The Good Life – September-October 2021

GOOD LIFE: When you were a kid, did you
pretend to be on the news or your own show?
TJ NELSON: Oh, did I pretend! I have two
younger sisters, so I made them pretend I had a radio
station. They’d sit down the hallway and listen to me as
I talked in my little microphone.
GL: What’s the weirdest or most uncomfortable story
you’ve ever covered?
TJN: I used to do a weekly series in Minot where I’d
go and do other people’s jobs. One day I’d be working
in a restaurant, and the next I’d be a massage therapist.
It was weird trying to massage someone I didn’t know.
One of my favorite ones was horseshoeing a horse.
They taught me how to pinch the leg of the horse to get
it to raise. That was kind of fun. You don’t get bored.
GL: Did you ever think, “Man, I can see myself
switching over and doing this instead” with any of the
jobs you tried?
TJN: No. I felt like I had the best job because I got to
see what everybody else was doing. I knew I wouldn’t
want to horseshoe a horse every day of my life with the
chance of it kicking me.
“When I was a disk jockey, my first
radio name was NICK JAMES.
I found it in the phone book.”
GL: What TV, movie or book character do you
most resemble or relate to and why?
TJN: My mom told me I was named after Troy
Donahue, an actor from the ‘50s.
GL: So Troy’s your first name? What’s your middle
name?
TJN: James. When I was a disk jockey, my first radio
name was Nick James. I found it in the phone book.
When I moved to Minot people always called me TJ,
so then I just went by “TJ the DJ.” I became the No.
1 radio show host in town, so when I moved over
to TV, I wasn’t going to change my name because
people already knew me by that.
GL: What are your most loved and hated foods?
TJN: Most hated is lutefisk. I’m a Norwegian and
I hate lutefisk. I can’t stand it. I don’t care what
you do to it. Most loved food would be king crab
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