by Eric Rauchway

Somehow the combination of David's and my comments on NPR prompted Geoff to cast me in the role of Amurrica-hating Anglophile Archers-listener who prefers BHL to Garrison Keillor. That is not what I meant, at all. Hey, I ponied up for WHYY while I was living in England and listening to pledge drives through the Internets, Geoff. Partly because I liked listening to a certain show that features a certain academic linguist. And I wasn't even getting a tax break from Inland Revenue! Just a plastic mug. And nothing made me change the channel faster than the Archers' theme music. I was trying simply to make the point that American public radio might do even better than it already does on programs like "This American Life" and "Fresh Air" by thinking a little bit like Radio 4's producers of two particular programs. To add a little to what I said, among American public radio hosts who would be more than up to the job, I nominate Michael Krasny and Brian Lehrer.