AB's First Time

Get your minds out the gutter folks, this ain't that kinda website. Nope, I'm talking about my first appearance on NPR's News and Notes with Farai Chideya, which I told you guys last week, is adding me as an occasional contributor to their weekly Blogger's Roundtable. If you're interested in listening in, the show airs live Wednesday (2/13) around [CORRECTION!] 1:30pm EST on your local NPR affiliate. If you miss it, of course like everything nowadays, it'll be archived so you can throw it on your iPod and clown me in perpetuity. I'll be sure to shoot ya'll the audio link.

Needless to say, like anything you're doing for the first time, I'm maybe just a little bit nervous about being on national radio and speaking to millions at once. I've done some production work for local radio in a past (hint), so I know the behind-the-scenes hustle that results in the final product you consume in your car. They say "legislation and sausage are two things you never want to see being made". Throw "making good radio" in there too.

This experience already feels different for many reasons. First and foremost, I'm the on-air talent now, and opposed to the man sitting next to the (wo)man. Then, the fine folks at NPR are top notch professionals who handle all the grunt work and free the talent (that would be me) up to just do what they do. Finally, they're throwing me on with a couple of seasoned pros (DJ Black Adam and Carmen from All About Race) for my first appearance. So, I shouldn't really be nervous about anything.

Still, it's live radio, and despite how prepared you are, Murphy's Law applies just as it does elsewhere in life. Despite all my best intentions, pre-written zingers, and thoroughly considered opinions, I could always bomb. It's happened to me before (albeit not in this medium). It's happened to other bloggers on NPR too, like my homey The Assimilated Negro , who "crashed and burned" when his made his first (only?) appearance on another NPR show, Michele Martin's Tell Me More last year. He wrote a post about it, like ta' read it (you should, it's entertaining stuff), the link's below.

AverageOlderSibling told me to just go up there and be myself. After all, none of other participants will physically be in the DC NPR studios with me (they're either in the Midwest or LA), so I won't exactly have to be concerned with watching people's reactions. If I just go in there and be the overly opinionated ghetto snob I am, errythang will work out just fine.

Sound advice if I've ever heard it. That's what big brothers are for.

See ya'll Wednesday.

Crash & Learn on NPR [The Assimilated Negro]