I've been trying to broaden my horizons and listen to NPR and the local community radio station lately. I've even programmed the stations onto my car radio. This afternoon NPR broadcast a report from someone at the South Pole. This was followed by the commentators (is that what they're called? They aren't DJs) mentioning a couple of times that the South Pole was 1,000 miles from New Hampshire so we listeners should consider donating $1,000 to the pledge drive.
One thousand miles? Georgia is about one thousand miles from here. Is Georgia next to the South Pole now? I don't think so. Wouldn't the South Pole be more like ten thousand miles from here?
The first time I heard it I thought the commentator was just ditzy and skipping a zero in a script and didn't notice. Then the other guy chimed in again with the "one thousand miles from New Hampshire to the South Pole! Why not donate $1,000 in honor of that?" That's when I realized that although there is some interesting programming that comes from NPR, the whole snooty mystique that can go along with it is likely just as full of morons as the dumbass morning DJs on the commercial station I listen to sometimes.
"I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq and everywhere like, such as and..."
4 comments:
By my calculations, Concord, NH is about 9200 miles from the South Pole. So, you're right, NPR is wrong.
Since most would agree that radio DJs that shout and carry on are mostly imbeciles, I think NPR decided that if their folks talk softly that they will appear smart. You foiled their scheme! :)
Oh dear! With the knowledge right at our fingertips these days, there's no need for such obvious mistakes. It's not like the radio host had to thumb through an atlas to find this out!
Umm... I think the middle of the winter pledge drive is not exactly the right time to try sampling NPR. It seems clear the staff is left to ad-lib their own pledge riffs -- often with inane and idiotic results.
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