A couple of weeks ago, I was traveling with my family in Grand Teton National Park. We were in the heart of the park, in the middle of nowhere, when I decided to scan through the channels on the radio. After a couple of seconds, Neal Conan's soothing voice came over the airwaves. I practically burst into tears-- here I was, in Wyoming, the least populated state in the nation, listening to Talk of the Nation on NPR.
I've heard several places that when people suffer a significant loss in their lives, it can often take about a year before they heal from that loss. Well, we moved to Houston from Minnesota about fifteen months ago, and I still mourn the loss of my Minnesota Public Radio on a daily basis. I never though that I'd move from the small, middle-of-the-tundra, people-come-to-this-town-to-die hamlet of Rochester, Minnesota to the fourth-largest city in the nation and lose my NPR. Do you know how disgraceful it is that Houstonians can only get NPR between the hours of 5-9am and 4-7pm? (Yeah, I know you also get Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion on Saturdays, but don't get me started on how much I miss The Splendid Table).
I'm sorry, but the classical music just doesn't cut it for me-- I do have it on a lot during the day, but it's mostly just for the noise, and it certainly doesn't enrich my life in the way that listening to Terry Gross, Diane Rhem, or Lynne Rosetto Kasper did. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and when we lived in Minnesota, tuning in to NPR during the day when the kids were playing helped me feel connected to the "adult" world and often provoked interesting questions from my kids, especially when I didn't think they were listening.
I was also a member of MPR when we lived there. It wasn't hard for me to part with $80 a year for something that enriched my life on a daily basis. So far, I haven't been able to get over my revulsion for the "patting ourselves on the back" attitude of the Houston Public Radio fund drives enough to contribute. I think you need to give Houstonians a chance to hear what they're missing for a week or two just prior to the fund drive, and then give it to them straight-- the programming here is inferior to that in most parts of the country, and we need to have members who care enough to make it better. I'd be happy to give you guys money if I had an inkling that you were headed in that direction. We have family in Dallas, and they said that they constantly hear people from Houston contributing to Dallas Public Radio because the programming is so much better. I understand your station's commitment to the arts, but I can't help but feel that you need two stations to accomplish both your objective of providing great classical music and providing excellent news coverage.
Can you please help this recovering NPR junkie? I need the daytime programming and think many Houstonians feel the same way. Our city needs some balance from the regular Rush-dominated talk radio I can find with every flip of the AM dial. I need it, my kids need it, and in a city where the college-educated percentage of the population is below the national average, I think the city as a whole could benefit from an intelllectual stimulation a full day's worth of NPR programming would provide.
Shelah the blogger
* I actually sent this email this afternoon. Yes, little ole' put up and shut up me is starting to take a cue from my mom and tell people off when I think it's necessary. I must be getting old.
--originally published 8/22/06
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