The professor offers much to think about and his thoughts and opinions would be great to hear on public radio. However, for my taste, an interview of this length would have worked better in a studio where the audio would have been of a higher quality and where some editing could take place.

What an interesting subject. He articulates well, not so much as a scientist, but as a trusted or respected person and I felt I benefited from his expertise. He talked to me, not AT me. I do think, however, I would have gotten more from the interview with a better set up. Up front I would have been a better listener, a less confused listener, had I been given some background about the circumstances surrounding his visit to Denver. The lead just didn't give me enough background on Professor Rapley, the controversy over his visit and the direction of the interview I was about to hear. I spent too much time providing my own context and, subsequently, fell behind at points during the interview.

And when the discussion turned to the Antarctic Wildlife Refuge it became unclear to me as to whether or not we were still having the global warming conversation. Maybe that is my shortcoming.

The professor seems to take seriously his position to engage the public and that might make him a great candidate for a call-in show?

Long live Diamond Jimmy and may this piece find a place on radio. I was drawn in to the subject almost immediately and only a couple of times did my interest wane. And I loved the ending.

Our protagonist, Jimmy, has an enthusiasm, optimism, and charisma worth hearing about. I fell in love with the guy and found him inspirational. How nice it was for the producer to allow me to arrive at my own decision about Jimmy and his world.

On one hand he's employing sales techniques while his honest and principled hand is betraying that slickness.

Dan told a good story. Rather, he stayed out of the way and let Jimmy tell a good story, his story in song and colorful language and in conversation with fellow residents of Braddington. Jimmy's vernacular and his speaking voice simply demanded my attention. Dan was there enough to fill in the gaps with excellent descriptions.

Nice rhythm, nice flow and solid and conversational delivery by Dan.

May have to be edited to fit some station's needs but, if you have a hole for feature work like this, play it.

Jacob has a believable and down-to- earth delivery and does a nice job with his pace.

I think Jacob has more to say. I want to hear about the characters in his family and, as an example, one or two of his fellow performers at the talent show. Share a humorous misstep from that talent showcase or from one of your family reunions.

There was so much that I liked in this piece but ultimately I felt like it went unfinished. I wanted to hear specific examples of how the mercator map, which distorts the size of at least some developing nations, is unfair beyond the size distortion. Is it an image thing, an economic issue or what? How do the nations and cultures within those nations percieve the size slight?

Andrew has a nice, conversational style and I like his pace. He speaks clearly.

I loved his use of the dining experience of two friends to illustrate how the "facts" can look so much different depending on one's perspective.

A bit of a distraction was the reference to "that's me on the guitar, by the way". I also almost always battle as a listener to hear narration over a vocal music bed.

I hear so much potential and so many positives in this piece but just don't feel it quite delivers.

Looking for some thematic classical programming for a holiday or special occasion? This might fit the bill.

Peter Boyer's composition is nice to listen to and the performance is equally good.

The stories of those who traveled here touch the heart and, so well delivered by trained actors/voices, don't distract from the musical rhythm. A nice mix of music and spoken word.

I wish there was a way to make it a complete hour-long package because the additional peices, while strong, seem like nothing more than fill within the context of the ongoing Ellis Island theme.

I wish I could create "local" radio this strong. Intriguing subject, well written and told equally well through a mix of conversational narrative and audio.

This piece should appeal to music fans as well as those who simply like to study human behavior. The feature, for me, was as much about how we react to art and other people as much as it was about Daniel's musical creations.

Is Daniel Johnston a gifted and troubled artist or a calculating self-promoter or both? Those questions remained long after the piece ended and I thank David for not force-feeding me an answer.

As far as stories go, this one is bizarre, amusing, heartfelt, tragic and, most importantly, unique and interesting.

Timely. Well written, well delivered, well edited and polished. The documentary is easy to follow and has a comfortable rhythm. It is informative and takes advantage of multiple voices, people who are thoughtful and intelligent. I learned much over the course of this 58-minute documentary and relearned some important history that I had unfortunately forgotten.

Superlatives aside, I still found myself wanting to hear more. Example: I wanted to hear someone take issue with the segment about the para-military police work. As reprehensible as the Eugene, Oregon police action was, I wanted to hear it spoken of in terms of number of incidents. I wanted to hear a police voice explaining when, how and why that type of work might sometimes be justified. There were other segments that had me asking for other perspectives, too.

Heavy handed is too strong an expression to use to define the segment about the Carter-Reagan Presidential election but let's be mindful that it just wasn't the intelligence community which supported and elected Ronald Reagan.

This documenatry would be well served by a clock. Give stations the 20/40 local avail and provide a 5-minute news hole at :01.

This short piece was well edited. It detailed some of the grim realities of war, from the act of killing to being injured physically and/or emotionally.

I question why the description of the houses which were searched was included including the reference to Mercedes autos.

I liked the simplicity of this and the narrator just spoke as oppossed to speaking into a microphone.

I gave it a low rating only because we are getting a steady diet of these first-person stories on the news magazines. That's no fault of the producer and not a reflection on the producer's work.

That said, I would use them if the voices were from my community.

How many times while listening to an interview of an author have we uttered, 'I don't think the host has read this darn book.'? So it was refreshing to listen to Gretchen ask questions that could only come from someone who knew the author and the book.

I enjoyed the interview and I found myself liking Sarah Waters and got just enough glimpses of Gretchen's personality to make me think that I probably like her, too. I point this out only because I think the show would benefit a bit more if Gretchen would give us a bit more Gretchen. It's a balancing act because one certainly doesn't want to overshadow the guest but radio is at it's best when we invite the audience in a bit more. It builds loyalty and sustains interest if nothing else. While they often take "personality" to a horrible extreme, it is one aspect of this intimate medium that our commercial friends understand most of the time.

That "personality" should extend to include the show elements. Why not drop in excerpts of the book as read by staff members at WAMC? I know it wasn't a call-in show but might there be a way to include a listener perspective. Short Vox Pop as one example?

I enjoyed the interview but found myself most engaged near the end when the questions turned away from the book and focused more on Ms. Waters.

It's nice to hear intelligent conversation about the literary world but a half-hour interview by phone with lots of popping sounds will test a listener's fortitude.

We are an enlightened bunch but we can also be guilty of sharing narrow perspectives. This piece was refreshing to me in that we heard about a strong willed, if not prickly woman, a woman representing a diverse background.

And it made me think. It made me think about the 'third place' establishments in my community and how creative we could be in presenting our 'third place' locations.

It made me wonder if we have similar public servants including those who are under the radar screen. Who is the Ruby Chow of Kansas City? It made me think about ways to dig a bit deeper to bring interesting stories to my audience locally.

I was thrilled to hear a unique and mostly untold historical aspect of one of America's great cities. I was inspired to hear about a legacy of public service.

This was perhaps long on narration but I found the reporters (recreation) reading the newspaper headlines creative and inspired.

And what a wonderful concept for a series! Breaking bread while engaging in meaningful conversation. It is so common and perhaps so overlooked as a place, as an environment where learning takes place and ideas and positions take root.

Thank you for taking me to your neighborhood. You did a nice job of creating a sense of community in one corner of New York City.

It would be nice to hear this on New York radio but it might be a tough sale in the Heartland.

This was cleanly edited and the narrator did a nice job of defining folk music while sharing the museum's philosophy on this sonic art.

The narrator was warm, inviting and authentic in voice. He respected me as a listener.

In closing, the piece left me wanting to hear the sound of a manhole cover!!!

I found this piece full of surprises and walked away with a better understanding about why I should be wary of knock-off products. It was an interesting report.

Good and clear expert analysis but I always hope for something beyond phone connections. I say that knowing that it simply isn't always possible.

I did find the explosion a bit off-putting. That was a sound effect, right? If so, it undermined the seriousness of the report. If not, I'm literally blown away.

Jean did a very good job of providing the facts. I did want to hear more voice inflection, however, and a little more fluidity in the delivery of sentences.

I loved the way this deeply personal story was introduced. References to armed revolutionaries, love stretching beyond death and the soundbite in which the daughter talked about a story that is "...too shocking to tell the truth." All that, early in the presentation, raised my level of interest.

Soon, however, I felt like an interloper who was encroaching on the personal and tragic story of a grieving family. The very real drama wore me down in the end and I was left reflecting on the horror of the incident and not the lessons learned.

I was grateful that I was given context for this family's personal horror in respect to the unneccesary deaths of tens of thousands of Sri Lankans. That context came some 5-minutes into the show and about the time I was looking for background.

Good use of sound and music and appropriate music at that. Clean edits and incredibly authentic in voice. The gun shots might turn some off but it drove a grim point home for me.

I must admit that I had to work hard to understand the heavily accented voices, especially that of the husband, and I found myself desiring additional narration as we progressed through the story.

Would I air this program assuming I could find another half-hour segment that would be suitable and somewhat complimentary? Probably not if only because I feel I have so much other content to use that tells the story of Americans and citizens of Iraq in a war that is top of the mind and top of the hour on the radio dial in the U-S-A.

If you have a two minute hole...this would fit the Bill (pun intended). Narrated professionally and delivered intimately, this Billy Collins work plays to a number of our core values including pacing, authenticity, substance and respect for the listener's intelligence.

The piece was delivered with just the right amount of inflection and the voicing was clear and resonate.

The poem itself had a playful moment, was contemplative, personal and transitioned well from the pages of a book to the airwaves.

My challenge would involve placement. My two minute holes are used for local news inserts or for the dissemination of other information.

However, I would strong-arm a producer into putting it as part of poetry themed talk show.