I really liked the show Northern Exposure, particularly the Chris in the Morning radio bits. One of the primary reasons for this, of course, is because the show had really, really excellent writers, who were philosophers at heart. Wikipedia instructs us:
Northern Exposure’s flavor came from a combination of various influences. The show’s creators, Joshua Brand and John Falsey, were members of the Esalen Institute in California where an eclectically “spiritual” worldview was presented, best exemplified in the writings of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and American anthropologist/mythologist Joseph Campbell (whose works are frequently referenced in the series). There are also fantasy elements inherited from the works of Carlos Castaneda and the magical realism novels and stories of Latin American author Gabriel Garc’a M’rquez. Both creators were also conversant with classical Russian Literature. This characteristic is evident in the satirical elements from the show that are hallmarks of the Russian literary grotesque style of such authors as Gogol and Dostoevsky.
I won’t lie; I don’t know who half of those people are, but it still sounds cool, especially when you consider those are the influences on a (purely fiction) low-power AM morning radio program.
Now I’m also a Sirius radio subscriber, although I’m kind of wishing for better content there. Sure, I like a lot of the music channels, but I don’t listen to Howard Stern and I really don’t like the quality of today’s morning radio in general. I wonder that nobody emulates what the NEx writers did with the KBHR skits. It seems like a no-brainer to me, of course I can certainly understand that there aren’t many philosophers out there waiting in the wing to work on a morning radio program. I’m caught up in a morning radio funk, I guess. All the local channels are filled with guffawing idiots, Sirius is strictly music unless you like Stern or political talk (I don’t), and that leaves sports radio, which is fine sometimes but gets old after awhile (especially during the off season). I won’t go on about what a great idea it would be for Sirius to emulate Chris in the Morning radio show on Cicely, Alaska’s KBHR from the television program Northern Exposure… :-)
Maybe a podcast? I would love to find a quality podcast, but so far I’ve had zero luck with podcasting. Well, maybe not zero, because I do like Escape Pod. But that’s the only one so far. If anyone knows of any good podcasts or radio shows I might pick up on the internet, I’m listening.
If you liked that post, then try these...
EA Sports NCAA Football on January 10th, 2008
Transformers on July 18th, 2007
Joe's Diner on February 1st, 2008
Dragon*Con Wrap on September 1st, 2008
Action v. SciFi [Movies] on September 5th, 2008
December 16th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Aw, heck, is Sirius actually had a show like that, I’d subscribe in a minute. Cool music, show tunes, readings of classic works, general lunacy. I have the DVDs of that shows first 3 seasons, which, IMHO, were the best. When I was in Washington, I did visit Roslin (this was when the show was still on the air). The men’s toilet in the Roslin(’s) Cafe had excellent graffiti, and I got to stand in the vestibule of the KBHR set. Fun times.
There’s a couple of podcasts I listen to, “Adventures in SciFi Publishing” and “I should be writing.” Also “The Onion” (just because it’s wacked out, sometimes). Other than that I stream NPR (WAMU out of DC, and mostly for the extra hour of news at 9, and the Diane Rhem Show 10 -politics- and 11am - culture, lots of writers on).
December 17th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Sirius: I agree. I’m only a subscriber right now because with my job I often have to venture out into rural areas without any worthwhile radio programming. But if they would just take a chance… Sure, you could say they took a chance just by forming the compnay, but why not try something different, something creative? Some of us don’t want to hear Opie and Anthony or Howard Stern.
Podcast: Those do sound good, and I’ll check them out, but I can’t believe someone isn’t out there in the podcasting world emulating KBHR at least in some fashion. I just have to find them.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I used to like that TV show, I have the album that came out and listen to it every once in a while. They should have had the Chris skits between the songs, that would have been awesome.
I listen to the first two podcasts that Steve mentioned, I also listen to Corey Doctorow’s podcast. As for anything like Chris in the morning… still looking. I don’t listen to commercial radio in the mornings(forced laughter really annoys me), I listen to the net on my local Ham repeater. It’s full of fun, interesting banter about many topics just no music. Plus, I can jump in anytime and give my two cents worth.
I used to listen to Slacker Astronomy, but I don’t think they are still operating. Well, once Pamela left it was less interesting. Lately I have not been able to watch or listen to much news or politics - sometimes kids are a blessing for that.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Hm, maybe a KBHR-type show doesn’t exist even on podcast. It seems to me to be an opportunity in waiting, but I don’t have the voice (southern-twangy, sadly) nor the presence to be able to capture the attentions of a room full of stuffed animals, much less a radio show.
Maybe some closet genius will read this and a bomb will go off in his/her head. I hope so.