Minnesota Talk Host Pulled From Air After Paid Relationship With Congressman's Campaign Revealed

Travis

The revelation of LINDER RADIO GROUP/RADIO MANKATO News-Talk KTOE-A-K274AL/MANKATO, MN afternoon host AL TRAVIS' consultancy of Rep. JIM HAGEDORN (R-MN) has resulted in TRAVIS being pulled from the air for now, reports the MANKATO FREE PRESS.

The paper reports that TRAVIS has been paid by the HAGEDORN campaign since 2017 but did not disclose that relationship during several interview segments with the Congressman. TRAVIS (real name AL TRAVIS THIELFOLDT), owner of INNOVATIVE MARKETING TECHNIQUES, was paid $872,930 since 2017 for ad work for HAGEDORN.

In an interview with the MINNESOTA REFORMER, TRAVIS denied any violation of FCC rules and denied taking money in exchange for the interviews, and complained that the REPORTER's article was "cancel culture run amok" and an attempt to "lynch" him; he claimed that all of his interviews are "softball for everybody" ("I'm not a journalist") and that he didn't think he had to disclose his relationship with the campaign because he and the Congressman talked about sports and Congressional work.  KTOE co-owner MATT KETELSEN said on the air that TRAVIS was taken off the air to avoid a "perception of bias" during the election.

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