![So, this is from inside the On The Media studio at WNYC, from about three weeks ago. It’s long been a goal of mine to be on public radio. On the way to school, my dad and I used to rotate between two stations. The one station changed over the years: in third grade 98.5 KLUC (“Nevada’s #1 Hit Music Station,” i.e. BlackStreet, Warren G, and TLC in 1994) and then later in fourth and fifth grade 103.5 THE EDGE (Bush, Bad Religion, No Doubt, et al) and then later 107.5 X-TREME RADIO (Blink 182, who the fuck else knows what other regrettable garbage) and then later 94.1 MIX-FM (“80s, 90s, and Today”). The other station was always the same: 89.5 KNPR, southern Nevada’s (excellent) NPR affiliate.
This became a bigger deal when I was a teenager, when we used to get into screaming matches about him voting for Bush. And then later I understood some of his political nuances (like why he, a pro-management lawyer, thought unions were so important; why one of his most devoted causes was and still is the ACLU; and how, despite letting Fox Fucking News play in our house, he still listens to the notoriously liberal NPR every day).
Anyway, it was my goal to go on NPR at some point in my life, and at some point over the last few months, it became my goal to do it before my 26th birthday. It’s like throwing out the first pitch at a ballgame, for me: a huge honor, a Moment, I don’t know. And I don’t know what I’d necessarily say or do once I got it, but I’d figure that out when I got there.
Which is why I sound like, I don’t know, Rainman in this, the On The Media segment on the cover story Joe and I wrote for the Voice. In my defense, I broke out in hives on my wrist, and was terrified, and was using my hushed “NPR” voice, because I didn’t know what the fuck else to do. I say a few things repeatedly, I’m off in my stats by, oh, a few hundred thousand at one point, but…whatever. You’ll hear how ridiculous I sound for yourself. But it was a thrilling occasion, and a big deal. Public radio is the shit, and it was a huge, massive honor for me to get to sound like an idiot while talking to Bob Garfield for On The Media, who’s terrifyingly charismatic, hysterical, and also kind of a hero. In fact, all public radio people are, and they’re all about as nice as I thought they’d be.
[Also, you should listen to the rest of the episode, specifically, the segment about the El Diario reporters being killed in Juarez. Goes without saying, but it’s obviously way more substantial than anything I’ve got to say - or anyone, for that matter - about the New York Post.]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9acbmu69F1qz6euco1_500.jpg)
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So, this is from inside the On The Media studio at WNYC, from about three weeks ago. It’s long been a goal of mine to be on public radio. On the way to school, my dad and I used to rotate between two stations. The one station changed over the years: in third grade 98.5 KLUC (“Nevada’s #1 Hit Music Station,” i.e. BlackStreet, Warren G, and TLC in 1994) and then later in fourth and fifth grade 103.5 THE EDGE (Bush, Bad Religion, No Doubt, et al) and then later 107.5 X-TREME RADIO (Blink 182, who the fuck else knows what other regrettable garbage) and then later 94.1 MIX-FM (“80s, 90s, and Today”). The other station was always the same: 89.5 KNPR, southern Nevada’s (excellent) NPR affiliate.
This became a bigger deal when I was a teenager, when we used to get into screaming matches about him voting for Bush. And then later I understood some of his political nuances (like why he, a pro-management lawyer, thought unions were so important; why one of his most devoted causes was and still is the ACLU; and how, despite letting Fox Fucking News play in our house, he still listens to the notoriously liberal NPR every day).
Anyway, it was my goal to go on NPR at some point in my life, and at some point over the last few months, it became my goal to do it before my 26th birthday. It’s like throwing out the first pitch at a ballgame, for me: a huge honor, a Moment, I don’t know. And I don’t know what I’d necessarily say or do once I got it, but I’d figure that out when I got there.
Which is why I sound like, I don’t know, Rainman in this, the On The Media segment on the cover story Joe and I wrote for the Voice. In my defense, I broke out in hives on my wrist, and was terrified, and was using my hushed “NPR” voice, because I didn’t know what the fuck else to do. I say a few things repeatedly, I’m off in my stats by, oh, a few hundred thousand at one point, but…whatever. You’ll hear how ridiculous I sound for yourself. But it was a thrilling occasion, and a big deal. Public radio is the shit, and it was a huge, massive honor for me to get to sound like an idiot while talking to Bob Garfield for On The Media, who’s terrifyingly charismatic, hysterical, and also kind of a hero. In fact, all public radio people are, and they’re all about as nice as I thought they’d be.
[Also, you should listen to the rest of the episode, specifically, the segment about the El Diario reporters being killed in Juarez. Goes without saying, but it’s obviously way more substantial than anything I’ve got to say - or anyone, for that matter - about the New York Post.]
