The Klondyke, a Vicksburg landmark for generations, still fields a steady stream of loyal customers, but from 7:30 to 9 each weekday morning in a corner near the back door, Vicksburg’s only local call-in talk show tackles topics from city crime to health care.

“I listen every morning,” said Lamar Roberts, owner of the Vicksburg Battlefield Museum. “As quick as I come out of the shower I turn it on at about 7:30 or 7:45, then listen until I get to the museum around 9.”

Behind the microphone sits Indiana transplant David Day. A second microphone is occupied by one of several weekly co-hosts and the third is reserved for anyone who wants to share an opinion.

“We always wanted to do a show in the dining room so people could come in and comment,” said Day, who has lived all over the country and in Vicksburg the last five years. “We want to keep the open mic.”

“I think it is a positive thing,” said Gertrude Young, a former Vicksburg alderman, show listener and contributor. “The show is not so structured. You don’t know what to expect.”

On Tuesday, Vicksburg accountant David Boolos co-hosted the 90-minute live call-in show. The topics ranged from a story in The Vicksburg Post about a pair of attacks downtown to the state Legislature opening session in Jackson. All the while, people descend on the restaurant on North Washington Street, entering from either the front or back door, flashing in Day’s direction a smile or a wave of the hand.

“Everyone knows the Klondyke,” Day said. “Everyone comes to the Klondyke.” Whether city workers, blue-collar port workers or elected officials, the restaurant sees a steady flow.

The radio show’s home in the dining room only recently became a reality. Day, whose wife, Rhonda, owned and ran Horseface Harry’s cafe on Halls Ferry Road, bought the Klondyke.

Day said the previous owners wanted to sell, and a food delivery man approached Day at Horseface Harry’s and told him of the opportunity. One visit to the old gas station/trading post at First East street and Day was far from sold. The same delivery man urged him to just go and sit to see the amount of traffic the Klondyke got each day.

Day sat in the parking lot, and “about a car a minute would pull up, leave the car running, go in and come out with a bag.” The kicker came when a train stopped across the street and a man jumped off the locomotive and came in for breakfast.

He attracted the radio show when Mark Jones, owner/operator of WVBG 105.5 and 1490 AM, would visit the original Horseface Harry’s once a month to collect the restaurant’s advertising bill. He inquired about Day hosting a morning talk show and Day responded that he had no experience. The conversations bounced back and forth until Day agreed to host the show, which is not the first in the town, but has become the exclusive offer on the airwaves since WQBC at 1420 went off the air in 2008. For several years, Mike Corley, WQBC owner, offered and participated in local talk shows.

“Live from the Klondyke” began in a closet in the back of old building with less than up-to-date equipment.

“I remember having to use a paper clip to attach wire to the transformer,” Day said. “If someone would move or knock the table, we would be off the air.”

Now entering their third year, the “studio” is now equipped with an active Internet connection and state-of-the-art broadcasting equipment. Each show begins at a few minutes after 7:30 with the theme song from the movie “Rocky.”

“We try to get the people pumped up,” Day said, “and everyone knows that song.” He leads into the second hour with another high-energy song, but admits sometimes he misses the lead-ins.

Day is strongly pro-Vicksburg and the radio program showcases his enthusiasm about opportunities for citizens and ideas public officials.

Besides conducting the radio show, he also assists his wife in keeping things smooth in the dining room because “that is where the bills are paid.”

He missed the lead-in for 8 a.m. on Tuesday, snagging a last cup of coffee and checking out customers. The 30-year veteran chef said juggling restaurant and radio duties depends a lot on his wife’s mood.

“If it gets really busy, I will just holler and he will come help me,” Rhonda said. “But it really does depend on my mood. Usually he has other people there, and he will send a hand signal to them and come and help me.”

He also sees the Klondyke as the ideal spot for a morning talk show because of the eclectic mix of clientele.

“This place has been a social center in this town for generations,” Day said. “People have been coming here for years — since they were children. Everyone comes here. You will see a sitting judge having a conversation with someone who just got out of jail.

“… We have some incredible characters come in here each day.”

Day said he will continue the radio show as long as Jones will have him. He said he gets two to three calls daily, but some topics spur more interest. Day holds conservative views, but some co-hosts and guests think the opposite. All views are welcome at the Klondyke — as are all people.

“It’s local, that’s what it is, and even if they are talking about a national subject, they will put a local slant on it,” Roberts said. “They talk about Vicksburg and what is going on in Vicksburg.”

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Contact Sean P. Murphy at smurphy@vicksburgpost.com