KUOW Pledge Drive

Last year at this time, I complained about how the KUOW Pledge Drive deprives us of our precious NPR goodness while the home team begs for money. As cloying as it is to hear local radio personalities ad-lib anecdotes about why we need to pledge, Ken and I thought about what we could do to end the insanity a little faster.

Our solution: we have volunteered to answer phones for the pledge drive on Saturday, October 13th between 10:30am-2pm. You know when you hear the telephones ringing in the background? Yes, that will be us.

So you local readers who are KUOW listeners, do pledge--you know you want to. And if you can stand waiting until then, call during our shift and you may get Ken or I. Won't that be awesome???

Call 206-543-9595 (local), Toll Free 866-677-5869

You can always just give money online: http://www.kuow.org/.

It all helps get the world back to normal a little faster.

Ira and the Magical Mystery Tour

One of the greatest programs on the airwaves today is the NPR jewel This American Life. I love TAL because it's respectful, unlike reality shows, insightful, unlike the news, and connective, unlike anything else. It's also touching, bold and smart. If you've never heard of this show, I encourage you to find it on your local NPR station and take a listen. In fact, listen to the March 17th show and you may hear Sean, Shannon, Ken and me laughing or clapping in the audience. That's right, Ira Glass and friends came through Seattle on Wednesday night during a six city tour--not only to dazzle us TAL junkies but to promote their new TV series on Showtime. This 12-year-old radio show gingerly makes its steps into the visual world on March 22nd. While a daunting and even sacrilegious thought to many of the hard-core listeners, the video previews indicate use of all the elements from the radio template: good story-telling, space for reflection, epiphanies and Ira.

Here is a preview of the new series.



Best of luck to Ira & the This American Life staff on the new series!

NPR Fix

I don't know when it happened, but recently I became an NPR Junkie. It's like this constant hunger to know the latest thing to know about. We wake up to it and recently we've been going to sleep to it too. It never leaves us: in the car, in the house, on my MP3 player (not an iPod) and sometimes at work on the Internets.

When we traveled to the East Coast last June and rented a car, I was immediately flipping through the dial to find the NPR-esque "directed tone of voice." Is it the rich, throaty microphones that make them sounds so smart?

I remember being exposed to NPR in my 20's since I worked for the Public TV station KWSU which was right next to NW Public Radio in Pullman. But it didn't matter to me then. No, at that time, I would be happy sitting though 5 minutes of annoying commercials to hear Pearl Jam with static. As you mature, tastes change but maturity doesn't stop me from making lists.

Favorite show: This American Life
Favorite NPR personality: Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace & Ira Glass of This American Life
Favorite KUOW personalities: John Moe & Ruby de Luna

To be fair and balanced:
Least favorite show: Prairie Home Companion (Broadcasted from Pullman last week)
Least favorite NPR personality: Diane Rehm of Diane Rehm Show
Least favorite KUOW personality: Steve Scher of Weekday

Who doesn't love Kai & Ira? Or Ika & Rai. But Prairie Home Companion---what is going on in that show? Ken and Mom seem to like it but....why?

If you are also NPR fans, you know what time of year it is. Time to pay the fiddler. Time to groan with disdain as the usually articulate on-air personalities ad-lib and crack jokes for 20 minutes an hour so you will PLEDGE some money. When you are an addict of the sweet NPR goodness, the interruption of the content is excrutiating.

I've been on the other side of this when I worked at KWSU along with Karen, Ian, Marvin & Mantooth. I understand that half the operating budget comes from the pledge drive but oh, the humanity. Of course, Ken & I will pledge some money like we always do. But the other night I was telling Ken, "If we had a load of money, I would call up those clowns on the first day and say 'how much would it take for you to shut up and resume normal programming?' Because I would write them a check and drive it over myself. Seriously."

On another note, we are leaving for Pullman tomorrow to attend the Cable 8 Reunion. Looking forward to seeing all the Comm Cougs!