The Diane Rehm Show

There is good news this week for the lovers of intelligent talk on the radio. Diane Rehn is back on the air. She was out last week. We were told she was recovering from pneumonia which was a frightening thing to hear. But now she is back.
Who is Diane Rehm? She is the host of The Diane Rehm Show which originates weekday morning from WAMU (American University Radio) in Washington D.C. and is syndicated on some NPR stations including WNYE-FM 91.5 in New York from 10 am until noon.
There are a lot of interview programs on Public Radio, but where most of the others have adapted the magazine format in which they will only cover a subject for 20 or sometimes around 35 minutes, The Diane Rehm Show takes a more leisurely and in-depth approach of sticking to one subject for the full hour. The subject does not need to be trite on up to the minute to be worthy of discussion. Today's show had an hour long discussion on Flaubert's Madame Bovery.
Of course the element that makes the program great is Diane Rehm herself. She is not a young woman and brings a lifetime of experience to the work she does. She suffers from some sort of voice ailment that makes her speak a little more slowly than most people on the radio, and this is welcome. It was funny hearing her some years back in discussion with Mister Rogers, two slow talkers. And yet she can be quite tough. I remember her with Henry Kissinger. She was smart and tough with him, asking him things that no others have had the guts to.
The guests are mostly the ones on the circuit at the moment, out selling the new book, but she is just so much better, smarter and more feeling than the other hosts, presenters, on American radio.
Recent standout programs have been her visits with Art Buchwald at his death bed in a hospice, and later when he didn't die on schedule instead leaving the hospice and writing another book before he passed away. They talked about the issues involved with dying in a direct and forthright manner, a rarity on USA media. There are many others. Such as Ellen Burstyn who was on promoting the publication of her autobiography.
Please visit the site for The Diane Rehm Show. She has all you need there, streaming, podcasts, archives, etc. If you don't know her already, you will meet an exciting new radio friend.

Flutterby

Flutterby
A radio drama
By Mark Catley

The Friday Play Jan. 5, 2007
broadcast on BBC Radio 4

This is a repeat from sometime last year. It can be heard on BBC Radio 4 "Listen Again" Real Audio stream through Jan 12, 2007.

The story is set in contemporary Leeds in a rough drug and crime ridden neighborhood. We meet Jo, a 19 year old heroin addict, just after she has some sort of spiritual conversion in which she hears a voice in her head that tells her to help herself and others.
Alison is a middle class architect who Jo calls at random on the phone and to her doorstep because she wants to meet someone who wears a suit. Allison feels that something is up and stays to help Jo in a campaign to transform the neighborhood and the people in it. Jo continues to find that she can get people to do what she wants with the help of "The Voice" the comes from within her and instantly convinces skeptics and people in power that she is right and that they should do as she wishes.
The district begins to change. The crime rate drops but a problem comes up when the press becomes aware of the change and the people begin to sell off their homes to "yuppies" who are now interested in the safe cheaper housing. There is also a bit of a problem with Lee, Jo's former boyfriend, drug buddy, and sort of dealer or supplier. He's seems to be the only one who hasn't been saved. Jo, although off drugs, has something wrong with her skin and is soon bedridden. There is some symbolism having to do with a butterfly that is not exactly clear. Or is it a moth flying into a flame?

This is a very odd play with realistic, noir, class struggle, and fantastical spiritual elements intermixed in the 57 minute production. The presents the question of what is the value of one person's activist spiritual conversion and who they can take with them where. With all of these elements, none of them are explored in depth. The acting is good throughout. "The Voice" is ushered in with interestingly eerie musical cues and effects. That along with the writing in the dialog and the production work are good enough to bring the whole thing off in a reasonably satisfactory way. The return of the bad boyfriend recalled the movie Resurrection with Ellen Burstyn as the holy lady and Sam Shepard as the bad boyfriend. The bottom line is that Flutterby is far from a great work but worth an hour of entertaining and somewhat thought provoking listening.