While I was at Ball State, I didn’t exactly fall in love with Muncie, but I developed a fondness for the city and its problems that’s difficult to explain. Muncie was a city built on the manufacturing industry, and it was spared somewhat from the Great Depression, owing largely to the Ball brothers and their [...]
There’s been a facebook meme where people list 50 bands they’ve seen live from memory. I haven’t tried to do it yet, but now that Bob Boilen has made his list, I’m feeling inspired. Granted, Bob didn’t quite follow the rules – he stopped when he got to 101 bands. I suppose he could have [...]
This weekend, Kerry and I became proud owners of iPhones. We’re a little late to the game, but I don’t really mind. It’s been worth the wait. And half of that reason is how geeky I can make the device. If I open up the calculator, for example, and turn the phone sideways, it becomes [...]
Sure, you could always get your friends and loved ones one of the year’s best books of letters or one of the records featured on “All Songs Considered“, but this holiday season you should also consider donating to one of your favorite public radio programs in the name of someone you love. Before this week’s [...]
Last week, I promised our awesome friend Scott that we would round up all of the NPR people who actively use Twitter and post links here. This is how it works: I’m going to start a list of NPR twitter-ers (tweeters? twits?) that will be updated every so often with links to relevant Twitter accounts. [...]
 It’s very rare that bad puns in public radio headlines feel right to me. It’s even rarer that they strike me as being perfectly reasonable; even fitting.It’s rarer still that I have kind words for “Marketplace.” So it should go without mention that I kind of love the headline, “Army launches attack on fashion biz.” [...]
A friend brought this to our attention: Unlike 34,368 other Twitter users, we don’t follow @hotdogsladies; he seems far less inclined to shake the haters off than the fans, but once in a while, he’ll go on an insight spree. This is pretty awesome, but we’re still not following. Besides, it’s inaccurate. Robert Siegel doesn’t [...]
This afternoon, I caught some of American Public Media’s “Marketplace” while I was driving. It’s classic public radio, really – host with a somewhat pretentious name that no one can spell (also, I picture Kai Ryssdal -yes, that’s how you spell it – wearing wrap around sunglasses and making finger guns when he makes a [...]
Apparently people have been saying that while I’m the friendly one, Kerry’s the fun one. Kerry’s friendly, too. She just has all the snark. Sorry I’m, you know, boring. If I am Morning Edition, she is The Bryant Park Project. If she is Morning Becomes Eclectic, I am Performance Today. If I am Weekend Edition, [...]
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Why Public Radio Works For Me
One of the things I’ve always loved about the public radio approach is the exploratory attitude the hosts/correspondents/commentators/reporters take when dealing with an unfamiliar topic. This effect is most pronounced when the person talking needs to explain the relevance of the subject. One of the greatest strengths of “Planet Money” is that the show’s staff [...]