Blind Squirrels of Radio

The early news on KSTP AM1500's plans replace Dave Thompson and Bob Davis is not promising:

KSTP Radio, having booted two of its talk show hosts in the past week, is filling four hours every weekday with a duo from Madison, Wis., the AM station announced this morning.

Shawn Prebil and Chris Murphy debut today at 9 a.m., leaving behind their gig at WTDY (AM 1670).

In a news release, KSTP station director Todd Fisher said the two "will bring a dose of skeptical humor and subtle sarcasm to the Twin Cities' airwaves."

Skeptical humor and subtle sarcasm on the radio? Groundbreaking stuff there. Why, all the Twin Cities airwaves offer today is earnest humor and obtuse sarcasm. This is a most welcome change.

"While tackling even the most serious of topics, they are sure to hit a laugh in there somewhere."

Whoa, be careful not to over promise there. Are you really sure you want to guarantee that if we listen to a four hour broadcast there will be "a laugh in there somewhere"? Maybe that could be a promo to introduce the show: Find the laugh in today's Prebil and Murphy Show and win a pair of Twins tickets. Something tells me the pair's "hitting a laugh" will be about as common as Nick Punto hitting a home run.

UPDATE-- Just in case you were thinking I was being a bit premature in my judgement, we now learn a little more about KSTP's new dynamic duo from the Strib's revised story:

KSTP Radio (AM 1500), having booted two of its politically conservative talk show hosts in the past week, is filling four hours every weekday with a left-leaning duo from Madison, Wis.

A left-leaning duo from Madison? What are the odds?

When Prebil joined WTDY in 2003, he was described as the station's "newest voice of progress" by a 40,000-member labor union in southern Wisconsin. In a recent blog, he wrote: "What I love about the current political climate is Democrats are finally willing to stand up to fools like Sean Hennity [sic]."

Murphy, on his MySpace page, scolds Republicans for being too critical of President Obama: "To my elephant friends. You had your shot, your deregulation got us in this mess, you lost power, deal with it by working together with Democrats to fix it."

Four hours a day of skeptical humor and subtle sarcasm with an occasional laugh, all from a left-wing political perspective? Why am I suddenly longing for the days of Willie Clark talking about moving his cat?