KVNU's For The People

Infobox Radio Show
show_name=KVNU's For the People


imagesize=
caption=
format = Talk show
runtime = 2 hours
hosts = Tom Grover & Ryan Yonk
country = flagicon|United States United States
station = KVNU, Logan, Utah
first_aired = 2006
last_aired = present
opentheme = "The W.A.N.D. by The Flaming Lips"
website = [http://kvnuforthepeople.com/ kvnuforthepeople.com]

"For the People" is a news and political radio talk show that airs on KVNU in Logan, Utah from 4-6 pm Monday-Friday [ [http://www.610kvnu.com/lineup.html 610 KVNU Lineup ] ] . The show, which debuted on April 28, 2006, is hosted by Tom Grover and Ryan Yonk, both natives of Cache Valley who attended Utah State University. The show touches on local, state, and national issues and takes calls from listeners. Interviews are frequently conducted with local and state newsmakers, politicians, and government officials. On Fridays, "For the People" runs the "Friday News Quiz," in which listeners answer questions about news stories and compete for a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant. Tickets to basketball games and local cultural events are frequently given out to listeners. At the end of each hour of broadcast, Grover asks "The Simpson's" character Comic Book Guy what he thought of the episode, to which Comic Book Guy responds "Worst episode ever!".

On July 2, 2008, Tom Grover announced he would be leaving the show in August to attend law school at the University of Nebraska, and on July 3, Grover announced Logan Herald Journal City Editor Tyler Riggs as his replacement.

History

"For the People" began as a summer fill-in for KVNU's "Full Court Press", a sports talk show. It originally aired from 5-6 pm, and stayed on the air when "Full Court Press" resumed in fall 2006. In the summer of 2007, the show expanded to 1.5 hours, with an earlier start time of 4:30 pm. That fall, the show expanded again, to its current 2-hour time slot.

Notable Issues

"For the People" has focused heavily on major local issues since it began. The first of these was the City of Logan's mandatory recycling program in summer 2006, in which residents were required to pay a monthly recycling fee [ [http://kvnuforthepeople.com/?p=474 Cache County’s Religion of Recycling | KVNU's For The People ] ] . Both Grover and Yonk were opposed to mandatory recycling.

In August 2006, Utah State Senator Chris Buttars stated on KVNU that Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared public school segregation unconstitutional, was "wrong to begin with." [ [http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645195135,00.html Deseret News | Anti-segregation ruling wrong, Buttars says ] ] . This statement created much controversy, and Buttars later came back on the show to explain his remarks.

In 2007, "For the People" covered the debate over a private school voucher bill passed by the Utah Legislature, on which a referendum was held in November of that year [ [http://www.kutv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=c676183f-5ab1-4806-9f1a-053312dbc53d Vouchers Fail At The Hands Of Utah Voters ] ] . "For the People" hosted two debates on the subject, which were broadcast live during the show [ [http://kvnuforthepeople.com/?p=886 10/10 FTP: Mero v. Miller Voucher debate at Utah State University | KVNU's For The People ] ] [ [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695222321,00.html Deseret News | Radio station hosting voucher-issue debate ] ] . Both Grover and Yonk expressed their opposition to the voucher program.

In 2008, "For the People" devoted much coverage to Logan Mayor Randy Watts' plan to reclaim inner Logan, or as Grover and Yonk dubbed it, "The War on Rentals." This plan involved enforcing ordinances that banned parking on city-owned "park strips" between the sidewalk and the street in residential areas [ [http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2008/04/16/news/news03.txt The Herald Journal Serving Logan and Cache Valley ] ] .

Election Coverage

In November 6, 2007 and February 5, 2008, "For the People" provided what it termed "The Best Election Coverage in the Entire Free World." This coverage aired live for 6-8 hours on each election night, providing interviews, analysis, and election returns.

The presidential campaign of Mitt Romney was a major topic on the show, due to Romney's Utah ties and membership in the LDS Church. Grover was quoted in the "New York Times" in a story about reaction of LDS members to Romney's campaign [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/us/politics/11mormons.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tom+grover&st=nyt&oref=slogin Romney’s Run Has Mormons Wary of Scrutiny - New York Times ] ] .

Podcast & Webcast

"For the People" has been available on iTunes since shortly after the show began [ [http://kvnuforthepeople.com/?page_id=49 Listen on iTunes | KVNU's For The People ] ] . The show began hosting a webcast on January 6, 2008 [ [http://kvnuforthepeople.com/?p=1275 KVNU’s For the People is now webcasting video live! | KVNU's For The People ] ] . The webcast, which features a chat room in which Grover regularly participates while on air, is hosted by Stickam [http://www.stickam.com/kvnuforthepeople] .

Blog

Tom Grover runs a blog in conjunction with the "For the People" radio show [http://www.kvnuforthepeople.com] . The blog is regularly ranked as the Most Influential Blog in Utah by BlogNetNews [ [http://www.blognetnews.com/utah/ BlogNetNews.com » Utah ] ] [ [http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/2008/02/congratulations-kvnus-for-people-who.html THE UTAH AMICUS: Congratulations KVNU's For The People who has been rated as Utah's Most Influenial Political Blog for the last three weeks ] ] . The blog is used to post show audio, inform listeners about upcoming topics, and discuss political issues. Yonk writes occasionally on the blog, as do contributors including Craig Limesand and David James. Jess Cottle and Charles Batten used to contribute regularly to the blog, but they haven't posted in recent months. The blog received 14,281 unique visitors in March, 2008 [ [http://kvnuforthepeople.com/?p=1759 March 2008 Webstats for kvnuforthepeople.com | KVNU's For The People ] ] .

References

*Bulkeley, Deborah and Zack Van Eyck. [http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645195135,00.html "Anti-segregation ruling wrong, Buttars says."] "Deseret News". 22 Aug 2006.

*Deseret News. [http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695222321,00.html "Radio station hosting voucher-issue debate."] Deseret News. "27 Oct 2007".

*Goodstein, Laurie. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/us/politics/11mormons.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tom+grover&st=nyt&oref=slogin "Romney's run has Mormons wary of scrutiny."] "New York Times". 11 Jun 2007.

*KUTV. [http://www.kutv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=c676183f-5ab1-4806-9f1a-053312dbc53d "Vouchers fall at the hands of Utah voters."] KUTV. 6 Nov 2007.

*Miller, Rob. [http://www.kutv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=c676183f-5ab1-4806-9f1a-053312dbc53d "Congratulations KVNU's For the People."] "Utah Amicus". 9 Feb 2008.

*Wheeler, Emilie. [http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2008/04/16/news/news03.txt "Park strips to be dealt with street by street."] "Logan Herald Journal". 6 Apr 2008