Advertise on podcast: It All Works Out in the End

Attending Brown Institute and learning the basics of broadcastingFeeling culturally out of place at Brown after growing up in North MinneapolisDeveloping a natural on-air style instead of the traditional “disc jockey voice”Getting his first radio job at KDAN while still a teenagerThe first time he went on the airMoving from KDAN to 1500 KSTP after being noticed by people in the industryStarting at KSTP doing overnights and weekends

This episode is all listener questions, from start to finish. It's the final part to focus on Tom's pre-radio life. Understanding his father’s mental illness and how it shaped Tom’s childhoodLearning to read at a very young age and using books as an escapePlaying basketball at St. Anne’s and memories of his teachersChristmas traditions and his brother Terry returning home from VietnamThe friends and families who gave Tom support outside his own homeGetting around Minneapolis by bus before he learned to driveReceiving a scholarship to Brown Institute and studying radioTom’s rebellious streak and getting into trouble at broadcasting schoolThe music and local bands that influenced him growing upMeeting musicians he had admired, including Ricky NelsonHow Tom met former Viking Philip “Philly Dog” WiseTom and Philly Dog’s decades-long friendship and his later role on the morning show

Growing up poor and moving between neighborhoods in MinneapolisTom’s early jobs and learning to work from a young ageHis relationship with his siblings and taking responsibility for his familyAttending St. Anne’s and adjusting to a very different school environmentTom’s experiences at Jordan Junior High and with his teachersGrowing up during the Vietnam War and upheaval of the 1960sThe moment Tom first became interested in radioHis earliest radio jobs and the people who helped him get startedMoving to Jacksonville for his radio careerThe origin of Tom’s “Catman” nickname

This is a new series where Bob Sansevere interviews Tom Barnard, one-on-one, about his life. It's a focused show whose ultimate goal is to be compiled into a memoir. In essence, it's a mini-series with a beginning and an end. When will that end come? We won't know until we get there. Growing up poor in North MinneapolisTom's grandparents and complicated family historyChildhood memories of his mother and fatherGrowing up with his brothers and sistersWorking from a young age to help support the familyTom's relationship with his father and their eventual reconciliationNeighborhood life and the communities Tom grew up aroundEarly jobs and learning to make his own moneyDiscovering his voice and getting his start in radioThe beginnings of the career that would eventually take him to KQRS