Out of the lab, onto the air: Anthem and Wait Wait
Originally published in Current, Dec. 15, 1997
By Jacqueline Conciatore
Since last April, when NPR's Saturday project gained momentum, the producers of Anthem and Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! have labored to find the magic combination of elements and style that not only feels right, but will woo the NPR-news Boomer crowd away from rock and country stations it favors on weekends.
Here's what they came up with: Anthem, a two-hour magazine about popular music and culture that has a relaxed, conversational manner; and, in coproduction with WBEZ, Chicago, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!--a fast-paced quiz show that hopes for the "Huh! I didn't know that!" response.
Other new offerings in the 10-program package include a tightened-up and lightened-up weekend version of Fresh Air, and Rock & Roll America, from Indiana Public Radio.
NPR says it already has a few big stations lined up for Anthem and Wait Wait--the latter has the marketing advantage of being developed by the e.p. of Car Talk, a true public-radio hit. More stations may schedule the shows if they like the pilot package that NPR fed Dec. 10, although the lead time to launch date Jan. 3 [1998] is rather short.
NPR is hoping to build early carriage by giving discounts to stations, in a somewhat convoluted offer. Any or all of five shows--Wait Wait, Anthem, Fresh Air, Rock and Roll America and Sounds Like Science--are free through Sept. 30 if stations air them Saturday or Sunday between Weekend Edition and Weekend All Things Considered (in any order). After that, there will be 10 percent and 25 percent discounts with certain stipulations such as carrying a minimum number of shows and airing either Wait Wait or Anthem live as fed.
"One way to do a show"
Anthem Senior Producer Neenah Ellis came onto the job last April. Six months had passed since NPR presented the show's concept at a program directors' conference in New Orleans. P.d.'s were criticizing NPR for lack of progress with it and Wait Wait, so Ellis was under pressure to move quickly.
She began reviewing job applications, including those for host, and working with the program blueprint that a team of NPR staffers had developed during an in-house contest the prior year. She conducted detailed interviews with every member of the winning team, reviewed demo tapes, researched relevant audience data. Then she and her editorial assistant began conversations with each other and producers and journalists. Which of the Anthem ideas would appeal to the NPR core listener? What entertainment programming was already out there? What was missing? What program elements could a small staff sustain?
Ellis also hired as music producer Margaret Howze, producer of NPR's Peabody-winning series Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music. Together they began a rigorous process of auditioning hosts. Within a single hour, the candidates had to conduct live interviews, host a "performance chat" with musicians, and, with another applicant produce a 20-minute radio program. In the last five minutes of the audition, Ellis would give a topic and ask candidates to ad lib for three minutes. It was a "somewhat torturous" process, she says now.
Ellis wanted two hosts, for sound and texture, but also to prevent burn-out. Her first hire, Bonnie Grice, had hosted for years at KUSC, Los Angeles, a station then known for expanding the definition of "classical" to include the best music of all cultures and eras and aiming primarily to serve diverse audiences. That experiment in eclecticism ended when the station's long-time g.m., Wally Smith (also Grice's husband) resigned, with Grice leaving shortly after. [Feature on KUSC's music experiment.]
Grice's unstuffy on-air manner was too informal for some classical listeners, and she had detractors. But Ellis was looking for people who sound sincere on the air. Most of those who sent sample tapes--many from commercial radio--sounded "like they were faking it," she says now. "There was very little personality in a lot of those people. It had been sort of beat out of them."
Ellis says she appreciates Grice's professionalism--"amazing work habits," but most importantly a consistent calm and unrufflability on the air. "That, to me, is a great attraction," she says. "To start a new show, you need to have somebody with that kind of confidence. It's an anchor in a way for all of us. We know that we're going to go in there, and Bonnie's just going to be totally fine."
Co-host Rick Karr, who Ellis says has an "infectious eagerness," has been with Anthem only a month or so. Until now a reporter out of NPR's Chicago bureau, he also is a musician, songwriter and record producer.
Anthem's music will be an amalgam of sounds that NPR's educated Boomers listen to--or would, if they knew about them. "We already know the NPR news listener is open to a lot of different kinds of music," says Howze. "We didn't have to make [the Anthem genres] just rock, just Triple A, or just jazz, or just blues." Focus groups in Philly and Seattle this summer confirmed the producers' sense that listeners will like an eclectic mix if it's presented in context and explicated.
Anthem's regular elements, some weekly, some less frequent, include:
- live musical performances from NPR's Studio 4A by guests such as singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen;
- a "cultural spindown" that builds on some of the week's news (An item about the recent auction of Jack Benny's violin, for example, includes archival tape of Benny confessing to Johnny Carson that if God had given him a choice, he'd rather have been a violinist);
- a "listening booth" in which new CD releases will be briefly sampled;
- singing lessons;
- "Advice for the Video Lorn," in which two Manhattan video shopkeepers offer video prescriptions for listeners' personal problems (They already do this in their New York shop);
- a "Favorite Poems" collaboration with Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, in which listeners will talk about and read their favorite poems.
Some programmers are concerned that any show developed primarily to fit a market niche isn't going to be a must-have. They argue that successful shows are born in the heart and mind, organically, accidentally. "Basically, people are suspicious that this show was generated by committee," says Erik Nycklemoe, p.d., of KNAU, Flagstaff. The best cultural offerings from NPR--Car Talk, Thistle and Shamrock and Fresh Air--all germinated outside of NPR, he says.
But Ellis suggests that such arguments belie her staff's own connection and commitment to the show. "We came on to do this show because we thought it was a good idea," she says. "Everybody on the staff could have done something else ... But when they presented us with this idea, we said, 'Yes, this needs to be done.' I didn't have to think two seconds when they called me about this idea." And despite the team blueprint, Anthem's development has been an organic process, Ellis and Howze say. Furthermore, a production like Anthem's couldn't be done at a station, says Ellis. "Look at our studio. Look at our program library. Look at our research library. I can go downstairs and talk to Susan Stamberg, Alex Chadwick, Bob Edwards, Linda Wertheimer, people right there with a hundred years of radio experience between them. ... I'm all for that model of doing it on a local level. That's one way that radio shows can happen. But this is another way that radio shows can happen."
Naturally extracted humor
NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! is not a comedy show. In promotional materials and interviews, NPR and the show's producers take pains to say this. Which is necessary because NPR introduced the program concept in 1996 as comedy/quiz, and because public radio professionals who hear the name "Doug Berman" will think of Car Talk and begin laughing.
Last year, Berman tried to produce a comedy version; for one pilot, he used writers who had worked on David Letterman's talk show. But the results weren't what he wanted. For one thing, some of the material was a little too sharp--"We wanted smart, but not smart-ass," says Berman. But more importantly, it wasn't that funny. "We were trying too hard," he says. "The problem I think is that [the show] is a hybrid, somewhere between news and entertainment. ... Any humor that's forced, doesn't really work. It has to naturally come out of the material. There's [only] a certain amount of humor that comes out of the material--if you try to change that ratio, it doesn't work.
So Berman returned to the idea he had for the program in 1993, when NPR cultural programmer Murray Horwitz first suggested he do a quiz show: a news quiz that aims to intrigue, with which you can play along, Jeopardy-style. Of course there would be some laughs, too.
The pilots for that program hit their mark, says Berman. "If you make it interesting, and put good people in it, you can make it fun. If you try to make it funny, it hurts."
The game is played by a cast of irregular regulars in various combinations: author/humorist Roy Blount Jr.; Margo Kaufman, Hollywood correspondent for Pug Talk magazine; Charlie Pierce, a contributing editor for Esquire; Anna Perez, one-time press secretary for Barbara Bush; Roxanne Roberts, Washington Post reporter; and Peter Segal, Brooklyn playwright.
Host Dan Coffey, a onetime member of Duck's Breath Mystery Theater, is there to be a character, without overwhelming the material, says director David Greene. Though Coffey exercises his talent for ad-libbing, he's primarily "trying to be the Arthur Godfrey of the '90s--a relaxed, informal presence, while still getting the information out," Coffey says. NPR morning newscaster Carl Kasell plays straight man and judge, awarding points for correct answers and adding any factual flourishes he deems worthy.
The information that listeners get during the quiz is key to the show's success, says Greene. He and Berman want listeners to not only be shouting out answers, but also to feel the information they've just gotten is worth retaining. "We're shooting for the 'Huh!' factor," says Berman.
One example: in the first "Basic Quiz" round, Coffey asks panelists to guess the question that would yield this answer: "A terminal illness and drug addiction." (The correct response: "What are two new subjects of greeting cards?") Questions will be based on news from the preceding week.
Wait Wait is broken into eight program segments, including the 10-minute basic quiz. A true/false round has listener-callers playing against each panelist in turn. Sample true/false question: "In the middle of what could be his last NBA season, Michael Jordan said he intends go out in true blazing color." (False. TV's Jerry Seinfeld said it.)
In "We'll Wait ... You Tell Us," a listener tries to guess which panelist is telling the truth about a news item. For instance, what Queen Elizabeth said to her subjects on her 50th wedding anniversary. Panelists have been quite creative in this segment, and the listener-caller almost never guesses correctly, says Greene.
A segment called "Why Should We Know Who You Are?" has panelists asking "yes" or "no" questions to determine a mystery guest's identity. One guest who will appear is the Philadelphia banker who every year publishes the price index of the gifts in the carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The panelists get to ask follow-up questions, such as, "How do you figure out the cost of 10 lords a leaping?"
"Four Degrees of Separation," has panelists guessing the line of connection between two well known people. An example: TV's Ellen Degeneres and King Richard III. (Degeneres had Emma Thompson on her show, Thompson was once married to Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh, and so on).
"Wait, Wait ... I'm Pontificating" has a panelist speak extemporaneously about a given topic, such as who should succeed Ron Carey in running the Teamsters and why. Anna Perez suggested her old boss, Barbara Bush.
One difficulty the program presents is that Coffey and the guests are not together when the show is taped, but play over the phone. The producers wanted a geographically diverse panel, but it would have been too expensive to fly everyone in once a week. Though the arrangement is a bit difficult, it has advantages, says Coffey. "It puts more pressure on people when you're doing it before a live audience," he says. "There's more impetus to try to be funny, smart-alecky, have witty comebacks--you know, Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie, 'Feed me, feed me.' Plus, there's an elegance and efficiency to radio that's neat to capitalize on. Instead of trying do live theater, why not just do radio? So instead of being a poor man's compromise, it's actually a cool, efficient and elegant way to do a show."
Berman says he isn't daunted by any expectations the program can attract an audience the size of Car Talk's. "I hope we'll be able to deliver that," he says. "It's possible. I think it's a good fit, designed to appeal to the same audience Car Talk appeals to. And I think it has a good chance of satisfying that audience after Car Talk. It has a similar pace, a similar density of material. It's not a relaxed, meandering show. It's there--one question after another."
Suddenly, three new programs about American music will be available to public radio stations for weekends. A brief comparison:
American Routes: PRI program debuts April 1. Host Nick Spitzer promises to present an eclectic mix of American roots music that offers up someone's cultural icon every third song. Some programs will have themes, such as upcoming Valentine's Day pilot that will play love music, but mostly the program's overarching theme will serve: he's looking for "the blues in country, the country in blues, Jewish klezmer in Gershwin and Tin Pan Alley in jazz. ... It's not a timeline. It's much more metaphorical, letting genres talk to each other." The show will include some features and talk--for the upcoming special, Spitzer interviewed the now elderly women who used to be the Dixie Cups, of "Going to the Chapel" fame. And he may record a "Stella" calling contest at the Tennesee Williams Festival.
Anthem: NPR two-hour music and information magazine, starting Jan. 3, will feature two hosts--Bonnie Grice and Rick Karr--with a musical performance once a week, plus plenty of other regular segments that focus on other art and entertainment forms besides music. Focus is on American popular music. Segments include singing lessons, advice for the video-lorn, listeners reading favorite poems, reviews of books on tape, and "Listening Booth," which will briefly sample new releases.
Rock & Roll America: NPR music show, starting Jan. 3 and hosted by history professor Richard Aquila, uses music to comment on culture and society. One program traces the evolution of women's representation in rock, from "Chantilly Lace" to "I Am Woman," while another looks at the tumults of 1968. Says Aquila: "It's sort of teaching for me. ... and broadening it on a larger scale." The program, aired since 1993 on Indiana Public Radio, does feature artist interviews. Guests have included Judy Collins, John Kay of Steppenwolf, and Pete Seeger, who discussed the evolution of "We Shall Overcome" from folk ballad to civil rights anthem. Program slogan: "Anthropology you can dance to."
Earlier feature: About American Routes.
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