A good sound man is hard to find

With my foray into live radio production this year I’ve made mention of the creative influence of A Prairie Home Companion on my work. Today I join others in mourning the loss of that show’s famed sound man Tom Keith, a longtime MPR host and personality. He died of a heart attack Sunday. A Prairie… Read More →

Keep northern Minnesota radio lively & local

Today is the final day of the KAXE-Northern Community Radio fall fundraiser. KAXE is an independent public radio station that pays its own way for a programming mix that includes a little bit of NPR news and a lot of locally-produced, locally-generated content and music. This year KAXE and I produced the Great Northern Radio… Read More →

Coming Oct. 15, the Great Northern Radio Show!

Times are neither good nor bad nor normal here on the Iron Range. We seem to be going through a transition that no one fully understands. And it occurs to me that the rest of the country, even the world, might be doing the same. So I could double down on my concerned missives on… Read More →

Latto’s radio legacy shows local programming matters

Yesterday we learned that Duluth broadcasting legend Lew Latto died unexpected at his home as he prepared to go to work hosting his talk radio program. Latto was a pioneering local broadcaster and the owner of several Duluth and Iron Range stations. Though I never met him, I worked for Latto in my first media… Read More →

The night I stole an hour from time

From 1996 to 1998, the years I was in senior high school, I worked weekend overnight shifts as an easy listening DJ at 97.9 WEVE in the iron mining town of Eveleth, Minnesota. Specifically, I’d come home from school on Friday afternoon, prepare a bowl of Campbell’s soup and cheese sandwich, take a sleeping pill… Read More →

Iron Range past, present, future subject of new radio documentary

The following is a press release from 91.7 KAXE regarding an upcoming radio documentary about the Iron Range by Milt Lee. I spoke with Milt with for this piece and am greatly looking forward to his take on the region. Iron Range Radio Documentary Debuts on 91.7 FM“Ranger in My Heart” Seeks the Region’s People,… Read More →

Brown on the Air: COMMUNITY MEDIA!

I’ve been talking lots and lots and lots of 5B politics around here. Sorry about that. It will all be over soon. If you’re looking for a respite, tune in to “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE, the Saturday morning call-in and music show sharing the voices of northern Minnesota. The show’s topic this… Read More →

A Prairie Home Companion seeks new host?

Garrison Keillor has benched himself as tonight’s “A Prairie Home Companion” program host. Folk musician Sara Watkins will take his place. Keillor will make appearances in sketches and perform his customary “News from Lake Wobegon” monologue, however. Speculation is that Watkins is getting a tryout as Keillor mulls retirement in the next year, though the… Read More →

My secret project is not-so-secret trend

The New York Times Book Review has a story (“All Programs Considered” by Bill McKibben) that fits nicely, perhaps too nicely, with thoughts I have been having lately about the direction of my writing and media projects. You know that this blog and my columns, essays and book, are professional in that I am sometimes… Read More →

Paul Bunyan flash mob, a folk tale

KAXE-Northern Community Radio is expanding, forming a new affiliated station in Bemidji called KBXE. Northern Community Radio is more than radio; it’s internet, news and original programming across the northern Minnesota spectrum. Anyway, to bring attention to the upcoming changes organizers staged a “Paul Bunyan flash mob,” in honor of Bemidji’s famed Paul Bunyan and… Read More →