lifestyle

KSTP Radio (AM 1500), having booted two of its politically conservative talk show hosts in the past week, is filling four hours every weekday with a left-leaning duo from Madison, Wis.

Shawn Prebil, 31, and Chris Murphy, 45, debuted Thursday morning, leaving behind their 3-6 p.m. gig at WTDY (AM 1670).

In a news release, KSTP station director Todd Fisher said the two "bring a dose of skeptical humor and subtle sarcasm to the Twin Cities' airwaves."

Prebil and Murphy have been on WTDY for the past two years and were known as "the Wisconsin Guys." Murphy, a native of Apple Valley, also was the station's program director.

On its face, KSTP appears to be dissolving its steady stream of conservative ideology behind the mike. In recent days, Bob Davis (9 a.m. to noon) and Dave Thompson (noon to 2 p.m.) were fired. Both were right of the political center in their views.

Left-of-center Patrick Reusse recently took over the station's morning drive shift.

When Prebil joined WTDY in 2003, he was described as the station's "newest voice of progress" by a 40,000-member labor union in southern Wisconsin. In a recent blog, he wrote: "What I love about the current political climate is Democrats are finally willing to stand up to fools like Sean Hennity [sic]."

Murphy, on his MySpace page, scolds Republicans for being too critical of President Obama: "To my elephant friends. You had your shot, your deregulation got us in this mess, you lost power, deal with it by working together with Democrats to fix it."

KSTP program director Steve Konrad, addressing the apparent ideological shift, said, "We never, ever have had a political/ideological 'sense' for any program we have ever aired. ... Our only agenda is to offer the Twin Cities a place to talk about the things that are affecting those of us that live and work in the metro."

KSTP still must address how it will fill the still-vacant 1-2 p.m. hour. Joe Soucheray's show runs from 2 to 5:30 p.m.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482