50 years of Terry Meiners radio bits · NewsRadio 840 WHAS (WHAS-AM)

Life & Legacy discussion between Matt Jones and Terry Meiners

December 12, 2025·49 min·4 clips

How did Mitch McConnell create a network of 120 loyalists to become Kentucky's political kingmaker?

1. Matt Jones hosts Terry Meiners on NewsRadio 840 WHAS to discuss Meiners' nearly 50-year career in Louisville radio and the state of the city and country. 2. Terry Meiners began at WKQQ in Lexington in 1976 as a freshman at UK, hanging tapes on automation before filling in for a sick host. 3. The episode's core thesis is how a regional radio personality navigates 50 years of civic life while refusing partisan identity. 4. Meiners attributes Mitch McConnell's national dominance to controlling Republican Senate campaign money, forcing candidates to 'come kiss the ring,' and building a county-by-county network of loyalists across Kentucky's 120 counties from his Jefferson County judge executive days. 5. McConnell held positions as a young politician — pro-choice and anti-gun — that are the opposite of his current stances, which both Jones and Meiners note as an example of political 'evolution.' 6. Jones credits Meiners with giving him his first radio foothold after Meiners found out Jones was mocking him and invited him on air to discuss it, calling it 'the graciousness of the man.' 7. Meiners describes early radio at WKQQ using sound effects for comedic bits — running a lawnmower sound during 'Green Grass and High Tides' — as the origin of his radio theater style. 8. On Louisville, Meiners says the city feels like Dorothy opening the door in Wizard of Oz compared to 2020, but acknowledges the climb back from COVID and protests was slower than expected. 9. He traces the Ninth Street racial divide to urban renewal decisions that demolished Black-owned businesses along what is now Muhammad Ali Boulevard, cutting off connectivity to West Louisville. 10. Meiners says Muhammad Ali chasing school buses and being mocked by old men on the street is the reason that street was named for him — drawing this from Jonathan Eig's biography. 11. On Andy Beshear's presidential prospects, Meiners says Beshear's lane is to be 'everybody's dad' — the moderate who benefits if Democrats are exhausted by 12 years of screaming. 12. Meiners gave Beshear the 'worst political advice on earth' when he told him not to run for Louisville mayor, predicting he would lose; Beshear won and survived an assassination attempt. 13. Meiners identifies as 'Catholic first' when pressed on his political affiliation, saying religion gives him more centering than party identity. 14. He keeps a framed hate email in 48-point font on his wall signed 'Bob' reading 'your show sucks, you liberal p-word,' which he looks at daily for perspective. 15. On Trump, Meiners says his Catholicism makes him cringe at the cruelty, acknowledges he profits from using Trump soundbites as 'fuel in my gas tank,' and says 'I go to confession' about it. 16. He argues that regardless of policy debates, Trump's meanness 'objectively made society coarser and worse,' citing DM abuse read by a female TV host as evidence. 17. The conversation's tone is warm and mutually respectful — two broadcasters from different generations comparing notes, with Jones calling Meiners 'the city's elder statesman' and Meiners crediting Jones with having 'game' from his first broadcast. 18. The episode moves fluidly between political analysis, personal memoir, and media commentary with minimal confrontation. 19. Louisville media veterans, Kentucky political observers, and anyone interested in how long-form regional radio careers intersect with civic identity will find this rewarding. 20. Listeners wanting focused political debate or national-scope commentary rather than Kentucky-specific context will find the local references heavy.

As heard by us

A veteran radio conversation turns memory, gratitude, and civic strain into something warm and lived-in.

Matt Jones and Terry carry a radio-life conversation that starts in 1976 and edges toward a 50-year mark next June. It moves from WKQQ beginnings and wrong-name jokes to a plain look at what it means to stay on the air as long as the mind still works.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want radio history with the mic still warm.

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