Thomas 'Tom' Barnard (born November 7, 1951) is an American talk radio host and former voice-over talent. He is currently the host of The KQ92 Morning Show broadcast in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
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Barnard was born in Long Prairie, Minnesota and raised in North Minneapolis. He and his wife Kathryn Brandt live with their two children in Golden Valley, Minnesota.
Barnard has been overweight for several years and several years ago began a regular exercise regimen. Since then, he has lost nearly 100 pounds. He occasionally discusses his long bike rides around various parts of the Twin Cities area.
Before coming to KQRS, Barnard worked at numerous stations including WDGY and KSTP (as "The Catman"). Until 1986, he was the booth announcer for KSTP-TV.
Barnard, and then-partner Dan Culhane, started the "Tom and Dan" show in 1986 featuring sports reports from WCCO-TV sports anchor Mark Rosen. At one point, the team of Barnard and Culhane spearheaded a write-in campaign to elect Rosen For Governor of Minnesota. Culhane was eventually pushed out of the broadcast in a personnel move, while Rosen was "persuaded" by WCCO_TV's parent company to move his morning sports to WCCO-AM
Barnard is known for being very reclusive, refusing virtually all media interviews and rarely making public appearances. He did however recently give an in-depth interiew to the St. Paul Pioneer Press in which he discussed his strained relationship with his deceased father and compared his radio persona to that of his actual personality. Earlier in his career, Barnard and Culhane were guests with two other Twin Cities radio show duos on a local morning television show in 1988.
With podcasting technology, the KQRS Morning Show has reached national and international audiences. Regardless of the growth in his show's market, Barnard continuously assures listeners that the show will maintain its focus on the news, weather, sports and traffic of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Although he is semi-retired from voice-over work, Barnard can currently be heard in radio ads for Home Depot. For many years Barnard's voice was heard in various markets, introducing shows and appearing on commercials.
On September 29, 2009's Morning Show wrap-up, Barnard casually mentioned that he's planning to retire from live radio on December 21, 2012. Tom specifically said Terri would take over the Morning show, moments later the discussion moved to a "play off" for host during the year 2012. Tom explained that the 21st is a Friday and it's just before Christmas.
On December 8, 2009, Tom Barnard said via Facebook, "After many weeks of discussion with my Wife, Marc the G.M. of K.Q. and the guy who hired me, Dave Hamilton, I asked a very bright friend of mine what he thought of me leaving K.Q.R.S. He said, 'If there is any proof in this world that there is a God it is the life you have because of the unwavering support of K.Q. listeners. Only an idiot would walk away from that.' I guess they'll have to fire me someday.
"I will be at K.Q. until they fire me or I drop over in my tracks. Hopefully , that will be a while. Thank You for your unbelievable support. (For the cynics out there, no, money doesn't enter in to it.)"
On January 3rd, 2012, Tom Barnard stated via facebook that this will likely be the last year he does the kq morning show and that he would like the show to continue after he's gone instead of jeopardizing the jobs of everyone else who works on the show besides him.
Over the years, Barnard has come under fire for his comments over race and politics.[1]
Barnard won the 2006 Marconi award for Large Market Personality of the Year.[3] The Marconi awards recognize excellence in radio broadcasting.