Meier felt KSTP-TV's ax; anchor now gets the hook

Now, Randy Meier has been literally, as well as figuratively, kicked off KSTP-TV's air.

The former KSTP-TV anchor was invited to guest-host on FM107's afternoon drive-time show for two days last week. On weekdays, "5 Eyewitness News" sends a camera to the radio station for frothy cut-ins that air live on TV.

On Wednesday, after clearance seemed to have been given for Meier to be back on KSTP-TV's air for the first time since 2003, he got rudely pushed off camera at the last minute by show sidekick Julia Cobbs, who did not return calls.

"It was just weird," Meier told me Thursday. "My biggest astonishment was, 'Where'd this come from?' Clearly there were some people who were fine with it and at the last minute somebody wasn't fine with it. For all parties involved, it would have been nice if everybody had been on the same page.

"It was very difficult for the radio people to have to deal with that. It was disRESPECTful to get stiff-armed off camera. That's never happened to me in 25 years. I don't blame FM107 one bit. They did exactly what they had to do. ... I felt bad for the people around me because it put them in a very difficult situation. They couldn't apologize enough and wanted to make sure I was going to come back the next day."

Yeah, it seems somebody wanted him to return Thursday for just a tad more insult to go with Wednesday's injury.

Thursday's TV cut-in was about having a green wedding. Who wasn't allowed to be part of this discussion? Randy Meier, who is currently hosting "Blueprint for Green," a show airing on KARE11 about using environmentally friendly design in home construction.

FM107's program director Amy Daniels did not call to offer enlightenment on the unprofessional guest-host treatment Meier received.

In 2003, Meier left KSTP-TV when his contract was not renewed. He landed softly on the East Coast, anchoring on MSNBC, from which he departed in 2007.

As this classic Hubbard moment illustrates, things are the same at KSTP, while Meier remains one of local broadcasting's gentlemen, even when pushed, literally.

A tale of two mayors Some of these people are not like the others, not like others. ...

Sing it with me, people! Apologies to the "Sesame Street" writers who penned a song with similar lyrics, but that tune popped into my head upon seeing a photo of St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak with Jack White and his band, the Raconteurs.

White's hair could use a cut, but he wears a suit about as well as either mayor, and Jack's no doubt cost more.

Boom in the room That problem boom that appeared during a Wednesday screening of the "Sex and the City" movie at the Mall of America is a nationwide issue.

FM107 fans at the private screening got a look at a bobbing mike during a couple scenes.

An official at the MOA 14's AMC Theaters, who is not allowed to be an official mouthpiece, said Thursday: "They give [the print] to us just prior to the movie so that we don't have time to prescreen it because of piracy issues. It also can be mechanical, sometimes. The film will go through the projector and jump a sprocket on the side of the film."

Shruti L. Mathur, a former Strib reporter, covered what she called the "Sex and the Microphone" movie event for Delaware's News Journal. "It's not just you!" she e-mailed. "We had the boom mic dip in through half the film also, and also spotted the light box. Totally ruined the film for me. After I realized what poor production quality was there, I started nitpicking everything else -- cheesy dialogue, uninspired acting and one-note characters. The mic ruined my illusion. The strange thing? The theater we were at had the film showing on two screens and the other screen didn't have the same issues!"