Best of Waiting for Squirrel ... I've Never Been an NPR Geek

From August 17, 2005:
I'm in the audio portion of documentary class this week (AKA Radio Camp). I've never been an NPR listener. I've always equated NPR with the coffee shop lingering, journal toting pseudo-intellectuals. And while I don't think I'm entirely wrong on that count, I must say that I do like my radio camp instructors, who are all current or former NPR reporters.

John Biewen (who just did a really good piece called Married to the Military) is our main instructor. He's a cool guy with that soft spoken NPR way about him. So far we've done a lot of introduction to equipment and interviewing (which is very similar to counseling assessment). I've zoned out during the equipment seminars. I have no intention of paying a thousand dollars for equipment. I did jolt up during Karen Michel's critique of microphones. "I like the RA-50," she says. "But the RA-60 is good too. It's just the bigger dick version of the RA-50." That was our introduction to Karen Michel. NPR censored a story she did on the Republican Convention and the influx of sex workers coming to New York for the week. She played it for us anyway. She also did a story on the Museum of Sex in New York City. It made me blush.