Movin' On Up

Let me begin by saying that I love Colorado Public Radio. When they switched to a two-channel network, I discovered a whole world of public radio programming I never knew existed. This American Life, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Fresh Air...so many terrific programs that I am now totally addicted to. I listened to CPR pretty much every day when I lived in Denver. News in the morning, fun stuff on the weekends, more driveway moments than I could count.

So you can imagine my surprise when I was listening to my local NPR station here in VA this morning and heard a familiar voice..."From NPR News in Washington, this is Dan Drayer." I was disoriented. I literally had a moment when I wasn't sure where I was, and then another moment when I couldn't figure out what had happened to my radio.

I literally grew up listening to Dan Drayer on CPR. I have a very distinct memory of listening to CPR one morning in high school when they were in the middle of a pledge drive. At one point there was a bit of dead air, and then Dan Drayer came on laughing about how he'd been in a rush to get back to his chair and literally fell out of it. I could hear laughter in the background and all of a sudden those people on the radio became real to me. I was in love with Dan Drayer.

Then a few years later, a little local show came along called "Colorado Matters." I had such high hopes for Colorado Matters when it first started. There are definitely interesting and important things going on in Colorado, and I was excited to hear what host Dan Drayer would do with the show.

Sadly, I don't think Colorado Matters lives up to its potential. My personal tagline for the show is "Soft Questions, Easy Answers." They get some good people on the show, but then back down and ask insipid questions. A sample interview might go something like this:

Dan Drayer: We're pleased to welcome renowned nature photographer John Fielder to Colorado Matters today.
John Fielder: Thanks, Dan.
DD: John, how does it feel to be the world's greatest nature photographer?
JF: It feels pretty good, Dan.
DD: There's one shot of yours that I absolutely love. Tell me about the hard work and agonizing patience it took to capture the true spirit of the mountain lion reposing in the field of wildflowers.
JF: (tells some fairly articulate story about said mountain lion)
DD: John, do you ever worry that you've exhausted the field of nature photography and just set the bar so high that young aspiring photographers can never equal your greatness?
JF: No not really, Dan.
DD: What is it about your nature photography that makes Colorado so darn great?

And so on.

This is a slight exaggeration, of course, but not much really. One time I was excited to hear that Dan was going to be talking to a Colorado Supreme Court Justice. "That sounds interesting," I thought. But then it turned out that Dan was going to talk to said Justice not about the judicial system, or about critical issues facing the Colorado courts, but about the Justice's poetry. That's right, the judge writes poems, and that's what the interview was all about. Now, I like poetry as much as the next gal, but it's not exactly hard-hitting journalism.

On the plus side, Auntie Mame and I have lots of fun inventing our own Colorado Matters-style interviews. Mame, darling, how does it feel to be Colorado's greatest squash recipe inventor? What is it about winter squash that makes Colorado dining so unique?

To his credit, Dan Drayer did a fine job with the headlines on Morning Edition today and seemed to fit right in. And I will admit it was comforting to hear a familiar voice over the airwaves. As long as he doesn't invite John Robert and Harriet Meiers on to read poetry, I'll be happy.