{"id":11232,"date":"2013-07-27T22:00:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-28T02:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=11232"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:56:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:56:58","slug":"just-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=11232","title":{"rendered":"Just Talking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"27<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Madison, Wisconsin <\/i>\u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s like melted cheese stuck to a gold-plated toaster,\u201d said the voice coming out of the speaker. The voice was that of Mark Leibovich, guest interviewee on today\u2019s talk show, Whad\u2019Ya Know<\/i>; broadcast Saturday mornings via Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and distributed by Public Radio International (PRI). I normally catch it on whatever National Public Radio (NPR) station serves wherever I happen to be, but today I\u2019m in the thick of it, sitting \u201clive\u201d in the studio audience in downtown Madison\u2019s Monona Terrace Center. Full of pre-show sugar-drizzled donuts and logger\u2019s coffee, I watched host Michael Feldman wander around the stage and out into the audience, shirttail loose, aiming for casual; aiming to put us at ease. We were prompted before the \u201cOn Air\u201d flashed; \u201cI ask whad\u2019ya know,\u201d he said; \u201cthen you answer \u2018Not much! You?\u2019\u201d We practiced a few times; \u201cYou need the gesture,\u201d he chided, \"27<\/a>flinging arms back and chest forward. \u201cThat makes it more\u2026.you know.\u201d He chided announcer Sara Nics on her retro-chic outfit, totally wasted on a radio show \u2013 jeans split at the knees, spiked-heel leather boots; a plaid 70\u2019s jacket. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t let my daughter go out like that,\u201d he said. She did a little Charleston before she took her seat; we laughed, warming up to the process. Whad\u2019Ya Know<\/i> has been on since 1985; Wall Street Journal<\/i> has dubbed Feldman \u201cKing of Small Talk Radio.\u201d His show is meant to be silly; even \"27<\/a>serious subjects get the low-key voice (think Groucho Marx). Today\u2019s interview with Leibovich followed that path, as the author discussed his ire-arousing new book, This Town. Two Parties and a Funeral \u2013 plus plenty of valet parking in America\u2019s Gilded Capital<\/i>. \u201cWashington DC,\u201d Leibovich said, \u201cis the place people go to get famous.\u201d Feldman dug for \u201cwhys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you decide to write this book?\u201d he asked. \u201cI really became disillusioned with Washington politics in 2008, at the funeral of Tim Russert,\u201d Leibovich explained. \u201cRussert was a Washington icon; at his funeral people were handing out business cards and networking in a feeding frenzy, wanting to be seen<\/i> there; it was more like a circus than a reverent memorial service.\u201d Mark Leibovich is a national political reporter for The New York Times<\/i> \"27<\/a>Washington bureau; before that he was with the Washington Post; <\/i>he continued with his view of today\u2019s Washington, adding to the \u201cgold-plated toaster\u201d comment; \u201cit is the wealthiest place in the country, no longer a city of Democrats and Republicans, it\u2019s a city of millionaires.\u201d Feldman brought up the topic of the book\u2019s non-existent index and Leibovich confirmed; \u201cthere is no index,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIf people want to find where they are in the book, they have to buy it.\u201d Leibovich unabashedly names names in his book, pointing out those he calls \u201cwell-fed locusts, who have gone from public service to self service.\u201d \u201cI guess you\u2019re no longer on anybody\u2019s lunch list,\u201d Feldman quipped, as Leibovich interrupted the interview to tell his wife where the car keys were. A little more talk about the heydays of the James Cargills and Mary Matalins and the interview wound down; \u201cThis Town<\/i>, by Mark Leibovich,\u201d said Feldman, turning off the switch, and the show segued quickly into a pleasant jazzy version of Don\u2019t Worry, Be Happy;<\/i> John Thulin on piano and Jeff Hamann on bass.<\/p>\n

John and Jeff provided entertainment throughout the show; when they weren\u2019t playing they were sitting wiggly-butt, with cut-up gestures and eye rolls over Feldman\u2019s comments; a \"27<\/a>gaudy pink plastic flamingo perched at the edge of the stage. During breaks Jeff kept up a running story about a catheter, which he never finished; the last installment was of action figures in the bathroom wastebasket. So, where was the catheter? Feldman did three audience interviews, selecting guests based on the cards we turned in ahead of time; embarrassing the man who sells 3-D printers (why not just go buy the object instead of printing it?); suffering the angst of the teen girl on a month-long car-trip with her family (my brother used to knuckle-punch me in the arm, for a thousand miles, he said, knuckle-punching the girl\u2019s brother); and\u00a0feigning surprise when the tall blond exchange student who just finished 8th<\/sup>\u00a0said there are only 10 years of school in Sweden (after that, you choose, pre-med or lawyer or mechanic, said the boy, who has decided he’ll be an auto mechanic). It was that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

In addition to the celebrity interview and the audience interviews, the show typically has these elements \u2013 All the News That Isn\u2019t<\/em> (skewed headlines), Thanks for the Memos<\/em> (weird notes sent by viewers), and the famous Whad\u2019Ya Know Quiz<\/em>, where an audience member and a caller jointly try to answer questions that have been \u201cthoroughly researched, though the answers have not.\u201d Jerry the bus driver from Kansas City was the first to volunteer; teamed with Bill calling in from Hales Corners they hit a grand slam, knowing their current events and science and odds and ends. \u201cWhy did you want to do the quiz?\u201d Jerry was asked at the \"27<\/a>beginning. \u201cBecause today I hit the trifecta,\u201d he answered. \u201cI\u2019ve been to Keillor\u2019s show, and I\u2019ve been to Wait, Wait, Don\u2019t Tell Me<\/i>; today I\u2019m here for yours.\u201d We applauded, not needing the reminder sign; all of us obviously devoted NPR listeners.<\/p>\n

Russ the pole-vaulting coach from Connecticut teamed with Cindy calling from Lakeview for the second quiz. Eagle River, Wisconsin, Snowmobile Capital of the World, was Town of the Week<\/i>; a long-distance chat with an Eagle River resident filled in that segment of the show. The Town of the Week is selected the week before; an audience member was brought up to throw a dart at a skewed states US map; the dart landed on Toccoa, Georgia for next week. A flag-holding Uncle Sam patiently stood by the side of the miked-up seating \"27<\/a>arrangement; wires strung crisscross\u00a0over the floor; a lawsuit waiting to happen, Feldman warned, when he led a guest to the orange-plastic seats.<\/p>\n

That was pretty much it; two hours of non-planned planned. Design a format but leave it open to audience response, a gamble that is sometimes funny, and sometimes not. \u201cDid you enjoy being on the show?\u201d I asked quiz-show participant Russ in the gift shop afterwards. \u201cImmensely!\u201d he replied, \u201calthough I was nervous as hell to go up on the stage. But it was okay, once we started talking.\u201d I guess that\u2019s what makes it work; a long-running show that doesn\u2019t seem like a show at all; just talking.<\/p>\n

Feldman is a Wisconsin native; a \u201c20-year overnight sensation\u201d born in Milwaukee; his bio is a hoot, written in the style he portrays so consistently on the show. When I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1970, two things occurred to me: (1) my education was spotty due to the school being shut down repeatedly for Vietnam and other protests and (2) I had majored in English and (2a) there is no career called “English.”<\/i> Hence a career in radio; just talking.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a regular, check your NPR station for when the show airs in your home town; as for me, next week I\u2019ll be listening from Lansing, Michigan, where, by the way, I\u2019m catching Keillor live on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Public Radio International http:\/\/www.pri.org\/whad-ya-know.html<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Whad\u2019Ya Know http:\/\/www.notmuch.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Madison, Wisconsin \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s like melted cheese stuck to a gold-plated toaster,\u201d said the voice coming out of the speaker. The voice was that of Mark Leibovich, guest interviewee on today\u2019s talk show, Whad\u2019Ya Know; broadcast Saturday mornings via Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and distributed by Public Radio International (PRI). I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4587,949],"tags":[2545,2541,2540,3072,2534,2532,2536,2537,2539,2542,2544,2535,2543,2533,2491,2538],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11232"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11235,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11232\/revisions\/11235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}