[MinnPost Appearance] January 19th. Jack's New Show!

Ex-WCCOer Jack Rice returns, on AM950

By David Brauer | Published Thu, Jan 19 2012 10:00 am

Fans of Jack Rice, the "journalist, lawyer, former CIA officer" and ex-WCCO radio host, should mark their calendars for Feb. 5, when his new 7-9 a.m. Sunday show debuts on AM950.

Jack Rice

Rice, who has a Minneapolis-based criminal defense practice, was laid off by the Good Neighbor at the beginning of 2009. He'd been doing double-duty at San Diego's KOGO and worked for the California station for a year after departing WCCO. He migrated to Air America — the one-time national home of Sen. Al Franken — and was nationally syndicated before that operation went Chapter 7 in 2010.

AM950 once billed itself as "Air America Minnesota" (an awkward monicker if ever there was one) and now calls itself "The Progressive Voice of Minnesota." Says Rice, "I expect my show to be quite different than what I did on WCCO for some five years ... Regarding my political approach, I intend to be fair and factual.  Of course, I will state my own opinions which I will argue are based upon logical conclusions.  So . . . in short, I will be subjective."

AM950's ratings are a blip (a half-percent of local listeners) and Sundays aren't exactly prime time, but Rice has led an interesting life and he might spice up your weekend listening when "Weekend Edition" is just too patrician.