The Sound of Young America: Another reason NPR isn’t quite dead yet
In the past, my brother Joel has said he really wasn’t high on KCRW playing so much music. NPR stations weren’t supposed to be like that, was his reasoning.
So Joel’s probably not the audience for the shockingly young and lively Bryant Park Project morning news show from NYC. But at least they don’t play much music.
In contrast, The Sound of Young America plays a fair bit of music, as well as interviewing subjects not typically heard on NPR and spending a lot of time on edgier entertainment subjects than is NPR’s wont.
To me, it represents a sign that when the golden-throated old guard at NPR has retired to their porches at last, NPR itself won’t need to be put out to pasture, to absolutely puree a metaphor or two. (I’d include the midday Day to Day new magazine on that list of good shows, but their movie critic is way too pleased with himself and what he believes to be his sense of humor.)
In any case, in the era of podcasting, Joel and I can both create our own ideal NPR stations, especially since NPR has jumped into podcasting in a way no other media entity has. So he can have lots of talk and news, and I can weave together music and opinion from KCRW, interesting news shows from New York and dope-smoking pop culture shows from Santa Cruz. Win-win.
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thank you for your kind words about the show. I’m hopeful that more and more stations will pick it up — as it is, I’m just a guy in his apartment in LA, more or less. Anyway, thanks again, and thanks for spreading the word. – Jesse (TSOYA)
Comment by Jesse — October 30, 2007 @ 11:16
I under-praised the show, truthfully (it was late):
1) I’m a big fan of John Hodgman’s “The Areas of My Expertise” audiobook, and your multiple MP3s with Hodgman and Jonathan Coulter are a hilarious addendum to that book, especially them reconciling after Hodgman’s political attack ads against Coulter. Hodgman explaining that he was too dorky to even play Dungeons & Dragons well was also first-rate.
2) The Stax Records show was simply awesome.
3) Given your big back catalog, I’ve had to restrain myself so that I don’t fill my new iPod with nothing but TSOYA. So I have a mere 13 hours of it still waiting for me.
Comment by Beau — October 30, 2007 @ 12:55