Reference Publications

Radio daze

Washington Monthly, April, 2003

While Brian Montopoli's article on NPR ("All Things Considerate," January/February) said nothing very interesting about NPR itself, it did bring a bright message to the boomer-friendly fog where I live: Thirty-odd years ago, my generation annoyed the hell out of everyone around us--and we still do so today. We still drive everyone else nuts, inconsiderately and flagrantly imposing our tastes and points of view across multiple generation gaps. Still got the moves!

SUSAN M. HAGADORN
via email

Brian Montopoli's contention that of the two public radio giants, NPR and PRI, PRI is the hipper, younger version surprised me. I'm a young person, a college freshman, and I might even be a little bit hip. But I've never considered shows on PRI like "Studio 360" or "Marketplace" particularly in tune with my interests. In fact, I've always thought "Studio 360'"s failure is exactly the kind of thing that Montopoli says is NPR's: Attempts to hit the younger audience end up degenerating into pieces on "older people's ideas of what younger people ought to like."

Another part of the story, though, disturbed me in a more serious way. This is the inherent assumption that the best way to target a younger audience is to wipe out any "news-driven" content, or at least somehow gloss it over with high-tech talk. I can't argue with the statement that young people tend not to be as informed as the rest of the world, but I really believe there must be a way to get young people involved with the news of their world through media that doesn't involve erasing the whole "news" part of the media.