Local car-talk radio show could go national
Written by STEVE YOUNG • syoung@argusleader.com • November 28, 2009
About the show
Name: Under the Hood
History: Show was begun in August 1990 by Shannon Nordstrom, who now is general manager of Nordstrom's Auto Recycling of Garretson. Russ Evans, manager of Nordstrom's Installation and Diagnostic Center in Garretson, joined the show in 1998.
Format: Nordstrom and Evans are the "motor medics," answering automotive questions called in or e-mailed in by listeners.
When you can hear it: The show is broadcast live from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursdays on KELO, 1320-AM. It is rebroadcast starting at 5 p.m. Sundays on KELO.
Syndication: Show was first syndicated in August 2003 and now is heard on 20 stations outside of Sioux Falls in six states.
"Under the Hood" has been solving squeaks, groans, clunks and other car problems since it first aired at the Sioux Empire Fair in August 1990. Now it's on 21 radio stations in six states, and its two "motor medics" - Russ Evans and Shannon Nordstrom - hope to spread their insight across America. "Our goal," Evans, 40, said, "is to have nationwide syndication at some point."
That's a lofty ambition for an idea that originally sprang from Marie Nordstrom's mind as she sat in a John Deere for endless hours listening to the radio as she did custom windrowing. The matriarch of the family that operates Nordstrom Automotive out of Garretson wondered why someone couldn't fill that radio programming with a car talk show. She asked her family. They then asked people they knew at the KSOO radio station. And from the conversation, "Under the Hood" was created with Nordstrom's son, Shannon, fielding questions in a weekly half-hour format. In 1998, Evans joined Shannon Nordstrom on the air. Four years later, they moved the show to KELO-AM. In time, 30 minutes expanded to an hour.
In many ways, "Under the Hood" is similar to another weekly radio broadcast called "Car Talk" on National Public Radio. That program, aired nationally, features brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi - also known as Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers. Both programs combine car repair advice with humor." 'Car Talk' is a wonderful show," Shannon Nordstrom said. "I think where we're a little different is, we don't have any studio aides to help us with the questions. We do it right out of our own minds."Russ is the technical one. He can describe things to listeners right down to the color of wires. He's kind of a freak of nature that way."
General managers who have picked up "Under the Hood" say they love it. In fact, Mike Schweitzer, owner of KBJN in Lemmon, said he was thinking of dropping the show after a few years when Evans offered to come up and participate in a Farm and Home Show in Lemmon."They had people lined up all day trying to talk to them, telling them they loved their show," Schweitzer recalled. "Right then, that told me I better keep them."
Maynard Meyer, general manager and co-owner of KLQP in Madison, Minn., said the e-mails he gets from listeners tells him the show is connecting in his region."We've gotten a lot more direct response from people who like it," Meyer said. "That says more to me than for other shows we run."
For Nordstrom and Evans, who hope to double their stations by 2010, that's the kind of response that keeps them motivated and inspired.
"We never planned on it getting this big," Nordstrom said. "It's amazing; it's just something that came to be."
Reach Steve Young at 331-2306.
