Radosh.net

If you missed my interview on Weekend Edition this morning, it's online. If you're here because you heard my interview, the original New Yorker article -- in which I actually give a bit more of an explanation about why the one billion figure is off base -- is also online.

And if you're wondering about the whole "thank you" issue, first discussed in this post, read on.

If you read that previous post, you'll know that I was trying to come up with something to say in response to "thank you for joining us." I go into the booth repeating to myself, "don't say 'thank you,' don't say 'thank you." When Shelia Khast throws me off by saying not "thank you for joining us," but simply, "hello." Caught of guard, I replied, "Hi, how are you?" To which she says, "fine, how are you?" And then I'm like, "good, thanks." In other words, I've now wasted a ridiculous amount of time on exactly the kind of small talk I was trying to avoid.

Fortunately, that got edited out before broadcast. (In general, the piece was edited pretty cleanly, I thought). Then, at the end, Khast throws me off again by saying, "I read on your blog that you don't like thank yous." What! You're not supposed to read my blog! No only did this foil my plan (such as it was: I answered her final goodbye with, "sure, you bet," which is what I was going to say to "thank you"), but it must have confused listeners who wondered what my problem with "thank yous" is. (In general, none. Just in the context of radio interviews.)

Anyway, I did chat a bit with Khast after the interview about this issue (she was very friendly, and I'm not just saying that in case she's still reading the blog) and she said that one of their regular correspondents, Daniel Shorr, I think, signs off "you bet." She also said that since the ombudsman took up the issue, regular correspondents try not to say thank you in reply to thank you -- though as I was leaving, the production guy in the NY studio told me how stupid it was for the host to say "thank you" to the correspondents. He felt they should reply, "um hello, it's my job."

Oh yeah, I did misspeak slightly in the interview. The 2 billion potential audience is not even everyone who has a TV, but everyone who could possibly get to a TV, as most places in the world have a far smaller set-to-person ratio than the US.

Posted by Daniel Radosh

3:54 PM