Recombobulating on the radio (Early December Edition)
Featuring appearances on "Matenaer On Air," "Mornings with Pat Kreitlow," and "Driving it Home" with Patti Vasquez. Listen or stream all episodes here.
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.
It’s been a busy week in Wisconsin politics — Mandela Barnes launched his campaign for governor, challenges to the state’s congressional maps continue to advance, etc. — and I’ve been on the radio talking about a whole lot of it. You can, as always, find all of those appearances rounded up here.
But first, just a reminder about the show that I have appeared on most frequently over the years, “Matenaer On Air.” The legendary broadcaster, Jane Matenaer, is retiring at the end of next week. I sat down with her to talk about her remarkable 44+ year career in radio, and you can read the story I wrote about her and her career, and watch my sit-down conversation with her, right here:
On to the roundup, starting with my second-to-last appearance (!) on the show…
As I do every Friday morning, I joined Jane Matenaer and Greg Bach to recombobulate on the big political news of the week.
In these episodes, we talked about Mandela Barnes running for governor, and my goofy twitter poll on the race.
We also talked about the challenges to the state’s congressional maps that are advancing through the courts.
I always record these in person at our studio in Radio Park in Racine, so you can watch the livestream here.
On Thursday, I joined my friend Patti Vasquez on Heartland Signal and WCPT 820 in Chicago to talk about the latest in Wisconsin politics — and this weekend’s Packers-Bears game.
On Tuesday, I joined “Mornings with Pat Kreitlow” to talk about Mandela Barnes’ campaign launch and more.
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he became the Political Editor of Civic Media. He’s written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 23 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Congratulations, Jane! How perfect a culmination of a marvelous career that you wrap up on WAUK. I came to Milwaukee as Manager of WAUX in 1964 and immediately changed the calls to WAUK. The dial position is no longer 1500 AM but I’m counting it!
Jim Beasley aka Jack Lee