Thomas David Mischke (born September 19, 1962) is an American writer, musician, podcaster, and former radio talk show host on WCCO NewsRadio 830 based in Minneapolis. He was formerly employed as a weekly columnist at ''

City Pages ''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...

'', a Twin Cities alternative news, arts and entertainment publication. For 17 years he hosted ''The Mischke Broadcast'' on am1500 KSTP. His show featured quirky regular callers, stream of consciousness humor, and experts on any topic he found interesting. Since 1998, Mischke has been the winner of the "Best AM Radio Personality" award given by the local weekly alternative newspaper ''City Pages'' nine times. Mischke hosted a daily webcast entitled ''In the Stream'' for ''City Pages'' from March 2009 until February 2010. He was most recently the host of ''The Nite Show'' weekdays from 10 PM to Midnight on WCCO Radio. He decided to retire from radio in the summer of 2013. His final show on WCCO was August 1. In May 2014 Mischke launched "The Mischke Roadshow." The monthly podcast features interviews, music and comedy bits.

Early life

Mischke was born into a large Catholic family of six boys and two girls. He grew up in St. Paul's Groveland/ Macalester neighborhood. After a stint at

Cretin High School Cretin-Derham Hall High School (CDH) is a private, co-educational Catholic high school in Saint Paul, Minnesota operated by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. It is co-sponsored by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and the Sis ...

, he graduated from Highland Park Senior High.

Broadcasting career

In 1986–1987, Mischke was known as "The Phantom Caller" on

Don Vogel Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON * Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a vi ...

's show, where he would randomly call in (without identifying himself) with tightly-written, sixty-second comedic bits. He so amused the radio personality that he was invited to become Don's sidekick on his show, ''

Afternoon Saloon Afternoon is the time after solar noon. It is the time when the sun is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the horizon in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the standard work and ...

'', on KSTP in 1992, during Vogel's second stint in the Twin Cities. After the stint as a sidekick, Mischke was given his own program on am1500 in January 1994. A feature of his Friday night show was an hour called "Misfit Friday", where rules were relaxed and callers were free to contribute in creative ways, such as "The Singing Bandit", who would call and sing short songs he had written, and then immediately hang up. One staple of Misfit Friday was a regular caller who Tommy dubbed "Psycho Ray" (a.k.a. Raymond Armstrong). Psycho Ray often hinted at stalking Tommy, giving only vague inferences as to his activities; conversations about his hobbies included knife sharpening, gun cleaning, and hanging out with his auto mechanic girlfriend "Jodi". Eventually, Ray was banned from calling in to the show by KSTP management for "firing a gun" on the air (revealed later to be just firecrackers), which resulted in an immediate storm of calls ranging from urging caution to ignoring Ray for being "all talk". On December 15, 2004, Mischke released ''

Whistle Stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...

'', a collection of his music. He performed on fellow Twin Cities broadcaster

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

's ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'' on the September 2, 2006 show. On January 3, 2006, the Mischke Broadcast returned from the Christmas hiatus to a new timeslot and an altered format. The new hours, a late drive-time shift of 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, prompted the new format, the station banning many of the trademark Mischke bits including his prank 411 calls and the pockets of dead air that would occasionally fill large portions of his show. Mischke, in announcing the change, said, "the Mischke Broadcast, as you know it, is finished," though he assured listeners the move was a positive one for both him and KSTP. Mischke released his second CD, "That Kind of Day" on December 4, 2008. Mischke was abruptly fired by KSTP on December 5, 2008 for making a phone call on the air without first getting the recipient's permission, an FCC violation Mischke said he'd made before. Mischke hosted a daily webcast for the weekly Twin Cities alternative newspaper ''

''. The show, entitled ''In the Stream'', premiered on March 4, 2009. Mischke ended the webcast on February 4, 2010, but continued his weekly column for City Pages. Mischke started a new radio show on May 10, 2010 10pm-Midnight, Mon-Thurs on WCCO 830 on the AM dial. On August 1, 2013, Mischke did his final radio show at WCCO.

Early life

Broadcasting career

References

External links