Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Sean Gordon / Daily Lobo Student Stephen Dinkel hosts "Mornings with Dink" on BlogTalkRadio.com. The show airs Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 9 a.m.

Lobo Conservatives president Stephen Dinkel has found a new way to make his voice heard - an online radio show.

"Mornings with Dink," his biweekly show on BlogTalkRadio.com, focuses on issues ranging from sports to politics to personal stories.

Though the show has a conservative slant, Dinkel said he is open to people calling in with opposing views, as long as they're polite. He hopes they will offer an alternative way to look at the issues he discusses.

"This is a talk show based on conservative ideals - it is open for debate. It is very respectable," he said. "If you have an alternative view, bring it. I want to hear it."

Dinkel said his show is hardly limited to the realm of politics.

"If we can have civil discussion, that's what the show is based about," he said. "We'll talk about anything."

Southern Texas University junior Laura Morales, who is director of public relations for the Young Conservatives of Texas, was one of Dinkel's first guests on the show.

Morales said she enjoys being on radio shows because they're a good way to discuss an issue in depth and get your views heard.

"Radio interviews allow you a lot more time to elaborate on the issues and talk one-on-one with the callers and answer their questions or concerns," Morales said. "It is an open way to get people to create a dialogue."

Morales said she and Dinkel teamed up to discuss a topic that's warming up on campuses in the Southwest: gun control.

"Once he started the show, we thought it would be a great avenue for me to come on and speak my mind about what was going on with gun control and talk about guns on campus," she said.

She said all 21-year-olds with a license and proper certification should have the right to carry a handgun on campus.

Dinkel said his most recent show addressed the differences between senatorial candidates Tom Udall and Steve Pearce.

"I have created a two-part segment on why Steve Pearce is right for New Mexico and why Tom Udall isn't," Dinkel said.

He also hosted a show with the co-authors of Who is the Real Barack Obama?

"The three authors have different categories on Barack Obama and how they wrote it," Dinkel said.

Dinkel said interviewing authors Steve Bierfeldt, Francisco Gonzalez and Brendan Steinhauser was one of the highlights of his show.

He said producing the radio show has been mostly for fun, but he is also working on a minor in communications.

"People might think I'm crazy, but I have fun with it," Dinkel said.

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