Christopher Purdy interviews Phyllis R. Silverman

Phyllis R. Silverman
Recorded May 2, 2007

LISTEN  (Running time: 16:12. 29.6 MB)

CHRISTOPHER PURDY TALKS WITH PHYLLIS R. SILVERMAN

Phyllis R. Silverman is a researcher, teacher and author whose primary interest is bereavement and how death is dealt with in our society. Her early work was focused on the needs of the widowed and this led to the development of the Widow-to-Widow program. Dr. Silverman talks about society’s reaction to the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, explaining death and bereavement to children and the challenges facing men widowed after long marriages. We spoke form her home in Massachusetts on May 2, 2007.

See www.phyllisrsilverman.com

Boyce Lancaster interviews Christopher O’Riley

Christopher O’Riley
Recorded May 8, 2007

LISTEN (Running time: 7:39. 14.0 MB)

BOYCE LANCASTER TALKS WITH CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY

Christopher O’Riley is a classical pianist who studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. He has received awards at the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, as well as an Avery Fisher Career Grant. O’Riley has made many recordings of classical music. including works of Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jean-Philippe Rameau, John Adams, Igor Stravinsky, and Alexander Scriabin. He is also the host of the weekly National Public Radio program “From the Top,” on which young musicians are heard and interviewed.

He was in Columbus preparing for a live taping of the show when Boyce Lancaster interviewed him.

See www.fromthetop.org

Licia Albanese on Toscanini

Licia Albanese on Toscanini
Recorded March 26, 2007

LISTEN  (Running time: 16:59. 38.8 MB)

Soprano Licia Albanese shares her memories of the great conductor Arturo Toscanini, who died fifty years ago. Mme Albanese sang Mimi in “La Boheme” and Violetta in “La Traviata” on Toscanini’s broadcasts
with the NBC symphony in the 1940s. These recordings have never been out of print. She sang at the Metropolitan from 1940 to 1966 and continued her career for years afterward. Today, at 94, Albanese gives master classes for, and financial assistance to, young artists through the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. We spoke from her home in New York on March 26, 2007.

See also www.lapfny.org for the Albanese Puccini Foundation

Writers

            WOSU Public Media is responsible for the production of quality material, service to the community, and making it all look extremely simple. In order to achieve this, WOSU employs both full- and part-time team members that share such goals and treat their responsibilities with a great deal of care. Amy Deeds, who was brought on temporarily to increase the efficiency and organization of WOSU auctions, is a perfect example of such a person.

            Deeds is a writer by trade. Before coming to WOSU, she worked in the Public Affairs Department at Kenyon College, writing articles about interesting faculty members and alumni. The job also brought the opportunity to travel to New Orleans, where she worked in a Katrina relief effort and wrote about her experiences. Before Kenyon, Deeds spent a substantial amount of her career as a freelance writer and as editor for Gannett Newspapers. Even today at WOSU, she spends lunches editing young writers’ articles (ahem) and “…always travel(s) with a red pen or two.”

            Deeds’ primary objective at WOSU Public Media, however, is mastering the day-to-day tasks presented by WOSU auctions. Specifically, she works with Auction Manager Andy Falter to make sure transactions run smoothly. Serving as the “middleman” between the donors and bidders, she inputs paperwork, facilitates credit card transactions, and ensures quick and accurate processing. As she puts it, her job basically is to take care of “anything that (the auction) needs.”

            Deeds is a temporary employee, and after her work at WOSU is finished, she plans to keep writing at the center of her life. Her editing work will undoubtedly live on anonymously at WOSU; as she stated, her goal is “…making it seem to the reader, that her writers are really good.” Lord knows we need the help. Her husband, Scott Gowans (also of WOSU Public Media), also spends time revising articles written for the Web site and WOSU’s “Airfare” magazine. If you have any doubt as to where their priorities lie, you can catch them in the parking lot next to their car – license plate “Writers.”

- By Brett Renzenbrink

Columbus on the Record

Columbus On The Record
Fridays 9:30pm ; Sundays 11:30am

Hungry for more than headlines and short soundbites about our community? Watch Columbus On The Record for in-depth, thoughtful, and balanced analysis of the issues and stories affecting Columbus and Central Ohio. Mike Thompson, WOSU’s news and public affairs director, moderates the program that features well-respected journalists and veteran political observers offering insight and analysis of the top stories of the week.

Next Show:  Friday, April 27th – 9:30pm ; Sunday, April 29nd – 11:30am

Scheduled Panelists – Joe Hallett, Senior Editor , The Columbus Dispatch; Jeff Winbush, Columnist, The Columbus Post; Mary Ann Sharkey, Political Consultant; Bob Clegg, Political Consultant.

For a list of topics and to suggest a topic – join our discussion group.  It’s FREE!

Rostropovich

In memory of Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, we present an interview from our archives…

Interview with Dr. Margarita Mazo
Recorded March 15, 2007, WOSU studios
Interviewed by Christopher Purdy

Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich born March 27, 1927, affectionately known as Slava, is a Russian and American cellist and conductor, considered by some to be one of the greatest cellists ever. Cellist, conductor, teacher, political activist, and humantarian, he celebrated his 80th birthday recently, and is recovering from cancer surgery in Moscow.

Dr. Magarita Mazo is a professor of music at The Ohio State University, and has worked with Rostropovich. She gives valuable insights into this artist.

Part 1. (MP3. Length – 4:27)
Rostropovich as conductor, and his collaborations with great composers.

Part 2. (MP3. Length – 4:39)
Rostropovich and Russia. His exile from the Soviet Union, 1974-1990, when he and his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, were ordered out of the country for sheltering Alexandr Slozhenitsyn.

Part 3. (MP3. Length – 4:53)
Rostopovich, Vishnevskaya, and their lives, and the perceptions of them in Russia today, and through the world.

See www.rostropovich.org to learn more about the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation

My Side of the Mountain

            The advent of broadcast technology brought a new sense of limitless communication, which stations such as WOSU Public Media had never experienced before. Of course, there are limits to broadcast: bandwidth room, content censorship, and distance, to name a few. However, WOSU Public Media has never been in jeopardy of losing its frequency and always been committed to offering thoughtful programming for all ages  which leaves the distance issue.

            WOSU’s broadcast signal spans a radius of approximately 50 miles, a distance that should easily serve the needs of most local broadcast stations. But WOSU is not “most local broadcast stations.” Renowned nationally, the station is one of the more popular public broadcast pick-ups on the Internet. (You can access program content from any public broadcast station on its Web site.) Even aside from the World Wide Web, though, some people take nontraditional routes to picking up the WOSU signal.

            Kathy Horton and her family in Elliotsville, Kentucky, are “some people.” This past fall, WOSU’s customer-service operator in Portsmouth, Ohio, received what seemed to be a normal tech-support call. Upon further review, the operator found that the customer lived 100 land miles away from Portsmouth, near Morehead, Kentucky. This should be impossible, since it is a great distance outside of the station’s 50-mile radius. So how did they get the signal? The amazing answer: Horton and her family were receiving the WOSU signal at their house on top of a 1,300-foot mountain.

            According to WOSU chief engineer Tom Lahr, who worked on the technical problem, Horton and her entire family are avid WOSU supporters and are especially interested in “anything in HD,” which reflects either the vast amount of quality, high-definition programming on WOSU or the lack thereof in all other broadcast signals that you can pick up on top of a mountain in the middle of Kentucky. For the record, the customer-service representatives and engineers were able to fix the technical problem, and continue to treat the Horton family with same consideration that they would accord any other ground-dwelling customer.

- By Brett Renzenbrink

Interview with Kathryn Koob

Interview with Kathryn Koob (‘kobe’)
Recorded March 13, 2007, over the phone from her home in Iowa
Interviewed by Christopher Purdy

LISTEN (Running time: 24:11. 55.3 MB.)

Kathyrn Koob was one of the 66 Americans held hostage by Iranian students for 444 days, from November, 1979 to January, 1981. The hostage crisis convulsed this country. Miss Koob is the author of Guest of the Revolution (1982). Today, she is adjunct professor of theater at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and continues with a full schedule of speaking engagements.

Read the full transcript of this interview on Christopher’s blog: www.christophercpurdy.blogspot.com

Chefs in the City

WOSU Public Media will be featuring an innovative fundraiser for television spotlighting Gourmet Restaurants around Central Ohio. Donated gift certificates during “Chefs in the City” will be sold to a viewing audience that’s eager to buy, with proceeds benefiting WOSU Public Media. This event will be held Thursday, April 26, from 8 pm to 11 pm on WOSU TV.

The philosophy behind the event is to highlight a number of high-end chefs from area restaurants to offer valuable cooking tips and tricks. In between cooking instruction times, we will auction many fine dining gift certificates, cookware, cookbooks, and other dining related items.

To purchase tickets to Chefs in the City, please call 614.688.3777. Local and National celebrity chefs will be on hand during the taping. Food and drink will be provided to audience members, and the event will include a private “silent auction” prior to airtime.

Tickets are $100 per person, or $150 per couple.

Christopher Purdy Interviews Patty Duke

Patty Duke on Mental Illness
Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke (“The Miracle Worker”) has long been an advocate for the mentally ill. Her struggles with depression are powerfully told in her books “Call Me Anna” and “A Brilliant Madness.” Today, Mrs. Anna (Patty Duke) Pearce is busier than ever as an actress, advocate, wife, and mother. She spoke with WOSU’s Christopher Purdy in the summer of 2006 from her home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
See also www.officalpattyduke.com

LISTEN (Running time: 26:18. 24.0 MB.)