Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Mon. Oct. 12, 2026

A life built on computers.

I'm Jeff Stein with today's Iowa Politics Report.

Computers can't live with them, can't throw them off the bridge into the Cedar River.

Back when I started in radio 46 years ago, we didn't have computers.

If you heard something coming out of your radio, it's because a human was sitting there pushing the buttons, playing the records.

Yes, they played records, and the person was talking into the microphone live.

different world today.

When a new computer system was put in place here in the early part of 2015, it took care of much of the old processes.

It stored all manner of things.

It played things automatically, just like the prior computer, but this one was a real stickler for control this new system.

If it was not in a good mood, you could not simply turn on a microphone and be heard.

Everything ran through the computer system.

Well, that's fine, until the computer system goes down.

That's essentially what has happened to our stations over this past weekend.

I am so appreciative to the KXEL listeners who contacted me over the weekend to make sure I knew we were off the air.

Unfortunately, this particular issue affected KXEL's AM, FM, and Webstream, and to top it all off, there was a power outage at the transmitter over the weekend as well.

If you've ever had a computer crash, you know how much fun it is to get things back the way they were.

That's our task right now, so we're pretty much back on the air but limping along.

So, thanks again for sticking with us, and I hope we don't give you too many problems as we claw our way back.

That is, if the computer gods are willing.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Monday, October 12 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540, KXEL.