Public Radio's Generation X Audience Basic Principles Cases From The X Files I Want My NPR I Am Not A Slacker Wait 'Til You're Old Enough How Gen X Uses Public Radio I Want My NPR
Editor’s note: We asked this report’s Gen Xers – Core Team member Jay Youngclaus and Associate Ingrid Lakey – to tell their stories of how they came to public radio. Coincidentally, a large part of the credit goes to Terry Gross.
Ingrid Lakey, 27I can’t remember a time when public radio wasn’t a part of my life. I was born the same week that All Things Considered went on the air. The fact that I know this just about says it all.
I grew up in Philadelphia where my father listened to WHYY constantly. It was part of the daily ritual of life. I remember the first time that I understood what this thing called public radio meant to him and would come to mean to me.
We were at the beach; I was 12. My dad was very excited about a program called Fresh Air and an interview by Terry Gross with a waitress about what it was like to be a waitress. I didn’t understand what was so special about this, and told my dad so. He explained that Fresh Air recognized that every job is important and every worker has a story to tell. For him, public radio was activism. Now it is for me too.
Jay Youngclaus, 29
I credit Terry Gross and Fresh Air with making the traditionally unbearable teenage years a little more enjoyable. For several summers during college, my mother and I commuted together to Boston, sharing the confined car space for over an hour each way. It's not what most young men relish.
What format let us to pass the time in peace? Not classic rock or Music of Your Life – but public radio, the perfect medium.
Fresh Air was always part of the afternoon ride. Having Terry Gross and her interesting parade of guests in the car was like having a group of really entertaining friends accompany us home.
While we didn’t talk much during those long, hot car rides through rush hour traffic, my mother and I shared a great deal. Without saying a word she imparted her delight in "meeting" articulate people with unique backgrounds and experiences – and the joy of a lifetime relationship with public radio.
Audience Research Analysis
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Revised: September 01, 2000 12:38 PM.
