STATE OF THE RE:UNION: THIS IS WORTH WATCHING THE RADIO FOR AN HOUR

Mention the call letters NPR and watch the reaction of people who never tune into their local station. National Public Radio is the American equivalent to the BBC.  A wonderful eclectic mix of programming that tries to embrace as much of the national flavor as possible.

I discovered NPR one winter evening during my late teens. I was bored with listening to local radio and started turning the dial.  There was a program that was on the air waves at that time that featured audio story telling.  This concept grabbed my attention immediately.  I sat down on my bed and listened to the reader for one solid hour.  I didn't know at the time that this was a lengthy novel and it was broad casted in one hour segments during the week.  Every day I would make sure that my radio was on and set to the local NPR affiliate WCBE.  A couple of times while I was listening to the story my mom would come to my bedroom to see what I was doing. When she saw that I was sitting and listening to the story she smiled and walked away. I heard her tell her husband that I was "watching the radio." An expression that people in their generation often used when there was only radio as a source of public entertainment. Everyone would sit down and listen to whatever was broad casted on the air.

Over the years I have become a regular listener of different NPR shows.  I always listen to NPR on Sunday afternoon because I am a jazz lover.  Which is the primary bulk of the programming that is aired. I especially like the local jazz show because there is music, discussion and contest.  The K.C. Jones,is a brother that use to be on WVKO. Which was the Black community's radio station at one time.  He has a great knowledge of jazz music and he spins some great music.

There is a program that I just discovered today on NPR. State of the Re-Union.  The host is Al Letson. If you are a long term fan of Def Poetry his name and performance style is probably very  familiar to you.  Here's the video promo for season two of State of the Re:Union featuring Al Letson.



 The premise is pretty simple. Al visits different American cities and provides the listener with a viewpoint from the people's perspective of their hometown.  He does an outstanding job of painting a verbal picture of the location and the people he is visiting.

Today's broadcast was about NOLA.(New Orleans, Louisiana).  It was really interestingm entertaining, and educational.  At the end of the broadcast there is a segement titled, "Letter to my City".  The woman who wrote to NOLA showed nothing but unconditional love for her hometown.

I jumped over to the State of Re:Union website when the broadcast ended. While I am writing this post I'm listening to the podcast about Milwaukee.  Right now the topic is one close to my heart-local foods. The people being interviewed are talking about greenhouses and how to overcome food deserts in urban areas. 

Letson does a great job of letting people talk about their projects.  He gives ample information on the subject. I know something about Milwaukee because my family lived not far away from there in Zion, Illinois.

We are always complaining about the lack of good radio programming. I like my radio to provide me with variety. I am definitely going to be keeping up with State of the Re:Union.  It is worth spending sixty minutes of time to watch the radio.