If you were born in the states, you probably spent a remarkable part of your childhood watching your local public television station. We all grew up with Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and of course Elmo. Our caregivers were proud of themselves for turning on those particular shows because they knew it was somehow better for us than regular cartoons.
Well eventually, we all got older and at some point, we abandoned our old pals. I rediscovered KERA channel 13, my local public broadcasting station in middle school in the form of weekend British comedies. So you can imagine my excitement when after many months of searching, I secured my first job out of college at my local PBS station. I was going to work with Barney!
During my first run at KERA (like most people, I boomeranged) I got to know all of my amazing co-workers in every department. I was fascinated by the folks in the education department and their neverending outreach programs to preschools and daycares, I would walk past the windows of the radio station and even would hang out in the cave with the engineering guys. But TV was my thing! In high school, I was in Duncanville’s incredible media technology program and I studied a little communication in college. So any excuse to go to the studio was good enough for me. I even got to escort my crush, Mr. “Eyes on the Prize” himself, Juan Williams around for a day.
It wasn’t until after I left KERA that I finally tuned in to our local public radio station to see what all of the fuss was about and I haven’t turned it off since. I gave up on commercial radio sometime in the early 2000s and 90.1 has occupied the number 1 position on my radio dial ever since. I’ve been lucky enough to count some of my former coworkers as my closest friends and I’ve even gone back to volunteer.
It’s official, I’m the public radio nerd that you hear about in jokes. Don’t believe me, tune in to 90.1FM at approximately 8:19 a.m., 11:59 a.m., and 3:59 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23 for proof. Then keep it on for another hour or so, I promise you’re going to learn something new.
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