Do You Know About Mischke?

I was just talking with Sarah Lemaczyk from Radio K who is one of many folks I look up to in the world of radio. She is also my neighbor for just a couple more weeks before she moves to Minneapolis like a real asshole. She is immensely fun to talk to about radio and recorded media. She is a person who has thought it about it so much that she is simple. . .do you get what I’m talking about. Sometimes someone who has worked very hard at something for ten years is just too deep into nomenclature, and terms, and ideas and it’s all swirling and if you try to get an idea from them you are drowned in terminology. Switch that to someone who has been in it for thirty years and they are full of well-seasoned information that is digestible and you can actually bring it back into what you’re doing. Pretty incredible. So I love talking to her and she’s often hanging out when I’m walking my dog. I was telling Sarah how much I’ve been loving Mischke, who is a celebrated radio personality turned podcaster. I’ve been hearing ABOUT him for years. My friend Martin Devaney is an enthusiast. But I read about him in the Star Tribune recently and so I dove in. Wow. These podcasts are well-crafted, they are engaging, and I’m gonna say it, they are world-class. I know he has a dedicated fan base, enough of one for him to pay his bills doing a podcast, but I am a bit confused why he isn’t even more of a household name. The work is high quality. The performance of it. The art of it. Part of what you do behind a mic is entertainment. Unless you are simply sharing the amazing songs you wrote and now are disseminating for your fans sake, or perhaps if you have been asked to simply read the news with no flavor. Part of what broadcasting is is entertainment. Mischke seems to get that. He makes an art of the ad reads he does, he makes an art of the traffic breaks he used to have to do. The man has figured out how to put personality into everything. AND MOST PEOPLE WHO PUT PERSONALITY INTO EVERYTHING ARE UNDYINGLY ANNOYING. They are the type of people who have many color markers and who like the musical group The Capitol Steps and love horrible vegan food from the town they went to college in. But Mischke has this personality that his work drips with, without him being extra. He trusts his audience, he is efficient with them, he is a master.

When I told Sarah about this she pointed out that no matter where you are in your career, it’s important to have dads. It’s important to have folks you look up to, folks you study, folks you learn from. I’m learning a boatload from turning on these Mischke podcasts. Check out these episodes and see what you think.

Enjoy these. I hope you love them.