Shifting sands

Like many of you, I am a big fan of Chris Lydon, you might even say (to borrow one of his favored adjectives) an enormous fan. So it is with very real regret that I report the end, for now at least, of his innovative and lively evening program Open Source. The producers were unable to put together secure funding to continue national distribution, and made the difficult decision to suspend production this week. Chris has been a great exploiter of both the countertrend—an unabashed intellectual in the age of dumbing down--and of the coming trend--building a radio program upon the swiftly shifting sands of a community of bloggers. That community lives on at the Radio Open Source website, and I encourage you all to visit, join the conversation, and help in the process of either reestablishing the program, or inventing an even better platform for this remarkable radio talent and his remarkable team.

While it might be tempting to do something conventional to fill out this weekday evening slot, NCPR has decided to continue to cast its lot with innovation, introducing a new program--a new kind of program--for public radio audiences. Fair Game, with host Faith Salie (a Rhodes Scholar and a comedian), disassembles the news and events of the day and, with the help of newsmakers, notables, musicians and comics, reassembles it with wit and humor into something new. Please give it a listen, beginning Monday, July 2 at 7 pm, and let us know what you think.

Outside the box score

Covering an area the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, NCPR does not have the option to covers sports news in the same way your hometown paper or broadcaster can. There are just too many schools, sports, teams and events for us to do a comprehensive job. In fact, you could mark our graduation from being a college-based station to becoming a regional community broadcaster from the date that our intrepid station manager had to inform the university trustees that we would no longer be carrying Saints home games live. In a station retreat exploring the new possibilities of micro-journalism, Brian Mann maintained that the best that we could provide, given our huge footprint, was "the ethical illusion of localism." Ethical in the sense that we try to create a true reflection of the rich diversity of North Country life in all its aspects and locales, but illusion in the sense that we can't cover life in Glens Falls, for example, to the extent that the Post-Star can.

So what we look to do in sports reporting is to find the stories that best capture a slice of the sporting life unique to the region, that highlight athletes and sports that are shaped by the region's geography, weather and culture. And we look for sports you aren't likely to run across in the ESPN headlines. This has taken our reporters down some unique pathways, following wilderness marathoners and ice climbers, talking to students who write hockey poetry and profiling zamboni drivers, covering rutabaga curling and NASCAR bobsledders, an ironworker decathalon and the competition to create the world's loudest car stereo. This "outside the box score" approach to the topic has brought our news team carriage on national programs such as Only a Game, and frequent broadcaster awards for individual features. This week, the 2007 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Sports Reporting went to Brian Mann for his August 2006 feature on the Mountaineers Old Boys from Saranac Lake, local favorites in the 33rd Can-Am Rugby tournament. Give it a listen on today's news page, or in the news archive.

Up with the tweeters

For me, summer does not properly begin until I have had one sunny day out on the water. Sad to say, there was no summer last year--stranded on the strand. But Jim took pity on me, calling me last Sunday to help wet down the hull on this year’s maiden voyage of the Gypsy Wind. It was pretty still for sailing, so we left the mast unstepped and tootled around Norwood Pond courtesy of a sedate 2-horse outboard. Sweet sun, puffy clouds, amiable conversation, and--as always with Jim--a steady supply of strength-giving M&Ms. It takes a minimum of gear to restore the soul. The less the better in fact, as we saw at the other end of the afternoon, watching the Chinese fire drill of monster boats and jet skis clogging up the ramp.

But already now I need another dose; all the heart’s ease wore off Monday morning as I donned my bullet-shaped helmet and silver suit, and slid myself down the barrel of the circus cannon that fires me off into the work week. Each day since has twisted the turnbuckle strapped across my shoulderblades a little tighter. I wake with the freaking tweeters—I mean the dawn chorus—and plot my next escape.

No Joy

If the wind from the north has brought you an odd sound along with the near frost, it is probably the collective wailing and gnashing of teeth north of the border. Lord Stanley’s Cup—in Disneyland? Arrrgghhhh! I fully sympathize; simple justice dictates that it return home to Canada, or at least to the same climatic zone. When did it become all right to play hockey in places where, if the power went out, the ice would melt? You don’t find surfers in Nunavut. I miss the black and white hockey of my youth, when players had names like Boom-Boom and Rocket, and smiles like an orthodontist’s nightmare. Or hometown games in the old Clarkson Arena—a modified cattle barn, except colder—where the WPDM announcer would have to cut to commercial while Golden Knights fans bellowed chants that would bring down a $50,000 fine.
These latter days are much reduced--civil, some say, or businesslike. Fah! I suspect the Ducks overcame the Senators through Disney animatronics. You can make an animated character do anything. Picture the Road Runner, with mask and pads. But the Senators have to bear some of the blame, adopting the name of the perennially-undistinguished DC baseball team. And who could ignore the horrible omen from last week’s fan rally, when the Ottawa City Hall fountain mysteriously filled up with blood? A calamity of Biblical dimension.