"Public Radio: Behind the Voices" by Lisa Phillips Profiles of Public Radio's Favorite Personalities BY MEG WHITE The mother of a two-year-old daughter named Clara, former IowanLisa Phillips now lives in Woodstock, New York, with her husband, painterBill Mead. A freelance writer for such publications as the NewYork Times and Poets & Writers, she also teaches journalism at the State Universityof New York at New Paltz. The competence, commitment, and energy this schedulerequires is something Lisa shares with 43 radio personalities profiled inher new book, Public Radio: Behind the Voices, published in April2006 by CDS/Perseus Press. In it, the 27 million listeners of public radio are given access to finelycrafted and insightful portraits of some of its most familiar voices. We meetWhat D’Ya Know’s Michael Feldman over lunch, have a chat withformer Morning Edition anchor Bob Edwards in his new studio at XM Broadcasting,and talk with the “Fallopian Jungle” trio Cokie Roberts, LindaWertheimer, and Nina Totenberg.
I first met Lisa Phillips on an early Wednesday morning in 1993. She strolledcheerfully into the breakfast café for the homeless I was managingfor the Episcopal Campus Ministry in Iowa City. After discovering she hadsome pretty sharp moves on the grill and was especially gracious with thecafé’s guests, I also learned we shared a passion for writing,public radio, and spicy food. She became a great friend. I was pleased todiscover with the publication of this book, she has become as excellent awriter as she is a friend.
Lisa will be in Iowa City on June 27 to read from her new book at PrairieLights. During a recent break from her nationwide book tour, Lisa stole arare bit of quiet time (Bill and Clara were snoring downstairs) in order toanswer a few questions about the book, her career in radio, and her time inIowa. Lisa, you have worked for, I believe, six different public radio stations.What drew you to the field to begin with?
I think I’ve always been taken with the sheer magic of radio. Ican get on the air and talk to people I can’t see and they’reout there listening to someone they can’t see. Voices are so powerfuland so intimate. If you’ve ever had the experience of being ableto say something on the telephone that you know you couldn’t sayin person, you understand what I mean. Also, I studied fiction writing in college and graduate school, andI’vefound that good radio reporting has some of the same mandates as goodliterary writing: you’ve got to vividly portray setting, character,etc., mostly through language, and radio has that added fun of “natsound,” or ambient sound, to make you feel like you’re onthe scene. You began your own broadcasting career here in Iowa. Can you tell mea little bit about your time here and the beginning of your work in publicradio?
My first real job in public radio was as the news director of KTPR inFort Dodge, a city in north central Iowa mainly known for farming, gypsummining, and veterinary pharmaceuticals. As someone who grew up in suburbanConnecticut, this was quite a change. I was insane enough to take thejob sight unseen—I just got into my car with my futon on top anddrove up there. For two years, I had to get up at 3:30 in the morningto be at the station in time to turn on the transmitter and do the localannouncing during Morning Edition. Not a fun schedule. But I really, really wanted to get into public radio, so I went out thereand did it and actually really loved it. There were plenty of interestingcharacters there: a former monk; an African-American man from Brooklynwho’d played baseball for the local community college and hopedto get on a team at a Big Ten school but ended up dee-jaying jazz instead;a New Age and Space music aficionado who often played his didgeridoo onthe air during the last hour of his shift, just for the heck of it. Weall worked out of this little blue mobile home on the edge of town. NowKTPR broadcasts the signal of WOI in Ames, meaning there’s reallynothing there in Fort Dodge anymore, which is a little sad. And, as you know, after I left KTPR, I spent a year working for the wonderfulWSUI in Iowa City. Iowa City felt like Paris after Fort Dodge.
What do you miss most about Iowa?
The tomatoes. You just don’t get the same kind of sun and heat inthe Catskills, so the tomatoes are always slightly mealy. I remember inAugust and September neighbors and friends in Fort Dodge giving me hugebowls of tomatoes every day and I’d eat them all by the next day. I also miss the yard sales. Up here, antique pickers from New York Citycruise all the yard sales and the prices are inflated as a result, notto mention the real finds are gone by 8 a.m. In the book, you say that Terry Gross is your role model in terms ofthe perfect interviewer. What is it about Gross that you find so compelling?
She is a magnificent listener. She holds conversations rather than conductinginterviews. She keeps a sense of wonder in her conversations, yet herown awareness and knowledge level remain incredibly sophisticated. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg,and Linda Wertheimer—the so-called “Fallopian Jungle.” Didyou experience any difficulties as a woman working as a broadcast journalist? I remember I didn’t get hired for a job at a lefty community stationin Minneapolis because the entire staff was female and they felt theyshould have at least one man. But then again there was another job whereI know being female was one of the deciding factors in hiring me. That’sjob hunting in the 1990s, I suppose. . . .
Does everyone ask you about this chapter? That term “FJ” israther, well, evocative.
The chapter is a big reminder of the struggles ambitious and talentedwoman went through in the ’60s and ’70s to get meaningfulwork. The fact that some brainy yet obviously insecure male staff membercalled Cokie Roberts, Linda Wertheimer, and Nina Totenberg “theFallopian Jungle” says so much about how formidable and powerfulthey were and how petty he was. They won, going on to fabulous careers,so the title is more amusing and revealing than dangerous and insulting.You feel sorry for the guy. These days, he’s probably in upper management,either in public radio or some red-tape-entangled place . . . still feelinglike he could have been a great radio reporter, if only those “youknow whats” hadn’t been running the show in the NPR newsroomback in the day.
Do you have a chapter of the book that you are especially fond of?
There are a few. I love giving public readings of the chapter on ScottSimon, because he showed so much of his character in the 40-minute interviewI had with him and the chapter takes on a nice shape, with a fun beginningand an emotionally resonant ending. I also had a rather enchanted afternoonwith Bill McGlaughlin, who hosts St. Paul SundayMorning. We hung outin his Upper West Side apartment one August afternoon and he really openedup to me, and the challenge of the chapter was to portray that.
One of the fun personal tidbits we learn about in your book is thatNina Totenberg and Bob Edwards dated during the early days of NPR.Ever date any of your radio colleagues? If so, got any fun stories?
Well now, Ms. Meg White, you know I dated my radio colleagues! Why elsedoes one go into radio but to meet men in the record library? My firstcollege boyfriend and I met over a Louis Armstrong record in the campusradio station. I also dated the redneck jazz deejay who cued my newscastsin while I was doing a graduate assistantship at WSIE near St. Louis.I had a three-year relationship with that ex-monk I mentioned at KTPR.He’s who brought me to Iowa City back in 1994. I’m not evenmentioning all the public radio fans I’ve dated. It’s greatto get a phone call from a suitor asking, “Is this Lisa Phillips,the radio celebrity?” You wrote this book while you were pregnant with your first child. Inthe chapter on Daniel Schorr, you talk about being five months pregnant,running to interview him, and feeling intimidated about meeting such agiant in the field of broadcasting. Can you tell me a little more aboutthat?
For me, pregnancy was an enormously productive and energetic time. I didyoga, started my freelance career, scored the contract for this book,and traveled all over the place doing interviews for it. I found my bigbelly helped me connect with people, especially the working mothers ofpublic radio but also the working dads. Everyone likes to talk about kidsand how they balance it all. Cokie Roberts told me to “relax andenjoy” working motherhood, though Michele Norris, who has two youngchildren, called balancing career and family sometimes “like jugglingchainsaws.” Both women were right. Can you talk a little about what your writing process was for this book?
Meg, it was quite a sprint. I did most of the actual writing of it afterClara was born. I had to adjust my process considerably. No more ten-hourstretches at the computer. . . . Thank goodness for my husband, whoworks part time and had her many mornings, and good child care. But the book was ideal for the situation, in that it is comprised ofshort, focused chapters. How is the book being received so far?
Plenty of public radio stations are using it as a pledge-drive premium,which is thrilling because that’s so important. I think I’vedone something like 20 public radio interviews. As for reviews, I’vehad some very nice ones, some mixed.
I feel I’d be remiss as a Public Radio aficionado if I failed toask you what you think the impact of the Margaret Kroc’s historicmonetary bequest to NPR has been and will be? I’ve heard some criticismabout this.
The Kroc gift is positive. NPR is beefing up its news staff and havingthe kind of long-term financial security that it deserves. I do worryabout who NPR is hiring, though. Mostly people from newspapers. There’snothing wrong with that if they are well trained in radio, but I’mfinding that at times I listen to a whole hour of MorningEdition andthink any of those stories could have been in that morning’s newspaperwith very few adjustments. Good radio stories work with the medium ofradio, using sound to tell a story. They’re not simply audio versionsof print stories. The other worry is that people don’t understand that member stationsdid not get any of the Kroc money, as far as I’m aware. They areseparate entities from NPR—subscribers, if you will—and payhuge fees to broadcast NPR’s programs. So NPR’s riches donot necessarily translate into WSUI’s, and it’s importantto keep supporting local stations. You met with and interviewed so many wonderful peoplefor this book, Lisa. I know it’s a difficult question, but I have to ask—whodid you most enjoy meeting and why?
Yes—you sense this is not my favorite question! I loved meetingJacki Lyden, who is an incredible writer [Daughterof the Queen of Sheba]and a fine radio reporter/host, and the two pursuits feed each other andher own sensibilities in a wonderful way. She is an intellectual and anartist and a very brave woman. I mentioned Bill McGlaughlin already. Thenthere’s Susan Stamberg. Delightful. Really. I always loved her thing,the Yiddishkeit way she asks questions, her personality, her humanityon the air, and she is every bit that person in person. I remember askingher for a hug after our interview, not something I do much as a journalist!
Is there anything else I should know? (Wink—Lisaends all interviews with this question.)
Contrary to one published report, I’m not pregnant again! I lovemotherhood very much but one is just plenty for now.
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