It All Works Out in the End

• Attending Brown Institute and learning the basics of broadcasting
• Feeling culturally out of place at Brown after growing up in North Minneapolis
• Developing a natural on-air style instead of the traditional “disc jockey voice”
• Getting his first radio job at KDAN while still a teenager
• The first time he went on the air
• Moving from KDAN to 1500 KSTP after being noticed by people in the industry
• Starting at KSTP doing overnights and weekends

This episode is all listener questions, from start to finish. It's the final part to focus on Tom's pre-radio life.

• Understanding his father’s mental illness and how it shaped Tom’s childhood
• Learning to read at a very young age and using books as an escape
• Playing basketball at St. Anne’s and memories of his teachers
• Christmas traditions and his brother Terry returning home from Vietnam
• The friends and families who gave Tom support outside his own home
• Getting around Minneapolis by bus before he learned to drive
• Receiving a scholarship to Brown Institute and studying radio
• Tom’s rebellious streak and getting into trouble at broadcasting school
• The music and local bands that influenced him growing up
• Meeting musicians he had admired, including Ricky Nelson
• How Tom met former Viking Philip “Philly Dog” Wise
• Tom and Philly Dog’s decades-long friendship and his later role on the morning show

• Growing up poor and moving between neighborhoods in Minneapolis
• Tom’s early jobs and learning to work from a young age
• His relationship with his siblings and taking responsibility for his family
• Attending St. Anne’s and adjusting to a very different school environment
• Tom’s experiences at Jordan Junior High and with his teachers
• Growing up during the Vietnam War and upheaval of the 1960s
• The moment Tom first became interested in radio
• His earliest radio jobs and the people who helped him get started
• Moving to Jacksonville for his radio career
• The origin of Tom’s “Catman” nickname

This is a new series where Bob Sansevere interviews Tom Barnard, one-on-one, about his life. It's a focused show whose ultimate goal is to be compiled into a memoir. In essence, it's a mini-series with a beginning and an end. When will that end come? We won't know until we get there.

• Growing up poor in North Minneapolis
• Tom's grandparents and complicated family history
• Childhood memories of his mother and father
• Growing up with his brothers and sisters
• Working from a young age to help support the family
• Tom's relationship with his father and their eventual reconciliation
• Neighborhood life and the communities Tom grew up around
• Early jobs and learning to make his own money
• Discovering his voice and getting his start in radio
• The beginnings of the career that would eventually take him to KQRS

They're waiting for you, Gordon. In the test chamber.

This is a Playstation black disc. Track 1 contains computer data, so please, don't play it. But you probably won't listen to me, will you?