密歇根新闻广播 Stateside迎来新主持人

 

It’s a New Year and Michigan Radio has added a new voice. April Baer is the host of Stateside. She joined Doug Tribou on Morning Edition to talk about her Midwest roots and her path to Michigan Radio.

Doug Tribou: As our regular listeners know, Cynthia Canty retired¹ last month. Lester Graham had been hosting Stateside on Fridays, but he is now focused full-time² on his work for The Environment Report. So, you are hosting Stateside every weekday. How’s the first week been so far?

April Baer: Well, it's a good thing there's nothing going on, right? It's been very eventful, but honestly, it's felt fantastic. I mean, that was really why I wanted to come back to the Midwest, kind of to get a bit more centered and a bit more to the center of the action in 2020. And I guess that the universe has conspired³ to deliver that to me in full.

DT: You came to us from Oregon Public Broadcasting, but your roots are in the Midwest. Where’d you grow up?

AB: I'm a Buckeye [from Ohio]. We won't talk about that.

DT: No, we won't mention that. (laughs)

AB: I grew up in Columbus and also spent part of my adult life in Cleveland, married a guy from Ann Arbor⁴. And here we are.

DT: What got you into public radio?

AB: You know, it was like a million years ago, at a time when to be in public broadcasting was a bit more of a form of alternative journalism⁵. People might remember this was a form that came out of the Watergate hearings. And during the '80s and the early '90s, we considered what we were doing, sort of a foil for the mainstream⁶ press.

When I was in Cleveland, I was hosting a show not unlike Stateside. I was on air live during September 11, 2001. And it became apparent, and I think folks at the network would say this, too, that everyone was pretty unprepared for what was happening. NPR was struggling to figure out what was going on, as we were. And it became this moment of calling all of our primary sources, the congressional delegation⁷, experts at Case Western Reserve University, and stepping up. And it was evident from that point on that we were either going to lean all the way in or we weren't. And that was when I would say I got a lot more serious about my work in news.

DT: Stateside debuted⁸ seven years ago, so there’s a rich set of archives. What did you like about the show when you heard Michigan Radio was hiring a new host?

AB: Well, first of all, I think we really have to talk about regional news and what it means for everybody in the state to feel like they have things in common. And there has been a big decline in the number of news sources that cover the news in that way, that talk about what's happening in our state legislatures, what's happening in our counties, and also have context for national and global events.

So, I can't help but feel that connecting those dots is maybe one of the most important things we can do in news right now. And I always loved the way that Cyndy and the rest of the team approached it from that way. There are things people in the Upper Peninsula have in common with someone in Traverse City or the people in Detroit might have in common with somebody in Kalamazoo, experiences we all have together. The show should not continue if we don't continue to do that.

DT: In Oregon, you hosted a show called State of Wonder that was focused on arts and culture. How do you hope that will factor into what you do on Stateside?

AB: My colleagues would tease me and say, "April, you could find a news angle in even the lightest, enjoyable arts story." We really were trying to look at what was happening in the culture through the lens of the arts. And that's what artists try to do. They're showing us the world in different ways through their work. We were trying to be the art show that was always thinking about other things that were going on in the world.

I hope that Stateside could be the reverse of that. That we're just looking through the events of the world in terms of how they play out in everybody's lives. We all should know a little bit more about other people's lives. And we all should think as deeply as we need to about the issues in our own lives right now. Keeping that generalist view of things is something that's really important to me.

Editor's note: This transcript⁹ has been edited for length and clarity.

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

3 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

4 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

5 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

8 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

9 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。