T. D. Mischke

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, he graduated from Highland Park Senior High.[1]

In 1986–1987, Mischke was known as "The Phantom Caller" on Don Vogel'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, 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, a collection of his music. He performed on fellow Twin Cities broadcaster Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on the September 2, 2006 show.[2]

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,[3] an FCC violation[4] Mischke said he'd made before.[5]

Mischke hosted a daily webcast for the weekly Twin Cities alternative newspaper City Pages.[6] 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.

• T.D. Mischke: Whistle Stop
• In-depth article about Mischke from The Atlantic Monthly
• The Rake Magazine article on Mischke
• City Pages article on Mischke
• The Madness of Mischke, an online collection of audio clips