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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
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JFP editor Donna Ladd and NRA instructor Cliff Cargill join Kim Wade today at 5 p.m. on WJNT, 1180 AM, to discuss the “state of emergency,” as well as the safety of Frank Melton’s gun-toting habits. Give a listen!

Previous Comments

Kim is usually so tame with you (and Todd) in the studio, DL. What do you put in his water to keep him at bay?


Donna has magic, Ejeff. You can’t possibly have been around her before.


I think that the secrete of this exchange is built around the fact that Melton’s stuff is so out-of-whack that it is hard to find anyone these days with oposing views. Donna does a great job, even when the water gets hot! She seems to be fearless of a storm. Journalistic talent, great information, always laced with historical data, experience and integrity are her strong points. So, “Bring It On.” (smiles)


She’s cute too! 🙂


I wasn’t going to say that because I’m too old to fight Todd.


Great stuff they are bringing up! one caller: “There is comedy, there is high comedy, and then there is Melton!”


Donna has magic, Ejeff. You can’t possibly have been around her before. No. She and I don’t run in the same circles, I suppose. I think that the secrete of this exchange is built around the fact that Melton’s stuff is so out-of-whack that it is hard to find anyone these days with oposing views. Donna does a great job, even when the water gets hot! She seems to be fearless of a storm. Journalistic talent, great information, always laced with historical data, experience and integrity are her strong points. So, “Bring It On.” (smiles) Just as Melton brought together the Charles Tisdale/Stephanie Weaver crowd with the Ben Allen/Wyatt Emmerich crowd to oust Johnson, he is now uniting the Cliff Cargills with the Donna Ladds to expose his lies and incompetence.


I enjoyed the show. There wasn’t enough time for many call-ins. Maybe next time Kim will interview Donna without a second guest.


ejeff, Kim IS a pretty nice guy. And he is pretty nice and respectful to those who are the same with him. Unlike some hosts, he is not scared of a guest or caller who disagrees with him. And he doesn’t like the crap the CL is pulling, I can tell you. In fact, you will find most people in radio don’t like it at all because Clearchannel does the same garbage without the pretty language and lies that the CL uses.


Jimmy, I met Kim at the Jksn Mall Picadilly a couple of years ago, and I agree he is a very nice guy. I admire him for his brutal honesty, even when I know he is labeled an Uncle Tom by other blacks for his views and comments. I don’t agree with him 100%, and he can get irritating when he blindly repeats the Republican talking points and goes into bash-the-libs mode like he did on Thursday’s show about the WMDs, but he has been dead-on accurate about Melton. In fact, he’s the person who convinced me NOT to vote for Melton. I managed to catch most of the show, and I hated that it ended when it did. I know Kim respects Donna’s journalist abilities and integrity, even though they are on different sides of the political spectrum. I was kidding a bit about how he treats her, since it seems to be the nature of most other conservative talk radio hosts that every discussion between a lib and a conservative has to be a hyped as a “battle” or “shootout”. Why call it a debate if it’s only meant to be a one-sided diatribe?

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.