Of interest to locals, Anita pointed out that the amusing John Moe has a blog, Monkey Disaster. She was on his new show, which is called The Works. I like the show and think it’s very interesting, but unfortunately it runs in a bad time slot for me, 8pm Tuesdays. It reflects Moe’s amusing on-air persona, and while my off the cuff description ‘This American Life does a business show’ is incomplete and a bit too extreme (or even inaccurate – it’s an interview-based format, not elaborately produced), you get the idea. Maybe somewhere triangulated by The Onion, The Stranger, TAL. I sure like it better than Day to Day.

Oh, and speaking of public radio, see ya, Bob. Bummer about the pink slip. My God, how long has it been? November, 1979?

I was thirteen. It was the winter after the worst midwestern blizzard of all time. I have no recollection of the morning mix before Morning Edition – probably light classical mixed with weather and five-minute hourly news blips. I recall during the winter 1978 a sense that there should be more news in the morning – there simply wasn’t time to read any national events after all the school closings. I guess we must have listened to the commercial stations as well – a quick peek at the charts for ’78 reassures me there’s a reason for my lack of recall.

The snow eventually drifted up over our garage door, making it impossible to get the cars out. Dad sent me up on the roof to argue with Cold Miser [large .wav file from here.], his reasoning being that I was lighter and could get some of the snow off to start attacking the drift. I recall being unhappy at the prospect instead of sensibly sledding down the drift. I don’t recall if I ever actually made it to the roof.

Anyway, Morning Edition came as a giant anxiety reliever, specifically addressing the information flow problem I had experienced during the awful winter before. Life won’t be the same without ya, Bob.