Not A White Guy From Connecticut...
Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune Variety Section features a puff piece on Chris Lyndon, who is temporarily filling the slot on Minnesota Public Radio's 'Midmorning' program, recently vacated by cacklin' Katherine Lanpher, who left MPR for greener pastures (Al Franken's show will not want for fertilizer). After his 'Midmorning' stint, Lyndon and MPR may or may not be considering a future radio program on concerning politics and blogging.
An MPR spokeswoman told the Boston Globe last week that discussions were underway with Lydon for a national show about "blogging" and politics. (Lydon has his own web log.)
"I think that was overstated," said Buzenberg (MPR's senior vice president of news) of the report.
Lydon wasn't so sure. "It's possible," he said. "We're enthusing and enjoying a moment of exploration here. We really haven't planned ahead."
Don't call us Chris. We'll call you.
From the little that I've heard of him on the air, Lydon sounds like a talented, professional broadcaster with a nice set of pipes. Although I do have some issues with the homework he did to better understand his Minnesota audience:
To hook into the Minnesota mindset, Lydon said, "I started reading F. Scott Fitzgerald again. I read Carol Bly and Robert Bly. I read Garrison Keillor. I just tried to think my way into a Minnesota perspective."
A Keilloresque MPR Minnesota perspective of course. Which probably didn't require much thinking on Lydon's part:
Although he celebrates a global perspective and the "hybridization of the species," Lydon also mourns the decline of global discourse in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks "and this so-called war on terror. The prevailing impulse in our lives since 9/11 has been to put everybody at a distance. If you're not a white guy from Connecticut, there's a certain suspicion over your head."
Celebrating the "hybridization of the species" (whatever the hell that means)?
Mourning the decline of "global discourse"?
Questioning the validity of the "so-called war on terror"?
Creating race based paranoid fantasies about the response to 9/11?
Welcome to Minnesota Public Radio Chris. You're going to fit in just fine.
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