{{Short description|American journalist and podcaster (born 1949)}} {{BLP sources|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Joe Soucheray | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Joseph Henry Soucheray | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|1|07}} | birth_place = St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. | occupation = Columnist and podcast host | spouse = Jennifer Soucheray | children = 3 }}
'''Joseph Henry Soucheray''' (born January 7, 1949) is a radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist. He produces his podcast ''Garage Logic'' from studios in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
==Early life==
Soucheray was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1949. He attended St. Luke's as a grade schooler, Hill High School (now Hill-Murray School), and graduated from the college at University of St. Thomas in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Welcome to Joe Soucheray's World of Garage Logic - Newsroom {{!}} University of St. Thomas | url=https://news.stthomas.edu/publication-article/welcome-to-joe-soucherays-world-of-garage-logic/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210024824/https://news.stthomas.edu/publication-article/welcome-to-joe-soucherays-world-of-garage-logic/ | access-date=2025-05-22 | archive-date=2022-12-10}}</ref>
==Newspaper career==
Soucheray entered the media as a sports journalist, beginning work as a sports reporter for the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1973. He joined the Saint Paul Pioneer Press in 1984 as a local columnist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/244319547/?match=1&terms=joe+soucheray|title=Mar 21, 1984, page 13 - Argus-Leader at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He is the author of 10 books.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Books by Joe Soucheray (Author of Waterline) | url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/397206.Joe_Soucheray | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241220032340/https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/397206.Joe_Soucheray | archive-date=2024-12-20}}</ref>
* Sheila Young
* Fred Lynn
* How to repair your 10-speed bike (A Creative games, projects, and activities book)
* Bruce Jenner - published 1979 * Walter Payton - published 1980
* Sooch!: Sports writing of Joe Soucheray of the Minneapolis tribune published 1981 * Once there was a ballpark: The season of the Met, 1956-1981 published 1981 * Waterline: Of Fathers, Sons... Waterline: Of Fathers, Sons, and Boats (Nonpareil Book) - published 1989
* Modern, Caring, Sensitive Male: A Curmudgeon Columnist Looks at Life - 1994
* Garage Logic: A Companion Guide to Life in the Radio Town published 2010 ==Early radio career==
In 1980, Soucheray entered the radio business, co-hosting ''Monday Night Sports Talk'' on KSTP radio with then-''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' sports columnist Patrick Reusse.
The show was known for its cast of callers doing impressions of various celebrities, in and out of the sports world, of widely varying quality - and, very occasionally, discussion about sports.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levy |first1=Paul |title=Jock N Roll Radio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/191514058/?match=1&terms=joe%20soucheray |access-date=16 December 2024 |issue=Minneapolis Star |publisher=Minneapolis Star Tribune |date=July 3, 1988}}</ref>
The lack of actual sports content on "MNST" was a running gag between Soucheray, Reusse and the audience.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Joe Soucheray on Twitter|url=https://twitter.com/joesoucheray/status/1243628101655048193|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-16|website=Twitter|language=en}}</ref>
The show aired until the early nineties, until Soucheray began his daily "Garage Logic" program. The "Sports Talk" brand lived on in the duo's weekend show, "Saturday Morning Sports Talk" and has continued with the weekday version of "Sports Talk" which began airing on Monday, February 15, 2010. The pair claim it is the "longest-running sports talk show in history."{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
==''Garage Logic''==
Soucheray began hosting his daily ''Garage Logic'' drive-time radio show on KSTP on April 29, 1993. In it, Soucheray acts as the mayor of a mythical town bearing the same name as the radio show: Garage Logic, county seat of Gumption County. The motivating idea is to promote traditional values and is a sort of criticism of modern American pop culture and Minnesota's dominant liberal culture. Soucheray prefers to stick with the less philosophical slogan "Anything that needs to be figured out can be figured out in the garage."{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
Soucheray has been joined on the air by producer Matt "The Rookie" Michalski since the late 1990s. Rookie is the voice behind many skits and imitations on "Garage Logic" and "Saturday Morning Sports Talk". Rookie was often held to mythical 6:00 pm meetings with Soucheray, after the conclusion of the show, if he angered Soucheray's character by not paying attention. More often, Soucheray could be heard asking Rookie if he actually listens to the show that he is producing.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
The program has occupied several time slots during its run as the station's other programming has shifted, but for over a decade it, along with Rush Limbaugh's program, was part of a combination that made KSTP the dominant talk station in the market. With Limbaugh's departure from the station in 2006, Soucheray became KSTP's sole marquee talent.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
After twenty-five years on the air, KSTP officially sunset Garage Logic as a radio show with the final radio broadcast airing on September 7, 2018.<ref name="strib-last-insults">{{Cite web|title=Patrick Reusse and Joe Soucheray end their KSTP radio show with a few last insults|url=https://www.startribune.com/patrick-reusse-and-joe-soucheray-end-their-kstp-radio-show-with-a-few-last-insults/491652091/|access-date=2020-07-07|website=Star Tribune|date=August 27, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=KSTP radio axes Joe Soucheray and Patrick Reusse after 35 years on the air|url=https://www.startribune.com/kstp-radio-axes-joe-soucheray-and-patrick-reusse-after-35-years-on-the-air/490579471/|access-date=2020-07-07|website=Star Tribune|date=August 11, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-08-10|title=Joe Soucheray's 'Garage Logic' radio show will end in September|url=https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/10/joe-soucheray-garage-logic-radio-ending-1500espn-podcast/|access-date=2020-07-07|website=Twin Cities|language=en-US}}</ref><blockquote>“I knew the end of radio was coming. The ratings systems are terribly unkind to talk radio. I knew we had more listeners than they said. I’d be in Germany and random people would come up to me and say, ‘Hail, flashlight king’… Podcasting has corroborated those instincts.”<ref name="Platt-2023">{{cite news |last1=Platt |first1=Adam |title=Garage Logic's Second Wind |url=https://tcbmag.com/garage-logics-second-wind/ |access-date=17 December 2024 |issue=March 2023 |publisher=Twin Cities Business Magazine |date=March 2023}}</ref></blockquote>Garage Logic relaunched as a podcast three days later. It quickly exploded in popularity, "reaching 28,000+ downloads per daily episode, to 245,000 unique devices per month. It’s Hubbard’s most listened to local podcast."<ref name="Platt-2023" /> On November 4th 2024, Garage Logic returned to its daily live broadcasting roots by broadcasting everyday on YouTube at Noon Central. The podcast is also financed by Hubbard Broadcasting, the owners of KSTP-AM.<ref name="strib-last-insults" />
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Soucheray, Joe}} Category:American radio personalities Category:Radio in Minnesota Category:Living people Category:1949 births Category:St. Paul Pioneer Press people Category:American podcasters Category:American male journalists