I have been a public radio junkie since I first heard Susan Stamberg laugh on ATC in my kitchen in Columbia Maryland in 1973. I wanted her to come live with me. My radio has been tuned to Public Radio everywhere I lived thereafter: Santa Fe, Baltimore, and in the last ten years to Maine Public in Down East and Portland Maine; and in my car where I change from one station to another, suffering static, as I take trips. I am proud to have been a member since the beginning.
As I grow older I find that Maine Public is even more important than I realized - really critical to my life. Trust in the source of my news is more than appreciated, it helps me maintain my sanity. Even more are the stories and ideas I have been introduced to on programs like Radiolab, TED, and This American Life; programs that present and explore new and diverse ideas, new scholarship and provocative information. They excite my mind, make we want to know more and make me want to share the possibilities they suggest. They nourish my life.
In a world where we are inundated with bad news and nonsense, public radio is a rare source of enlightenment and hope.
I cannot thank you enough.