Author Description

With the many forms of entertainment and distraction open to us, National Public Radio and PBS television may be the ones most favored by writers. The quiet confiding voice of radio sees us through our commutes, educates, and amuses us. We feel that we know the hosts on such shows as All Things Considered, RadioLab, This American Life, Prairie Home Companion, Snap Judgment, and that they could be friends, sharing our interests and sensibilities. Their voices accompany us as we go about our daily business, fixing breakfast, drinking our coffee, driving in to work, and they are there for us again when we return home, welcoming us with news of what has unfolded while we were otherwise occupied. For its part, Public television becomes a trusted sanctuary from crass commercials, laugh tracks, unfunny comedies rising in volume as they grow more empty in content. We start with shows like Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow and continue on to Frontline, The Nightly News, and the many guilty pleasures of adult Anglophiles, such as Masterpiece Theater and Mystery. Our national tragedies and triumphs, the odd idiosyncratic stories of individuals, the stuff of our daily lives and explorations all appear here, care of the diligent reporters of our national media. It is wonderful to realize that in some sense we are all one, listening or watching alone in the dark, but part of a larger tribe. This may be the closest thing we can experience to unanimity and belonging in this fractured land. Robbi Nester (Editor)