Saturday, February 20, 2010

Radio Pick: Olympic Medalist

TORONTO, ONTARIO - It was hard to choose a weekly radio pick this week since quite a number of programs would have been the pick in a less exceptional week. In some ways, the program I ultimately chose is the least remarkable, but as an example of a well-conducted live interview, I decided it was actually more less common than other possibilities also included below.

There has been a lot of Olympics coverage in the past week, but I thought the best moments came early in the week when the CBC's Anna Maria Tremonti interviewed Canada's first medalist, Jennifer Heil. Tremonti did a great job of interviewing in front of a live audience, finding ways to bring up issues like not getting a gold medal in tactful ways, and Heil handled herself and told stories in a truly inspirational way in the 22-minute segment.

Listen to streaming MP3 of The Current "Jennifer Heil Profile"

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Most people probably would have chosen the "Lucy" story this week. The Radiolab team out of WNYC in New York did a masterful job of presenting the story this week. A significant segment of the story aired on This American Life, but the full version is available from Radiolab. Be prepared to affected by the emotional power of this story about a chimpanzee raised as a human.

Listen to streaming MP3 of This American Life "Parent Trap"

Listen to streaming MP3 of Radiolab "Lucy"

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Finally, it isn't often that I hear a reasoned, civil defense of unions in the American economy. Usually, unions are bashed on the radio, or are over-glorified by equally-intellectually dishonest diatribes from the left. However, prompted by an e-mail from a listener, Dave Ross launched into a rare civilized argument in favor of unions on KIRO-FM from Seattle.

Listen to streaming MP3 of the Dave Ross Show "Defending Unions"

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