I once heard Ira Glass talking about why he didn't make it on NPR... he was hosting the national phone-in show for a few months, and they would have expert panels discussing things like the Cold War. One day, some national security expert -- evidently trying to play the folksy card -- responded to a question by saying, "Well, it's like my grandmother says, blah blah blah". Glass' immediate instinct was to say, "Oh really? Tell me more about your grandmother!" He always wanted to go for the marginal, overlooked thing. I love that story.

One other point before I get off this NPR binge: has anyone else noticed that Ira Glass' vocal mannerisms have been picked up by the new generation of NPR journalists? This is really annoying. It's like a whole generation of singers imitating Bob Dylan. Listen, people: it was cool when he did it; you are making asses of yourselves. The worst offenders are the people on that "Planet Money" team; I can hardly listen to them. Ok, rant over.