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#915 – Dick Bernard: Some very sad news: Journalist Andy Driscoll takes his final bow.

We had just returned from several days out of town and catching on what’s been happening, Cathy noted the death of a friend of mine, Andy Driscoll.
Indeed it was true, and this morning I woke up with a ever-longer Facebook entry with tributes to and about Andy. I looked at the home page of KFAI, the public station on which he has broadcast since 2007, and saw more about him at the KFAI website.
Andy made a big difference, quietly, for many years.
There are many Andy’s in the world: there just aren’t headlines written about them; and they aren’t in the national media. But at home they regularly make an impact on their communities, small and large, in many and diverse ways.
Beginning in mid-2007, Andy produced and broadcast a one hour program each week on KFAI which he called “Truth to Tell”. I haven’t counted, but at minimum it would appear that he had over 250 programs on air. There were probably near 1000 on-air guests in that time.
Quite an accomplishment, especially considering that one hour interview programs don’t just happen. They take great effort.
In the first sentence I call Andy a “friend”.
I use that word with hesitation, but my guess is that Andy would agree that yes, we were good friends, even if we saw each other rarely.
In fact, along with Syl Jones, Marie Braun of WAMM, and Dr. Joe Schwartzberg of Citizens for Global Solutions, I was one of the panelists on his inaugural show on air, July 4, 2007.
(There were a few earlier practice runs in 2007; and the initial experiment began, I recall, in the Fall of 2006, but July 4, 2007, was the official first program. Apparently that first show remains available on archive. At this moment I haven’t tried to access it.)
Ironically, Andy’s last on-air show, as yet not available on-line, was about the future of the Minnesota Orchestra.
He and I shared a passion for the Orchestra as well; in fact, the last time I saw Andy in person was right after the lockout began, October 18, 2012, at the first concert of the locked-out Minnesota Orchestra. He commented at the end of my post about that evening here.
The last comment I have from him was also about the Orchestra situation at September 6, 2013. Scroll down to it here.
There won’t be any flags at half-staff for Andy Driscoll around his city, state and nation. Just people like myself who take a moment to reminisce.
But Andy, and all who labor in their own neighborhoods and communities are the ones who truly make the difference that matters, unsung, and too often unappreciated.
Andy, I note that you and I are the same age.
We’re walking down the same path towards the same destination.
Good traveling with you over these past few years, Andy.