Thursday, October 20, 2011

I love NPR & ETV!!

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I have been a huge fan of NPR for most of my teen/adult life and unless I have kids or crazy music people riding with me, it's about all I listen to. I first started listening after a friend introduced me to This American Life, a storytelling show hosted by the amazingly wonderful Ira Glass and featuring people with stories to tell. I was having a hard time really describing the show so I went to their website to get a little help.
"We're not really formatted like other radio shows at all. Instead, we do these stories that are like movies for radio. There are people in dramatic situations. Things happen to them. There are funny moments and emotional moments and—hopefully—moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It has to be surprising. It has to be fun." -ThisAmericanLife.org

When I worked in the darkroom, I would have days where I wouldn't see anyone for hours so I would pop in my headphones and listen to This American Life while I worked. Well, sure enough every time it got good and sad, someone would come into the lab and find me sobbing and mopping. Awkward. There is no other show on the radio that touches my heart and lifts my spirits like This American Life. Here is a quote video from Ira Glass that I really appreciate because I do feel like I'm in this phase that he talks about... fighting my way through. I love him.





So, after a few weeks of just tuning in for the heartwarming stuff, I started turning my dial to NPR during my morning and evening commutes and now it's about all I listen to. Well, I think it's no secret that public radio and television are only able to function because of grants and donations and right now NPR and ETV are having a pledge drive to raise contributions for the next year of radio and television. I'm so proud to say that after years of leeching- I finally donated. I didn't give much but I gave what I could and it felt amazing!!! They're even sending me a bumper sticker that says "I Love NPR". Anywhoo, so back to the reason for this blog... I'd like to encourage each of you, my wonderful readers, to do one of two things.

The first challenge is for those of you that are not NPR listeners and I'd like to encourage each of you to give NPR a chance. I always hear non-listeners talk about how liberal and one-sided NPR is but when I listen I only hear programming that is educational and inspiring. Here are a couple of shows that I really appreciate and that I think you would too-


Car Talk- hands down one of the best shows on the radio. The Tappet brothers (Click and Clack) from Cambridge take calls from listeners who describe their car troubles (mouth sounds encouraged) and while joking with the caller and themselves, they come up with a diagnosis. These guys are soooo smart + hilarious and I've learned so much about cars just from listening.


Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan- Love, love, love this show which covers news, science, education, religion and the arts. The host introduces a topic and then experts in the field (and on both sides of the issues) talk about it. Sometimes I think about calling in but never do... maybe one day.

Wait Wait....Don't Tell Me!- This is NPR's weekly quiz show and it's the best! You get to test your knowledge against other people while trying to figure out what's real news and what's made up. They came to Charleston a few months ago and I was sad to miss them but I'll definitely go next time.



Brian Williams on Wait Wait.


So these are just a tiny sample of the many shows that I love!! You can look on NPR's website to find showtimes for your area. Give it a day. You'll love it.

The second challenge is for those of you that are NPR listeners and I would encourage each of you to donate! It's a great feeling to give to something that you get so much from and even though it took me years and I didn't really give much at all, it makes me feel even more a part of the NPR/ETV family than I already did. You can find out how to donate here and you can also figure out what your station numbers are... I'm sure they're called something other than station numbers... maybe radio frequency numbers? Whatever. You know what I mean... you can figure out what part of the 80's your dial needs to be turned to. So, there you have it. Listen, learn and give!

Hope everyone is well. I have so much editing to do this week. I know I've got a couple of weeks to get photos edited after I shoot but I always feel pressure to get things done immediately!
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