"Hello, this is Northstate Public Radio, may I take your pledge?"

Hard at work on KCHO's fall pledge drive

I whole-heartedly converted to the great community of NPR listeners in early 1990's. I rose up from the baptismal waters in love with the holy trinity of warm radio tones, old-time shows like Prairie Home Companion, and Fresh Air interviews with music icons and movie directors. Any knowledge of presidential elections, economic trends, and international happenings made themselves known to me in contemplative solitude while cooking hundreds of dinners, driving the sunset-soaked back roads home on long commutes, or sipping morning coffee. I vividly remember clearing breakfast dishes when the first incredulous reports threw the world off kilter on 911.

This fall's involuntary unemployment gifted me the time I never had, but always wanted to shift my intensely personal experience with NPR to that of a flesh and blood community by answering phones for the fall pledge drive. After meeting the staff and taping on my name tag, I helped myself to some Chico Chai and dried fruit plunder available to volunteers. Little did I know that the classical music show hours tend to invite low call volumes, but the two other ladies on my shift and I wasted no time in chatting it up about the inevitable small town connections we shared- their boys played soccer together, and we all had worked within the sphere of public education. We unearthed startlingly common horror stories of crazy staff members given free rein under the tenure system in obvious need of revision.

When the first rings snapped me back to attention, I frantically grabbed my script and filled out pledge forms neatly enough to make my team leader proud. Needless to say, the predominantly senior citizen callers made it easier by scrapping the need to notate strange email addresses. Each conversation felt like peeking through a lace-curtained window of a slower era. The whole experience provided a boost to my faith in humanity that too easily falters in the paid working world.

Next time, I hope to bring at least one of the Afternoon Bloom members so we can be a real team and even get a quick blurb about us on the air during our shift; and maybe even create a challenge where the first ten callers get a CD.

I'm curious to hear about your NPR nostalgia, or a confession of your current membership/pledge status. It's never too late....... Click here to pledge now!