Published September 1, 2010

Garrison Keillor

I’m not alone in thinking the medium of radio is alive and well.

A 17-year-old considering a career in radio wrote to Garrison Keillor for his advice. The public radio host and master storyteller responded thus:

Radio has a bright future which will be forged by young people following their own inspiration, not imitating their elders, though the essence of broadcasting is the same today as it was ninety years ago at the inception: radio is all about coherence.

We all live in a landscape of dense confusion and competing messages and radio attempts to give us a degree of clarity and a coherent view of the world, embodied in the human voice. It’s a powerful medium that speaks to our perpetual loneliness and I wish you well and hope you’ll hurl yourself bodily into getting a good education, studying the hard subjects, taking on a new language, reading the difficult texts.

I would treasure that letter.