response to NPR

I was quite impressed with NPR's use of radio technology. The talk illuminated some of the reasoning behind their choice to use radio rather than some other (newer) technology, but left me wondering if perhaps their motivation for using radio is more nostalgia-driven than they'd like to admit. When asked why they chose radio, one of the members of NPR responded by recounting a childhood memory of picking up a broadcast. Another member of the NPR team gave a more technical answer that led me to think about the limitless bounds of the internet and about the information that gets lost in a sea of websites. The limited dial of the radio serves NPR well. I would imagine that it wouldn't be too hard for someone scanning through the radio to stumble upon NPR and feel some sort of connection to the station. In fact, I noticed that the NPR team was somewhat fascinated with the discovery element of radio. They described the dissapointment of a group of youths who had found their station only to see NPR leave town a few days later. They also described several projects in which they sent people in search of their broadcast (Talking Homes). NPR seemed very much interested in giving their audience a sense of ownership through participation. Proximity and in-person interactions seem to be some important elements in the work, making radio technology ideal.