A couple of weeks ago as I read this section of the book her once a week night time show was hilariously on target. E-Luv (the dj goes by this name) played some trance music for a while and then a few moments later was calmly and hypnotically interviewing a pet-psychic of all things. And then talking about something else entirely a little while later over the sound of hand drums.

I love this idea because at some point in college, when I couldn’t stand tv at all, I started listening to the radio, a lot. All the time. Becoming obsessed with Leonard Lopate (WNYC) and later with Ira Glass, for example. And it was intensely comforting, and still is, though I no longer live alone, as I did then.

I also think that reading this book is an example of the power of another medium (literature) that has a similar but different power for me, and has long provided a way out of loneliness: it often feels as simple as one human being (DFW, Virginia Woolf, etc) speaking to another.

And three cheers for NPR. “This American Life” has become a hit HBO series, and “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me,” plays to sold-out crowds nationwide. Even good old Garrison Keillor’s PHC is making big bucks touring around.

On another note, this quote — “And when Madame Psychosis is gone from the airways, Mario and the rest of her audience is bereft: ‘The disappearance of someone who’s been only a voice is somehow worse instead of better.’” — pretty much captures how I felt when I got 9/12/08’s horrible news on the morning of 9/15/08.

Great post.

Almost every college I’ve been associated with, as student or teacher, has had a great station. Loyola U in Chicago had WLUW, still does, where an old roommate of mine used to go around to different clubs, digitally record bands’ shows (national acts, even, like Cat Power, New Pornographers, etc.) and then play them on his own show late at night. At Western Michigan U, where I’ve taught for awhile now, in the very real Kalamazoo, MI, there’s WIDR, “Radio Evolution”. For many years, every Wednesday night, there’s been a great show called SWAG that in some ways is similar to MP’s show: obscure music of all types with a nod to old garage rock and 50s & 60s avant garde, rare spoken passages, and an older, non-student DJ named, mysteriously enough, Bat Guano.

My point is only that MP’s show, which I would listen to with Mario religiously, no doubt, kinda did exist and still does. On independent college radio stations across the country. And online. And via podcast et al.

Cheers.

oh please. television-bashing is so, like, 1990. There are as many if not more great tv shows than radio shows. Dismissing an entire medium because “Everybody Loves Raymond” sucks is silly.