I don't remember anymore what my knowledge was of the Al Malmberg show prior to mid-July 2001, but that's when I first became a listener. Unable to sleep in my steamy apartment, I spent many a late night sitting up listening to Al and his rag-tag cast of regular callers. The show first hit it off with me on the night that Jonathan and I ended up driving to the ball of twine. Driving across the state, we listened in as callers called in about everything from the death penalty to the Twins - and I was hooked. My listening dropped off considerably during the school year when I tried to return to a semi-normal bedtime, but I've begun listening more again this summer.

The reason I say I should hate Al Malmberg and his show is the conservative nature of it all. Listening to the oft-uninformed opinions of Al and his callers would drive a hardline liberal off the deep end. Luckily, I'm not quite liberal enough to not find humor in the stupidity of everyone involved. Back home there's nothing even close to this sort of nonsense.