Talk Back: Introducing Jon King

Welcome to the Talk Back blog. My name is Jon King and I’ll be responsible for lifting the curtain and exposing all the dirty details about the show. If you’re looking for links to resources, behind-the-scenes sound bites, opinion articles, our background research, or just another place to let your opinion out, this is it.

Before I dive into the goals of this blog, I’d like to let you into my life a little. I’m a father of two children, Elijah (19 months) and Naomi (4 years) who has spent the last 5 years fighting to provide for my family. I've juggled all kinds of crazy jobs ranging from teaching English in Japan, managing a retail store, selling toys, running a small business, coaching debate teams, working at a restaurant, and scooping poop (a necessary skill to have when dealing with politics). I chose to get married young and insist on staying that way even though my beautiful wife Ruth forces me to try Spam with eggs to see if my taste buds have changed.  I love old books, obscure music, debate, European board games and playing Japanese chess (if anyone else in Missoula knows how to play, give me a call and I’ll be there). I just turned 30 and although accusations have been levied that I took the co-host job to feel younger (sorry Peter), I really took the job because discussing important topics is what I really love to do. So, that’s me. I hope you love or hate me . . . it gives us something to talk about

Now back to the purpose of this blog. Talk Back is a success because Montana has an informed group of listeners and callers who are willing to talk back to us. I firmly believe that talk radio is the perfect medium for getting into the guts of a topic because it relies on spontaneity and improvisation; however, because of time restraints and brain-farts (yes, that is a technical term), hosts and callers often fail to communicate everything they have to say. No more excuses! I’ll do my best to fill you in on all the gritty details and I hope you’ll participate by telling us what you think too. My goal with this blog is to help funnel your enlightened viewpoint onto the radio and to turn more listeners into contributors both to the show and to the marketplace of ideas.

Remember, this is an opinion blog, so the stronger your opinion the better! I’m looking for vigorous disagreement or rallying support, not the wishy-washy unanchored positions one gets from a normal newscast.

 This is our first go at this, so we’d like to hear what you have to say about the show. What topics do you want to hear us discuss? Where are we going wrong? I’ll stop typing now and let you get a word in edgewise.

-Jon King