C.J.: FM107's Punnett leaving town? Not so fast

Someday, when she leaves, Margery Punnett said on her MyTalk107.1FM show, "I'm just going to say, 'Bye.' "

Punnett indicated her preference for the quick goodbye Wednesday while she and her supporting cast were discussing David Letterman's interview with his CBS late-night successor, Stephen Colbert.

Various broadcasting colleagues, who are not necessarily trying to rush Punnett away, have periodically wondered how long she will remain in the Twin Cities now that her husband and former radio co-host has moved to Arizona for graduate school. I've tried to ask Punnett about her career plans. She ignored my tweets. A mailed letter — I'm told she doesn't have voice mail at the station — prompted her to leave a couple voice mails but not a number.

Last week, I stumbled into the second-best source of information on this subject while being interviewed on "Carl's Corner," a podcast on the Tom Barnard Network.

Just before the interview, Carl, the quote-retired farmer-unquote, informed me that Ian Punnett would be calling into the podcast.

Oh, goody, I thought as my head filled with questions about Margery and her co-host, Elizabeth Ries.

As you may remember, tinnitus — a condition that causes chronic sleep-depriving headaches — ended Ian's broadcasting career. He is now a Ph.D. candidate at Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, where my former editor Tim McGuire is a professor.

Doesn't sound like Margery will be following Ian to AZ. That hunch is underscored by Ian's comment on pocketyourdollars.com: "With two boys in college and not returning home, the timing was right to sell our picture-perfect home and downsize. We have lived frugally and invested well, but it will still be a challenging bottleneck to get through having one woman working and the rest of us getting degrees at the same time."

I also asked Ian why his friend and former FM107.1 radio colleague Ries doesn't disclose that her dad, Tom Ries, is the president of Concordia University at the end of all of her radio spots for Concordia. I have heard her mention the connection only twice.

Everybody knows that, Punnett said, prompting a debate that I did not win.

Elizabeth Ries has not responded to my phone call and tweet. A staffer in President Ries' office was unaware of the radio commercials, and the marketing staffer to whom I was referred Wednesday did not return my call.

However, via e-mail MyTalk107.1FM program director Amy Daniels confirmed, "She gets paid to endorse Concordia University."

"I am sorry to say, our conversation didn't get recorded correctly. Because of equipment upgrade the day before you came in, we couldn't post that show. Can we do a 'redo' sometime?" asked Carl's producer "Jimmy Francis" via e-mail Tuesday.

Us Weekly is surprised to report that Elin Nordegren and Lindsey Vonn have become close friends.

"Close friends" sounds like an exaggeration to me until I hear it from one of them, but I am not surprised the ex-wife and current girlfriend of Tiger Woods are friendly.

Vonn did not contribute to breaking up Nordegren's marriage with Woods, which produced two children.

The magazine's sources claim the Olympic ski champ is good for the World's Most Famous Golfer and that Vonn's strong, opinionated style keeps Woods in check. Nordegren reportedly discovered she and Vonn have a lot in common and they communicate like old girlfriends.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz."