On the Radio

I think I'm a terrible person. (Don't everybody jump up at once to disagree with me.)

Let me explain. Despite Adam's near-constant mockery, I am a passionate NPR devotee. All the radios in our house are set to the station, it's the #1 pre-set in my car, etc. Entirely too many of my stories begin, "I was listening to this article on NPR..." I know I'm not alone in this devotion. (Jeff, I'm looking at you.) I have favorite shows (The Story, This American Life, Marketplace, All Things Considered), shows I like less but still listen to (Car Talk, The People's Pharmacy) and shows, well one show, that I nearly always turn off as soon as I hear the hosts' voice. What is that one show you might ask? Well, that goes straight to the heart of why I think I'm a terrible person.

The Diane Rehm Show has a strong, brilliant woman for a host; she brings on interesting guests who conduct well-reasoned, impassioned debates; she lets her listeners call-in but neither she (nor her producers) let them ramble endlessly...in short, I should love this show and yet, most of the time I can't get through an entire airing. Why? Because of her voice. And because I'm a terrible person.

Ms. Rehm has a neurological condition called spasmodic dysphonia which basically causes her vocal cords to seize up and constrict, cutting off her speech. I'd listened to her off-and-on in college (it seemed like WUNC was always switching her time-slot with Dick Gordon's late, great show The Connection) and I could hear her voice deteriorating. She went off the air for a while (or I was in class while the show was airing) and when I started catching her again her voice was worse, so much so that I could no longer concentrate on her guests or what they had to say. We moved to Chicago and WBEZ either wasn't airing The Diane Rehm Show or I wasn't in the car when it was so I forgot about her for a few years.

Now I'm back in Chapel Hill, back with WUNC and Diane Rehm is back in my listening rotation. This week she's had a guest-host on (she's been on a book tour) and I've been completely addicted to the show. Riveted. Yesterday I listened to the "Republican Agenda" (which naturally made me want to throw my radio out the window) and then a fascinating discussion with Keith Jeffery, author of a new book on the history of MI:6 (which I naturally added to my hold list at the library). Today it was David Plouffe and the "Democratic Agenda" (which made me want to scream for entirely different reasons) and then Annie Murphy Paul on her new book, Origins about how the 9 months before birth affect the rest of one's life (which also ended up on my library list).

I think when Diane Rehm herself return to the air it'll be time for me to put my terrible person-ness behind me and start fresh...because I'm kind of loving this show!!

How about you, any new leaves you're turning over this fall?

(I leave for New Orleans this afternoon! Have a great weekend everybody!!)

(Image courtesy of www.npr.org)