Having said the above, it should come as no surprise that our list of sights to see on the trip included WHYY in Philadelphia. For NPR fans, WHYY is Mecca, or maybe Medina (and not the “funky cold” kind). Jen emailed a couple of weeks ago and got information about a tour and we went on Thursday.
It was great. Great great great. We were the only four on the tour, and were lead around by Ellen, a computer support person. I thought that was a bit odd, and guessed she had drawn the short straw or owed someone in the PR department a favor. While that may be true, having a tech person lead us around turned out to be a good thing, because she either (1) didn’t know to limit the access of the tour-goers, or (2) didn’t care. Who knows, maybe it’s just a laid-back place.
We couldn’t get into the first studio because they were on the air and had the curtains drawn. So Ellen said, “Let’s go in this one.” We walked in and there was a woman doing some editing, and we heard Terry Gross’ voice. “This is the Fresh Air studio, and Audrey, one of the producers of the show, is doing some editing for tomorrow’s show,” said Ellen. Here’s where it gets a little geeky. I leaned over to Jen and excitedly whispered, “Jen, that’s Audrey Bentham, one of the producers.” Her eyes lit up and we laughed. What dorks we are. We learned about the show – it’s done a day in advance of airing, and rarely is there a guest in studio.
We left that studio, and turned the corner. I could only get out “Oh my gosh, there she is –“ to Jen before Ellen walked into the office on the right and said, “And here’s Terry Gross. Terry, this a family from Cincinnati I’m giving a tour to.”
And there she was. Terry Gross. The Pixie Queen of NPR. “Hi,” she said as she got out of her seat to welcome us. Terry Gross had stopped what she was doing and was getting up to talk to us. Jen, struck so hard by the power of Terry, took a step back. I managed to get the typical “We really love your show” out of my mouth. Of course she was gracious. We made a little more small talk before thanking her and walking on. Later, Jen said, “I was watching this woman talk and Terry Gross’ voice was coming out.” That really sums up the odd feeling. It’s one thing to see her on TV or at appearance, but here she was in her office (which is not big and lacks windows), two feet from us.
Before you ask, no, we didn’t get a picture. It seemed too weird. We weren’t at a book reading or appearance. We were in her office. I thought about it in the moment, as did Jen, but it seemed weird and somehow rude. I don’t know.
Anyway, we then met Danny Miller, the Executive Producer of the show. Jen and I had fun pointing out the names from the show on their cubicle walls as we passed. I will say it takes a little away from the coolness of whole thing to realize the people getting named credit at the end of the show are plain old cubicle-dwellers. Not that I love Ann Marie Baldonado and Monique Nazareth and any less. By the way, if you know any of the names I’ve dropped here, I urge you to come out and proudly proclaim your love of Fresh Air. Don’t be afraid.
The rest of the tour was really interesting, and the kids now both say, “I’ll never listen to the radio the same way again.” As for Jen and me, we are now obsessed with using this “we’re just a home-schooling family from Cincinnati” schtick to get into lots of places you don’t usually get into. Our next stop is DC – anyone want odds on my next entry including a picture of Dick Cheney’s man-sized safe?
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