Public Radio: Behind the Voices
Lisa A. Phillips
(CDS Books, 334 pgs. $25)
Who knew the women of public radio were so attractive? Reading the profiles of hosts and reporters in Lisa A. Phillip's Public Radio: Behind the Voices, one is repeatedly reminded of what we're missing behind the invisibility of the medium. Cokie Roberts, a senior news analyst at NPR, probably has the best-known face among them, if only because of her years working in TV. Lest you thought all her talents lie in reporting, we learn she is glamorous, with striking gray-green eyes and a trim figure. Michele Norris, a host of the show All Things Considered, also receives praise for her allure. When Norris meets the author for an interview, she looks stunning, with perfectly coifed short hair and a slender figure. The other women in the book are similarly svelte, with descriptions ranging from petite and youthfully slim to thin, with a boyish figure to, the somewhat disapproving, rail thin.
But the men don't fare so poorly either. The host of NPR's new-age music show is unexpectedly endowed with broad shoulders and a superhero bulge of a chest, while a guest on Bob Edwards' show calls him a blond god, tall and handsome. Weekend Edition's Scott Simon, in just one page of a chapter called Troubadour, is judged dapper, striking, expressive, passionate and very handsome. We learn that Ira Glass (youthful and hip, if schlumpy) was offered a spot as one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People, but inexplicably declined. Of course, there is the case of Garrison Keillorbut even he manages to slip by with a discrete not beautiful.
Despite the apparent abundance of good looking, dulcet-voiced people working in public radio, Phillips focuses mainly on their stories, which turn out to follow a general trend. Many of the people profiled here grew up in the Midwest, without an accent or much else to do besides listen to the radio. During their hippie years (they're almost all Baby Boomers), they worked in college and underground radio, and gravitated towards NPR in the '70s as radio broadcasting became more commercialized. Almost all of them have been working for NPR for decades and, not surprisingly, just as many feel nostalgic for the old days.
The early days lurk behind these profiles like a wild night barely remembered, but before Phillips can delve too deeply into the details of the past, she's pushing on to the next profile: 43 of them in total. Browse a few of these character sketcheswhich are generally charming and pithy, but don't expect to read it cover-to-cover. After all, how many fans of public radio are really interested in both the Car Talk guys and the classical music ladyno matter how good they may look?
Reading & signing May 9. Coliseum Books, 11 W. 42nd St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-803-5890; 6:30, free.
