I am a public radio junky. I've got it bad. I sometimes read newspapers or glance at Google news, but I find that my first instinct is always to tune to NPR. When I was younger, my preset buttons were set to various alternative rock stations, sometimes pop when I was feeling frisky. But now, I'm constantly switching between WFCR, WAMC and WPNI (AM). You may say "This is not very unusual."
But it gets worse. |
Since returning to Western Massachusetts, I have found myself, illicitly, tuning in to WBUR (the Boston NPR affiliate), on my computer. And now that I have a wireless laptop I often take it into my kitchen so that I can listen while cooking or cleaning. When I see that Kee Malesky (the NPR librarian) has posted to my stumpers email list, I swoon! These facts also, in and of themselves, are not so unusual, but it gets worse. |
Most of the interesting things I say must be prefaced by: "So, I heard on NPR the other day...". And sometimes when I don't have to say that, when it's actually my own thought, I find that later on that day, or the next day, the NPR journalists and commentators have stolen my thoughts and are broadcasting stories that are just like what I had said. This happens a lot, I'm sure they're not stealing my thoughts really, and it's just a coincidence... but just in case I found the following website: Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie: An Effective, Low-Cost Solution to Combating Mind-Control.. You can't be too careful. |
A few years ago, I just listened to whatever was on. I read the books that were reviewed, enjoyed certain programs more than others. I was content. However, those days are over, I am no longer content to allow their programming whimsy to control my listening pleasure. Now I download This American Life on podcast, and listen to the old ones on their website. I also follow the careers of all the best contributors, Sarah Vowell, David Sedaris, Jonathan Goldstein, and Davy Rothbart (to name a few) like a stalker. I even call it TAL, for crying out loud! Since I can no longer hear the Inside Out Documentaries on air (there's one on Haunting the Quabbin for us local folks), I listen on line. I download podcasts of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, NPR Books, Living On Earth. |
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I also love the StoryCorp Project. During the early part of this century I heard a piece about StoryCorp (on NPR, where else), when it was just beginning, and I realized
that archival work-- figuring out how to handle born-digital collections and, in some small way, supporting the Library of Congress was what I wanted to do with my life. The StoryCorps and David Isay (founder and director of StoryCorps) are why I decided to become a librarian/archivist. I was already a huge fan of David Isay from his work establishing Sound Portraits (also heard on NPR), but the idea of a digital oral history project was incredible. My interest in metadata and digital archives is a direct result of my StoryCorps obsession. |
NPR almost killed me a few months ago. I know this sounds far fetched, but it's true. I was listening to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on my ipod, and I went down to the basement to do the laundry. So, I'm listening to Scott Simon doing "Not My Job" (a segment of Wait, Wait, don't Tell Me) and I'm pulling laundry out of the dryer. Something struck me so funny and I was laughing very hard, (while still bent over the dryer). Then, I tried to breathe in and I sucked in a piece of dryer lint, and started choking. I was still laughing and choking, and being in the basement alone, I realized that I could easily be a goner, so I managed to get myself under control, and (I hate to say this, but) I swallowed the piece of lint. It sounds funny now, but it was a close call, let me tell you!
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So that's my big secret. I am like the Latin club members in high school who spent Saturday night conjugating the verb 'to come' (and giggling). I am like those unwashed creepy album collectors are to the record store. I am like the Star Trek conventioneers...
I am a big honking NPR nerd! |
