You might be a Public Radio Geek if:

December/27/2007 19:05

. . . the first programmed station on your car radio is your local NPR station
(you’re DEFINITELY a public radio geek if the second programmed station is also tuned to NPR)
. . . you can tell what time of the day it is by what NPR show is currently on the radio
. . . you know the difference between NPR and PRI
. . . you want Carl Kasell’s voice on your home answering machine
. . . you think Derrick Malama is talking to you when he says Aloha in the mornings (Hawaii only)
. . . you wake up to public radio
. . . you could pick out Ira Glass’ voice in a crowded room, but wouldn’t recognize him if he was standing on your big toe
. . . you have stood in line to get tickets for a live taping of A Prairie Home Companion and still saw the movie of the same name
. . . you are a member of your local public radio station
. . . you know the difference between Terry Gross and Liane Hansen
. . . you listen to ancient episodes of British radio game shows that your friends in the U.K. can’t believe are still on the air in the U.S.
. . . you think listening to commercial radio when public radio is off the air (e.g., during national disasters) is a painful experience
. . . the first thing you do when you rent a car in a strange city is turn the dial all the way to the left to look for a station
. . . you know who all these people are just by their first names: Derrick, Noe, Kayla, Lillian, Ray, Wayne, Cedric, Beth-Ann (Hawaii only)
. . . you think Ray and Tom Magliozzi are funny

I'm a public radio geek. And proud of it, too. T and I have been members of public radio wherever we've lived, but especially so here. Hawaii is one of the rare places in the world where geeks such as myself have not one, but two, public radio stations to choose from each and every day. Hawaii public radio provides not only the diverse national and international news programming one can’t find in other media streams, but also insightful and in-depth local news during the day. It also has the only Hawaiian language news cast on radio.

But it’s not just news. If you’d like to hear and learn more about contemporary Hawaiian music, you will find 3 hours of listening pleasure on Kanikapila Sunday and Music of Hawai’i every Sunday afternoon (1-4pm HST). Or you can hear short stories written by local authors and read aloud by local actors on Aloha Shorts every Tuesday evening at 6:30. The actors’ readings fully bring to life the humor, pathos, and wisdom in these stories, especially capturing Hawaii's distinctive pidgin. (This is one show I hope will soon be made available as podcasts, too.)

If you live beyond Hawaii’s airwaves, you can still listen to these and most of Hawaii public radio’s original broadcasts in a live audio stream here. For a complete program guide for KIPO, the news, talk and contemporary music station, check here; and for sister station KHPR, the classical music and news venue, click here.

I’ve been a supporter and fan of public radio since it first came to Guam in 1994. I was a free-loading listener for a year, then decided to step up and become a member, too. When I stopped by the studio one evening to drop off my check, I was solicited to also become a volunteer. I agreed, thinking I was going to stuff envelopes or man a fundraising phone line. Instead I was asked to take a radio control board for 3 hours every Wednesday evening. Hmmm, I’m pretty "mechanically challenged." But I was told I would be trained well by the operator whose shift I was taking over. The trainer I met on the appointed day was very patient, if a little bemused by my dearth of competency on the control board (I put Post-its with numbers and arrows on each sliding control button I had to use). But since all the programming was pre-taped, it left us with 3 hours to talk, in between half-hourly station announcements. So talk we did. We talked again the next week, and the next, before he flew off for a month to Thailand. And we still talk — about music and politics, books and computers, poetry and food. Every day, just as we did that first evening twelve years ago this day.

Are you a fan of public radio? Tell us what do you love about your public radio station!

Tags: Hawaii, Local

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You might be a Public Radio Geek if: