Whad'ya Know?

This morning as I was driving in to work I had NPR on in the car (which is what I frequently listen to, more so than music). It was the weekend, so instead of all of their usual news-themed shows they have their NPR gameshows, one of which is called Michael Feldman's Whad'ya Know? I have to say that I am a fairly regular listener to this show, and every time I find it an absoultely maddening experience to listen to it.

First of all, the flow of the program is like he is making it all up entirely on the spot with no real clear direction of where he is going, except for perhaps a few major bullet points that he needs to cover. The delivery is complete with ummms, ahhs, and other spontaneous interjections indicating lack of planning for the next thought. Second, the jokes are frequently really lame and are often somewhat sarcastic. Third, as he moves forward in the show, he is often able to crack jokes by bringing it back to an original joke from way back in the conversation. The rambling nature just continues as he talks to various members of the live audience and interviews them. Fourth, being that it is NPR they are usually talking about something cultural (like today's program about the centenial of Samuel Beckett, whom I might point out with dismay is not the guy from Quantum Leap, but an author...) that is usually somewhat serious, but with enough deprecating remarks that it is hard to know what the true facts are. I honestly have no idea why I keep tuning into it, because it is so frustrating to listen to all the nonsensical rambling that never seems to have a point to it.

That is, until I realized that if I were to have a radio show of my own, it would probably be very similar to that. Whad'ya Know?

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