Katherine Talks about Why She Left Franken

[fred flintstone]

Katherine Lanpher was the one who gave Al Franken on-the-job training in radio - his original co-host who made him shut up and not talk through scheduled breaks, and who kept his babblings from crossing the line. In the early days, Franken's lack of experience in radio - and his lack of qualifications to do radio - would have been even more evident had Lanpher not kept him in check. She shared her experiences with a writer for her former paper, The St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Katherine Lanpher left the Al Franken show on Air America last year because, she writes, "my co-workers wanted a specific result in the political process (the dumping of George Bush), and I was more interested in how we covered it. People like me have their place, but it isn't on political radio." Franken and Lanpher parted amicably, and she'll always be grateful to him. "I love Al," she says. "If it weren't for him, I would not have had this great adventure." (read more - Mary Ann Grossman-St Paul Pioneer Press)