Tom Barnard, the longtime KQRS morning show personality in Minneapolis and a member of the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, announced Friday on his family’s podcast that he has Alzheimer’s disease.
The 74-year-old said from his home in West Palm Beach that he has had seven treatments so far and has seen some improvement.
“I’m getting better little by little,” he said. “I could tell by little ticks that each of them did some good things. (But) it wasn’t overwhelming and it didn’t go away.
It’s the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive impairments severe enough to interfere with daily life, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, a Chicago-based nonprofit. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60% to 80% of dementia cases. There is no cure.
Barnard’s family said on the podcast that they have been asking him to get tested for the past three years. His wife, Catherine Brandt, said the goal of treatment is to slow or stop the disease from getting worse.
Barnard also said he would start speaking publicly about the disease, including at an upcoming event at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Born in Long Prairie and raised in north Minneapolis, Barnard worked at various stations in the Twin Cities before joining KQRS in 1986. Barnard quickly established himself as an outspoken, politically charged persona, turning KQ’s “The Morning Show” into the highest-rated radio morning program in the market. In 1997, Howard Stern’s show began airing locally, attracting Barnard audiences. But Stern was unsuccessful in unseating Barnard and left the market after a few years.
Barnard has also been accused of racism and misogyny and has drawn criticism from several minority communities, including Somalis, Hmong and Native Americans. The DJ is also known for being very reclusive, rarely making public appearances or giving interviews to the media. But in 2015, when Barnard launched his podcast, he did speak to several Twin Cities news organizations about his difficult upbringing and strained relationship with his late father.
In 2017, he was inducted into the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the following year entered the Pavek Museum, a tribute to Minnesota broadcasters.
Barnard left KQRS at the end of 2022, which was a mutual decision at the time. He has since said he was fired.
