John Lundell

Inducted 2009

A pioneer and innovator in broadcast traffic reporting, John Lundell was widely known in the Twin Cities as the “Voice of Metro Traffic Control.”  His reports guided commuters to work in the morning and home again in the evening for more than twenty years, and became the standard for radio traffic reporting.  It is estimated that his reports reached 80 percent of the people in the metro area. 

John started his career at Metro Traffic in 1981, after working in retail security in Oklahoma for the Dayton-Hudson Corporation for several years.  Many people told him he should be in radio, leading him to move back to Minnesota and enroll at Brown Institute.  John began working part-time at Metro Traffic as a mobile reporter while at Brown, and after graduation became the midday anchor.  From there he moved on to the morning and evening rush hour reports, and eventually became general manager of the Minneapolis Metro Traffic office.  More than twenty radio and TV stations carried his daily reports.  He also appeared on KLBB Radio’s Breakfast Club with his wife, Pam, and was very active in the community, generously giving his time to the United Way, tpt, and MADD.  He passed away on August 14, 2005.