I grew up listening to Alan Chartok on 90.3 FM WAMC Northeast Public Radio. I thought this would make it more comfortable for me to call in to one of his talk-radio shows: Vox Pop, but I was proved wrong. Having never called into a radio station, this new experience put me on the spot. Alan is one of the smartest people I “know,” and not to mention the well-chosen guest speakers are extremely intelligent, thus somewhat intimating to me, a lowly college student with limited knowledge of world politics.
On Tuesday, March 22nd I called into VoxPop at precisely 1:17 p.m. after having listened to the show since 1 p.m. The phone rang about eight to 10 times until a woman picked up asking for my name and location. I replied, “my name is Katie from Amherst, MA.” She proceeded to ask what I wanted to talk about. The topic of discussion that day was about US intervention abroad with guest speaker Dr. David Woolner, a professor at Marist College and a clear expert historian on foreign relations. I was extremely apprehensive, for I still believe I don’t have a solid handle on understanding our current state of affairs with Libya, but at least I had questions. I told the woman I wanted to ask about Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya using violence to counteract violence, and the justification behind it. She said “thank-you” and that she would put me on hold. Then, through the phone I heard the broadcast, and put my phone on speaker and listened to other callers and the hosts’ responses while I preoccupied myself with applying make up. I truly doubted that Alan would take my call. Then, I heard an odd beep and Alan’s voice saying “Katie from Amherst, you’re on.” (My call was taken about 21 minutes after the show began, so I couldn’t have been on hold for too long.) Caught off guard, I threw my eyeliner across my desk while exclaiming “Oh my goodness” and scrambled to find the precise question I had written down. I nearly had a heart attack, to be completely honest. It was a great experience though, and I felt that my question contributed to the discussion. After Dr. Woolner’s answer, in my still frazzled state of euphoria mixed with nervous anxiety, I began to ramble about relating to young Arabs' desires for democracy and my frustration of watching them continually get shut down.
Aside from being slightly embarrassed I think this experience really opened my eyes to talk-radio. The other listeners who called in all contributed great questions and concerns and turned the discussion toward many different paths that stimulated thought and conversation. People truly sounded like they cared about the subject, and wanted to voice their opinion and receive feedback from an expert.
However, I do think that had I called in to a show on my own time, as in, not for an assignment, I believe I would have been less nervous and much more relaxed. I always wondered why callers sounded so surprised once their call was taken…
Listen here
My call comes on around the 21:00 minute marker.
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