shake up Twin Cities radio ratings

You've done a good job of consistenty in how the stations are referenced in your ratings list. But to maintain continuity two of the stations need tweaking.

"Classical" should be MPR Classical or KSJN Classical. To that end, MPR News might better be KNOW News. No other station is listed solely as a format.

"KNOW stream" should match its mate, MPR News, as MPR News stream or, as suggested above, change MPR News to KNOW News.

Posted on 11/04/11 at 01:43 pm in response to The Bird's the Word: Twin Cities songs about birds

How about an honorable mention for The Time's own "The Bird"?

Posted on 10/21/11 at 08:41 pm in response to St. Louis Park produced some memorable cultural icons

Dude. You didn't mention (Sen.) Franken & (Tom) Davis of early SNL.

Posted on 04/19/11 at 11:14 pm in response to Third time charming? KDWB improves apology for Hmong parody song

Are we not intelligent adults? Clear Channel/KDWB's actions are specifically intended to cause controversy. The resulting firestorm is free PR, a fundamental purpose of the song's creation and broadcast, beyond the basic fact that everything the entity does is to draw attention and gain listening to maximize revenue. The company has achieved this goal, as it (and KQRS) have previously.

What has not been discussed here is that broadcast station operators are privileged trustees of...

Posted on 01/17/11 at 03:35 pm in response to The disreputable -- and entertaining -- spectacle that is the Golden Globes

CBS's "60 Minutes" many years ago broadcast a segment about the GGs. The Foreign Press Ass'n was, as I recall, exposed as the fraud it is.

Web searches for the piece, much less for any reference to it, turn up nothing. I, for one, would love to see it (or a transcript of it) again.

Posted on 11/30/10 at 12:56 am in response to ShelbyFest propels WCCO to first 10 p.m. demo win in 24 years

I'm no fan of Fox news properties, be they local or mothership. But is there a reason why 9's 10pm newscast wasn't included in the analysis?

Posted on 08/24/10 at 12:02 am in response to Will radio rights deal put an FM tuner in your iPhone?

The NAB is populated with clowns from the ice age. The biggest reason against requiring FM radio in modern devices (hello, NAB, welcome to 2010) is content. Or the lack thereof.

Most FM radio is music formats with tons of ads and people are not "programmed" to go to FM music stations for emergency information. That is useless in an emergency, even moreso when some of the DJs are pre-recorded and even non-local in some cases (plus, these blowhards probably wouldn't know how to dispense...

Posted on 06/23/10 at 01:07 pm in response to KDWB beats KQ, wins ratings race for first time in PPM era

David:

KHTC, in addition to the format adjustment, moved its transmitter/tower from Watertown to New Hope in August. This may have played a role in the station's performance.

Posted on 04/22/10 at 01:48 am in response to MyTalk107 wins national community service award

David, these awards from the National Association of Broadcasters are a joke.

For those unfamiliar with them they sound big and important. However, they have become meaningless in a dying industry. Even a sizeable number of those working in the radio business scoff at their validity. They're a big stroke job.

As you reported, 107 is a Hubbard-owned station. It's worth noting that Virginia Morris, President of Hubbard Radio, is a trustee of the NAB's PAC and a former chair of...