It may be only be day five, but it's already crystal clear: the new morning show on National Public Radio affiliate WYNC, 'the takeaway', is drivel wallowing in a pseudo hipness, quasi news, and stilted banter.
NPR's 'Morning Edition' has been a venerable and reliable source of radio news - presented concisely, with only a slight bias - for over 25 years. According to a recent article in the NYT, NPR is dissatisfied with their record 28 million listeners, and has been doing research to determine how to give their programming more 'verve'. Meanwhile, affiliates are coming up with their own programming to cater to a younger, less traditional audience. WNYC taunted listeners for weeks about their new show, which airs from 6 - 7a.m. and is hosted by Adaora Udoji and John Hockenberry, of CNN and NBC respectively.
Broadcast live, and carried by 15 other affiliates so far, Adora and John banter about four or five topics - sometimes with their collaborators at the NYTimes, BBC, or WGBH - trying to inform, while sounding 'tough enough to get the real story' and just contrarian enough for a veneer of objectivity. Every 15 min or so, a twelve-year-old sounding Brit cheerily reads the headlines: 'another 50 die in a suicide bombing in Baghdad' she chirps as if describing a new flavor of cupcakes. And then, because research must have shown it is key, they have an interactive aspect. Listeners can call (and they make it a point that the call will be transcribed - uh, who cares?), or email comments, a selection of which they read, leading to further banter. It's all so forced and scripted - even the indignation is clearly of the mock variety . . . hipness is simply not attained with such obvious falseness and clumsiness - rather it seems they are trying too hard.
One is left feeling uninformed and gypped: All that talking and time, with so little information imparted. And it's insulting too - why should one of the last vestiges of intelligent reporting be dumbed down to be more like Don Imus? If NPR listeners really wanted that sort of show, they have many other - and better options. Now, if we want to hear 'Morning Edition' at that time in New York, we have to tune in on the AM dial - who even hooked up the AM antenna to their clock radio? I certainly did not.
A few years ago, in an attempt to be more lively, NPR fired Bob Edwards, with his coma-inducing voice, weeks within his 25th anniversary on air - to great uproar and indignation . . . but who can better explain what's going on in the Supreme Court than Nina Totenberg, in Washington in general than Brian Naylor, or give us thoughtful news analysis than Juan Williams? With a little tweaking (and perhaps slightly more balance), they could continue to expand their listening audience, and still be the gold standard of radio news.