If Mark Hackel decides to forego a
2014 run for re-election (don’t hold your breath), he proved today that he has a
future in talk-radio.

The Macomb County executive filled
in for the ailing Frank Beckmann (our local version of Rush Limbaugh) on WJR-AM
from 9 a.m. to noon and he compiled a show with a stellar lineup of guests:
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan; Gov. Rick Snyder; County Executives Robert Ficano
and L. Brooks Patterson; Congresswoman Candice Miller; Tom Wilson of Olympia
Entertainment; Congressman Dan Kildee; Wayne State University President M. Roy
Wilson; Roseville Mayor John Chirkun, talking about the multi-million dollar
Macomb Mall renovation; Michigan Gaming Control Board CEO Rick Kalm; Macomb
Daily publisher Jim O’Rourke; and John McCullough, director of the
Huron-Clinton Metroparks Authority.

Hackel offered a characteristically
peppy account of how things went:

“I enjoyed it a lot. It was a big
challenge at first, setting everything up and going to commercials and traffic
reports. And at the same time that I was trying to maintain a banter with the
guests I had someone (from WJR) talking in my ear,” the executive
said.

Would he do it again? The arrangements have already been
made.

It’s rare for ‘JR to have an outsider host an entire show
but apparently Hackel’s debut was well-received and the county executive will
likely be asked to host again in March.