Pop Vultures rules.
An open letter to KUOW:
I love public radio. Love it. I used to sit in my guidance counselor's office while she had other appointments, listening to the newscasts, the soothing voices, the gentle jazz.
A few years ago, I had an experience that I thought was mine alone. I was delivering pizzas, trawling the radio stations for something interesting. And I discovered This American Life. I thought it was amazing, brilliant, and it would never last because nobody liked the kind of weird radio I liked. But I was shocked. This American Life became a phenomenon, what some people called the rebirth of public radio.
Today, we have Pop Vultures. It's everything lacking in public radio: it's nonlinear, filled with slang and pop culture shorthand, and it's not evenhanded at all. Positive comments are wildly exuberant. Bad artists aren't just bad: they're horrible, a crime against humanity, a pox on America. It sounds like my friends having a conversation, and it's brilliant radio.
Public radio has tried to capture the casual conversation before (again, Ira Glass; the Satellite Sisters; What Do you Know?) But I never heard anything that sounded as live and spontaneous as this. And talking about music I listen to, and that a lot of people listen to!
Here's a confession: I've discovered a lot of my favorite artists from public radio. You folks have great taste, occasionally: Macy Gray, Zuco 103, the Nortec Collective, Wilco, Patty Griffin, Rufus Wainwright. Now, we all have a show that soaks in popular music.
I love Pop Vultures. To Kate and the rest of the crew, please please do another season. Demand acceptance and distribution from the NPR Powers that Be. Don't disappear, like so many brilliant one-act shows that leave us wanting more.
And to my friends at KUOW, the minute you hear that Pop Vultures is up for renewal, please pick it up. Immediately. This is a show that matches Seattle ears perfectly. I love that you've moved the show to Saturday afternoons, where more people can hear it. (Monday night is a difficult timeslot for any show.) Pop Vultures rocks.
Listen to Pop Vultures here.
1:55:48 PM 
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