Retiring longtime 'Almanac' producer on the show's secret sauce

CATHY WURZER: Very few people understand the immense amount of work it takes to put a live broadcast on the air-- radio or TV. The people who do the work, the producers, are folks never hear or see. Today, you're going to meet a guy who has produced a live television program every week for 40 years. That is unheard of in this business. Brendan Henehan is the brains behind one of the longest running public affairs shows in the country. Its Almanac on Twin Cities PBS.

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Yeah, there's the theme music. Governor Wallace has declared that tomorrow is Brandon Henehan day in the state of Minnesota because tomorrow night, after about 1,700 shows, Brandon, TPT's managing director of public affairs and Almanac's executive producer, is retiring. Now before the show fades to black tomorrow night, I thought it would be nice to get Brendan into my radio studio for an exit interview. Hey.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Well, hey back.

CATHY WURZER: Hey back. Welcome to my little dark studio here.

BRANDON HENEHAN: It was kind of fun to see you in this space. I usually see you in a very well-lit studio, so it's a little different here.

CATHY WURZER: You, my friend, are a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. You have a degree in sociology. You are not a trained journalist. And being a television producer was not on your bucket list when you got here to the Twin Cities decades ago. So what the heck happened? Look at you.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Yeah, I totally stumbled into this business. I was unemployed. The McKnight Foundation had a program for people who were chronically unemployed, and I qualified. I'd moved here during recession from Michigan. And they were confused what to do with me. I was ready to plant trees for the DNR. And instead I ended up working for Twin Cities Public Television, then known as Channel 2. And I had the great fortune of working next to someone who didn't really want to do much of their job, and so I started doing it, and you know, right place at the right time. It makes no sense. I have no right to have had the career I've had.

CATHY WURZER: It's an amazing career.

BRANDON HENEHAN: It's wild.

CATHY WURZER: I know. Now the show that used to hold down Friday nights on Twin Cities PBS was like classic public television-- our serious conversation about Minnesota politics, hosted by a buttoned-up guy in a suit.

BRANDON HENEHAN: It was a half-hour program. It was a lot like many PBS stations at the time, a Washington Week in Review kind of a format. Journalists would sit around a table.

CATHY WURZER: Very serious.

BRANDON HENEHAN: It was all serious, important stuff, and we wanted to do something different. We wanted to have it faster paced. We wanted to have some fun along the way. And we knew we needed to do that in an hour and not a half hour. So it was kind of a tough sell, as you can imagine.

CATHY WURZER: I could only imagine it was a tough sell. How much pushback did you get?

BRANDON HENEHAN: A fair amount. My boss, Bill Hanley, the cocreator with me of Almanac, pushed really hard. And there was a sense that Friday night on public broadcasting was kind of boring and obligatory. That was literally the terms used. And we wanted it to be obligatory, but not boring.

CATHY WURZER: Good.

BRANDON HENEHAN: So we worked on that boring part, at least.

CATHY WURZER: Well, you really have, because you can careen from having legislative leaders on at the top of the show to a live dairy cow in studio to a political panel on one show. Personally, as one of your hosts, I find the political debates the hardest, though. What's your philosophy on that?

BRANDON HENEHAN: Hardest in terms of--

CATHY WURZER: To do. That's just me, though.

BRANDON HENEHAN: I think, in many ways, they're increasingly hard to do because the world is so hyperpartisan and people are locked down in positions. And even viewers and listeners say that they want to hear the news from their perspective. And, of course, we can't do that in public broadcasting, radio or TV. We have to present opinions and draw things out. And I think, the polarized world we're in, that's tougher to do all the time.

CATHY WURZER: So we so you've created this smorgasbord, this eclectic show, that has lasted for almost 40 years. I mean, that is just amazing. And it's live. Can you explain to folks, Brandon, the magic of live TV? Either you really love it or you loathe it.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Live is just magical. If you're doing a traditional newscast, you know what it's going to be like. All the elements are done ahead of time. Nothing surprises you. And the surprises in live or sometimes good and sometimes not good. But there's just an energy in live. You know it, if you pre-tape something as if it is live, you make mistakes. You don't have the butterflies in your stomach. You don't have the focus. And live will cause you to have some focus. And it's great when it works, and when it doesn't work well, you've got another chance a week later or a day later or whatever it is.

CATHY WURZER: What's the craziest thing you've done live?

BRANDON HENEHAN: Oh, we once did a debate for the mayor candidates of St. Paul in a quiz show format. You literally had buzzers, and we asked questions, and you'd get 10 points if you could guess, within $10 million, the level of budget of the city of St. Paul. It was absurd, but very fun, and at least a different way of doing debates.

CATHY WURZER: Yes, very different, I have to say. Other stations have tried Almanac style shows in other parts of the country, and they haven't enjoyed the same success as your show. So, I don't know, what's the secret sauce?

BRANDON HENEHAN: I think Minnesota's a great place to do civic work. There are few places in the United States where you have the largest city, also the state capital, head of the university in the same market-- very few places. Look at the media and interest in public affairs in this market. You've got public radio that's so strong. You've got two daily newspapers. You have things like MinnPost and Sahan Journal and The Reformer.

And I mean, you have so much media work. There are states that have two people covering state politics in their state capital bureau. And what are we-- we have a dozen people over there, which is terrific. Yeah, so I think there's just an appetite for news and public affairs. We vote too. We care about politics.

CATHY WURZER: And that's why, I think, Almanac has-- and the fact that if you don't like something on Almanac, wait a few minutes, and it'll change.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Yeah, because lord knows that's true.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. You are a walking Rolodex, by the way, of history-- of TPT history, station history, but also Minnesota history, and that's one of the things I love about you. What piece, what era of Minnesota history doesn't get enough of its due, do you think?

BRANDON HENEHAN: Boy, that's a tough question-- interesting question. One of the things I focus a lot of attention by accident, but I've made it kind of a really lifelong mission, is focusing on African-American history, particularly in the late 19th century, early 20th century. It's just this-- Minnesota actually had a African-American lawmaker elected in 1898, before many states in the United States. New York didn't have an African-American lawmaker when Minnesota did.

And so that era is just fascinating to me, both nationally and locally, in a sense of emerging civil rights, and then a lot of trouble and hopes dashed, nationally and locally. It's just a fascinating time for civil rights in American history, and very little known about it.

CATHY WURZER: And we should say that you've spent how many years putting it together-- an index of all the African-American newspapers papers in Minnesota. You went through microfiche at the Minnesota History Center to do it all on your own time.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Yeah, it was a great volunteer project. Started as a work project, and I just couldn't stop doing it. So I'd go in nights and weekends. And it's a labor of love, but yeah, I'm passionate about data and history and [INAUDIBLE] resources.

CATHY WURZER: It must have been a labor of love to work with me. I mean, you've been working with me for almost 30 years, which is longer than my marriage. And I know my Minnesota Now producers are looking in the other room over there saying, any tips and tricks for working with Z after all these years?

BRANDON HENEHAN: What kind of a question is that?

CATHY WURZER: I don't think that-- well, they want to know. They're laughing in there right now.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Of course, they're laughing. We go back a long ways. We understand each other. I think that helps a lot when you have a relationship that's based on years of experience, and we can kind of predict a little bit about the reaction that you may get ahead of time. That always helps a little bit. How about that?

CATHY WURZER: That's a good one. OK, we'll leave it there. I hope they're fine with that particular answer. This is a more personal question. A lot of people, as you know, get a little lost when they retire, and their identity is wound up in what they've done for so many years. Will it be a relief to do something else for you or a little frightening to not be enveloped in that role of being an executive producer?

BRANDON HENEHAN: You know, my goal, when I got into this business, was not to find work-life balance. My goal was to find a job. I was passionate about and to leap into it and have it in part to find me. So it's tough to leave a job when you do that. I wanted meaningful work, and that was a really rich experience for decades, but walking away from that it's going to be tough. Luckily, I have a million hobbies--

CATHY WURZER: You do.

BRANDON HENEHAN: --and a million strange interests. I think I'll be busy. But you know, you're going to leave a part of yourself behind. I am at Twin Cities PBS. And yeah, that's going to be tough. I'm not pretending it won't be.

CATHY WURZER: No, and you're going to leave with a little bit of my heart because, honestly, you're the best producer I've been graced to work with in my career. So tomorrow night's going to be kind of tough, I've got to be honest with you. But I'm glad that you came in my studio to talk about it all. So thanks.

BRANDON HENEHAN: Well, it was wonderful to chat with you.

CATHY WURZER: I'll see you tomorrow night. That's Brendon Henehan, TPT's managing director of public affairs. He is the long-time executive producer of Almanac on Twin Cities PBS. He's retiring tomorrow night.