C.J.: Mischke hits 'Barnard Network'

Tommy Mischke has figured out his next act: "The Mischke Road Show" is scheduled to debut May 12 on what he's calling the "Tom Barnard Network."

The "Road Show" promises to be wilder than Mischke's previous too-droll-for-radio incarnations at KSTP and WCCO. "Wilder, yeah, because I am completely freed from the studio," Mischke told me Monday. "I'm just out in the world. I'll be wandering about in the Twin Cities, wherever and who knows who I'll run into or what will happen or what'll end up being on the program."

In a post to his Facebook followers, Mischke was more in your face: "Longtime local [KQ92 morning show host and voice-over talent] Tom Barnard has been looking to build a Minnesota station filled with nothing but podcasters (in my case, I'll be doing video as well). The idea is to offer unadulterated liberation to those voices out there that no longer care to abide by the constraints of corporate radio, the FCC or for that matter, any employer at all."

Mischke told me, as he wrote on Facebook, that Jeff Dubay, formerly of KFAN and late of 1500 ESPN, will also be part of Barnard's PodWork. "An old caller of mine named Carl Franklin (retired Iowa Farmer)" will have a podcast, Mischke posted. "Comedian Louie Anderson is currently in talks to sign on as well, and some other interesting folks to be named later. We're latching on to Tom's network, but we're also all on our own, independent contractors, making it, or failing, solely on our ability to promote our programs and attract some interest. If we attract advertisers, we eat, if we don't, we visit food shelves after hours. It's wonderfully black and white in that way."

Mischke said while Barnard started out just doing a podcast featuring himself and his nephew, Sean Barnard, "Their idea, and I believe it would be the first of its kind, is to have a station where every hour, if you wanted to, you could listen to live programming or download individual podcasts. I think as people learn about this, more will come knocking."

In 1992 Mischke joined KSTP and was paired for two years with Don Vogel on his afternoon show, before Tommy was given a solo late-night slot. In 2006, "The Mischke Broadcast" was moved to a late-drive-time slot and the station put restrictions on his quirky pranks and story lines. In May 2010 Mischke joined WCCO (AM 830) and signed off in 2013, saying that he had creatively hit rock bottom. His WCCO radio noncompete with CBS expires May 10; on May 8 Mischke and singer-songwriter Mike Gunther will inaugurate the podcast adventure with an appearance at O'Gara's in St. Paul.

Last season apparently induced such amnesia in Adrian Peterson he forgot that Christian Ponder helped the Vikings get to the playoffs in the previous season.

"@MikeVick would [instantly] make the Vikings a playoff team!" Peterson wrote on Twitter last week in a tweet that was almost universally ridiculed. The tweet was obviously a dig at Ponder and a nice What's Up to the Philly QB seeking a new team.

" … 5 reasons Mike Vick isn't fit to be a Viking," was the headline on a City Pages story by Kevin Hoffman, which featured a photo illustration of a pit bull tugging at a doll dressed in Vick's jersey.

"You're not looking at a member of the 'Michael Vick Fan Club,' " said my pal, the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan, guest-hosting on ESPN's "PTI." The Vikings "already made the playoffs," he said, and co-host Tony Kornheiser finished the thought, " … with Christian Ponder." It should be noted that Ponder was too injured to play in the Vikes' 10-24 playoff loss to the Packers on Jan. 5, 2013.

Tweets like that are reminders of the careless side of Peterson's personality.

If the Vikings brought in Vick and his animal-hide-covered baggage, I predict attorney/animals rights advocate Lori Peterson would have protesters outside the stadium every game.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com.