Of Beautiful Sights and Irritating Sounds

Aside from taking my breath away with this pretty picture ("California Dreamin' on such a winter's day"), this Doc Searls post made me laugh because, in it, he speaks of his(albeit) modest efforts to circumvent his local public radio station during pledge drive hell.

"I give them money," he says, "but not during fund drives. It only encourages them."

I feel your pain, man. Here in the Hudson Valley, our terrestrial public radio comes courtesy of WAMC. Based in Albany, I've been told the station's call letters are the initials of Alan Chartock, its President and CEO. I'm also told this guy is the force behind this station, so kudos to you, Alan. I mean that. But I also mean this: get off the air, please!

My morning commute is about 25 minutes. In that time today, I heard Chartok come on no fewer than five times as he implored listeners to pledge ahead of next week's fund drive, threatening that failure to do so could mean they won't be able to carry the Senate Judiciary Committee meetings on Bush's wiretapping. Not much of a threat for me. Only the true wonks, retired ones at that, listen to these things for more than a few minutes. I'll wait for the story in the Times, thanks. The worst is when he begins, "Sorry to bother you..."

No you're not. You'd be on the air 24/7 if you could. He already pops up on so many of the stations shows, most laughably when he's treated in news stories as an impartial third-party commentator with the title, "political observer." I agree with most of his liberal politics, but his party-line views are so predictable as to make his value as an "observer" less than zero.

My biggest issue with these fund-drives is that they're trying to get you to pay for something by depriving you of it. There's virtually no NPR programming on during the fund drive week. Yet they find time for inane skits always featuring none other than...Alan Chartok. You can bet I won't go near that end of the dial next week.

And then there's his voice. Some people have a face for radio. Alan also has a voice for print. Thanks for all the energy you put into WAMC, Alan. But, please, step away from the mic.