Says You! comes to Juneau
While it's true that Juneau's location makes it tough for us to attract many big-name acts (with the exception of aging '80s musicians), it's also true that geography can work to our advantage.
A good example is this weekend's visit from Says You! host Richard Sher. Hot on the heels of radio star Ira Glass, who performed for a capacity crowd at Centennial Hall in April, Sher is coming to town because he wanted to check it out with his family, said K3 Radio Manager Cheryl Levitt. He'll host a live taping of Says You! from 5 to 7:45 p.m. Saturday, July 3 at Centennial Hall.
"If I were just to call NPR and say, 'Hey, can you get Richard Sher here?' it would cost a tremendous amount of money," Levitt said. "But because Ira and Richard had ulterior motives, had their own interest in coming here, they've been able to do it at a price that we can make work (with the help of local sponsors)."
"It's been pretty amazing being able to line up these two national acts back to back."
Juneau's location and small size also tend to encourage performances that are more intimate and personalized than those you might see in a typical city down South. In this case, the audience will be treated to a unique localized version of Sher's popular national radio program, complete with local panelists and a local band. Convening a local panel for the show is unusual, as Sher usually leads Says You! with his own group of six. In fact, Levitt said she thinks this might be a first.
If the show is funny enough, she said, he'll consider putting it on the air across the country.
"It's being taped with the potential for national broadcast," Levitt said.
Says You! is an independently produced literary radio show similar to the BBC's "My Word" and is a favorite with local audiences, said Levitt, noting that it's been listed among KTOO listeners' top five favorite shows for the past two pledge drives, along with Car Talk and This American Life. The show is set up like a traditional quiz show, with panelists participating in a variety of word games, including a Says You! bluffing round based on dictionary definitions. Two teams are asked to either come up with a plausible definition for an obscure word or guess the right one from among the other team's answers. Though coming up with the right answer is the goal of the games, Levitt pointed out that the show gets a lot of its energy from the camaraderie of the panelists.
"It's less about knowing the answer and more about the rapport among the participants," Levitt said.
Levitt said the local panelists -- Laury Scandling, Ben Brown, Ron Clarke, Jesse Kiehl, Kathie Wasserman and Larry Persily -- did a practice run a couple weeks ago and found their groove very quickly.
"They were as funny as the national panel -- if not more so," Levitt said, adding that their humor was largely Alaska-based.
Many of the panelists are not only smart and funny, she said, but are also good performers who are familiar with each other and have an easy camaraderie.
The Great Alaska Bluegrass Band will provide the musical interludes in the program.
"If it goes national, it will be great for these guys to get that national spotlight as well," Levitt said.
Sher's 10-year-old son will act as scorekeeper, Levitt said.
And, in keeping with the only-in-Juneau aspect of the visit, Sher and his family will march with the K3 float in the 4th of July parade.
Other new developments at the radio station:
nap Judgement, a new national program, will debut this weekend. Levitt said the show has a storytelling base, but is more host-driven than This American LIfe.
Snap Judgment can be heard on KTOO (104.3 FM) beginning July 3 at 7 p.m.
orld Vision Report will replace Sound Opinions in the 1 p.m. slot on Saturdays. World Vision highlights feature stories from around the world, especially third-world countries, Levitt said.
For more information, visit www.ktoo.org