Live And Local?

"Local" radio, direct from Columbus, Ohio:

On Thursday when snow flurries were flying, the newest voice on KSTP (1500 AM) -- a host known only as Sterling -- complained to listeners about the semi-hysterical reaction of Twin Cities weather forecasters.

"I'm fairly new here, but do we have to be whipped into a fervor about the snow? Here in the Twin Cities," he added, "it's going to snow."

Only Sterling wasn't "here" at all. He was sitting in Columbus, Ohio, where the weather was clear and 51 degrees.

Although he mentioned Ohio later, saying he "had worked and lived there," he never told listeners that he was broadcasting his noon-to-2 p.m. show from its capital city, and has done so every day since early September, when he started full time at KSTP.

Ohio? Why are we outsourcing our jobs to a low-cost third world state? I know that radio is tough work, but is this really the kind of job that Minnesotans just won't do?

Rest assured that while it may occasionally seem like we're phoning it in, the Northern Alliance Radio Network will always be live and locally broadcast from the sprawling AM1280 The Patriot compound in Eagan.