What about the Neil Conan groupies!? Doing a vox pop about This American Life fans is a good idea, because for most listeners public radio equals TAL, and if not TAL than ATC. It would be interesting to hear from the serious NPR geeks though... the people who want Terry Gross to run for president, or think Garrison Keillor is a great singer.
Another example of why listeners tune in to Public Radio. Well produced and makes me want to 'tune-in' especially if I have never heard of Ira Glass or TAL! Well done. A great example of how stations can use this to help promote-fundraise other programs.
I enjoyed this piece as I felt that I could identify with other listeners as they confessed their crushes on Ira Glass. It was fun to listen to other TAL listeners who also succumbed to some type of infatuation with him.
Would work best on TAL when Ira is sick and someone is filling in for him, or as a fundraiser spot. Maybe it could be played at a festival where Ira wins an award or if Ira is in town on a speaking engagement.
OK, how geeky would it be of me to point out that "This American Life" is a PRI show. It's no skin off my nose -- I'm not the person running PRI's branding campaign. But still, I'd hope that at least on public radio we could get it right. As for the piece, I like it a lot. It's a great topic that public radio is afraid to tackle. It makes light of who our listeners are but with no malice whatsoever. It's produced in an unconventional manner that is very appealing. I didn't find the last story as compelling as the producer obviously did (I'd have shortened it), but that's a quibble. And you know what they say about opinions.
Jake's piece is rich and flavorful. It moves well and offers us a collection of instantly relatable and understandable characters without getting bogged down in tangents or details. Plus, it's a really funny piece.
This piece works where most other montages fail: it doesn't sacrifice vivid images and a common thematic thread by trying to offer too much variety. Great balance here.
Some other random thoughts: Respect: It's easy to make fun of people in a piece like this. Jake manages the humor well--he highlights what's funny without making the subjects look like idiots. Excellent editorial judgment. Music: When I first heard some music underneath this piece, I thought I'd regret its presence. However, Jake uses it lightly and only to help the piece's pacing. It works. Fund drives: It was mentioned that this piece could be useful in fund drives. I thought the same thing myself while listening, but I think it would have to be reedited to be truly useful in that context. While Jake presents us with perfect characters from which we can build fundraising messages--we would need for them to reveal a bit more about their motivations in order for this to become a fundraising pitch. A little more about "why" they do what they do. Even though their behavior seems odd, their motivations are probably no different than most core listeners'--which makes the connection for a fundraising appeal. Uses: This piece would be a good drop-in during a larger program and offers lots of possibilities for thematic connections (public radio, fans, embarrassing admissions, etc).
Comments for NPR Geeks
Produced by Jake Warga
Other pieces by Jake Warga
Rating Summary
6 comments
Adam Allington
Posted on August 05, 2004 at 05:37 PM | Permalink
Review of NPR Geeks
What about the Neil Conan groupies!? Doing a vox pop about This American Life fans is a good idea, because for most listeners public radio equals TAL, and if not TAL than ATC. It would be interesting to hear from the serious NPR geeks though... the people who want Terry Gross to run for president, or think Garrison Keillor is a great singer.
Michael Leal
Posted on July 14, 2004 at 07:54 AM | Permalink
Review of NPR Geeks
Another example of why listeners tune in to Public Radio. Well produced and makes me want to 'tune-in' especially if I have never heard of Ira Glass or TAL! Well done. A great example of how stations can use this to help promote-fundraise other programs.
Grace Tsao
Posted on February 13, 2004 at 10:09 PM | Permalink
Review of NPR Geeks
I enjoyed this piece as I felt that I could identify with other listeners as they confessed their crushes on Ira Glass. It was fun to listen to other TAL listeners who also succumbed to some type of infatuation with him.
Hans Anderson
Posted on January 04, 2004 at 07:00 PM | Permalink
Review of NPR Geeks
Would work best on TAL when Ira is sick and someone is filling in for him, or as a fundraiser spot. Maybe it could be played at a festival where Ira wins an award or if Ira is in town on a speaking engagement.
Richard Paul
Posted on January 02, 2004 at 12:38 PM | Permalink
Review of NPR Geeks
OK, how geeky would it be of me to point out that "This American Life" is a PRI show. It's no skin off my nose -- I'm not the person running PRI's branding campaign. But still, I'd hope that at least on public radio we could get it right. As for the piece, I like it a lot. It's a great topic that public radio is afraid to tackle. It makes light of who our listeners are but with no malice whatsoever. It's produced in an unconventional manner that is very appealing. I didn't find the last story as compelling as the producer obviously did (I'd have shortened it), but that's a quibble. And you know what they say about opinions.
Eric Nuzum
Posted on October 05, 2003 at 03:37 AM | Permalink
Review of NPR Geeks
This piece works where most other montages fail: it doesn't sacrifice vivid images and a common thematic thread by trying to offer too much variety. Great balance here.
Some other random thoughts:
Respect: It's easy to make fun of people in a piece like this. Jake manages the humor well--he highlights what's funny without making the subjects look like idiots. Excellent editorial judgment.
Music: When I first heard some music underneath this piece, I thought I'd regret its presence. However, Jake uses it lightly and only to help the piece's pacing. It works.
Fund drives: It was mentioned that this piece could be useful in fund drives. I thought the same thing myself while listening, but I think it would have to be reedited to be truly useful in that context. While Jake presents us with perfect characters from which we can build fundraising messages--we would need for them to reveal a bit more about their motivations in order for this to become a fundraising pitch. A little more about "why" they do what they do. Even though their behavior seems odd, their motivations are probably no different than most core listeners'--which makes the connection for a fundraising appeal.
Uses: This piece would be a good drop-in during a larger program and offers lots of possibilities for thematic connections (public radio, fans, embarrassing admissions, etc).