jon_desart

The Bandit was born a “Ramblin’ Man” in a small town in southern Minnesota.   A certified “IBM Brat”, he and his family were pretty much a band of gypsies moving from here to there and back again.  He spent his formative years in the heart of NASCAR country in North Carolina, then in upstate New York until his parents finally found a high school that would let him graduate.  It was here, in the town known as the Worldwide Home of Spam in Minnesota, that he figured out that professional sports were not in his future, attended his first country music concert (Mel Tillis), and that he had a face and a love for radio.

After several radio stints plus three and a half years of college in Minnesota, Iowa and the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Bandit headed to the Windy City to work in radio and TV….{remember “a Face for Radio”}.   During his 10 years in the city of broad shoulders and continuous traffic jams, the Bandit witnessed the Running of the Bulls (Jordan and Company), the cancelled World Series with broadcast legend Jack Buck, and other momentous news and sporting events.

Then, the itch to ramble as well as an aversion to strip mall suburbs took over as the Bandit took an unexpected vacation to the Flathead Valley and found a place to call home.

He has lived in the Valley since 2001.  When he’s not working…You can find him in the garage building or fixing something or another, spending time with his family, listening to music, watching his beloved Minnesota Vikings break his heart, umpiring Babe Ruth Baseball,  announcing at Raceway Park, or traipsing along the trails and off the trails in Glacier National Park with camera at the ready.   His favorite music country artists are too many to mention, he loves sharing all of them.