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Friend of the Show
Yesterday I spent some time going over comments on our shows of the past week. There was lots of great stuff there, but one thing in particular caught my attention. Last Friday we did a show with Elizabeth Hovde. I wrote the show post before my holiday and began it like this:
Oregonian columnist Elizabeth Hovde has been a friend of Think Out Loud for a while now.
In the comments from the program Jimbobilly had some concerns about the show and, among other things, said:
to have it happen to one of the friends of someone at this station does not make it more relevant
Especially since I also used the expression "friend of the show" when writing about Rob Ingram earlier in the week, I thought I should take a moment to explain. Being a "friend of the show" does not mean that person is a friend of someone on the program in the traditional sense. It is someone who has become friendly with Think Out Loud. Usually they have been a guest on the show, but more than that, they let us pick their brains when we're looking for guests.
Here at Think Out Loud we are only a few producers with a limited number of contacts and connections. These friends pick up the phone when we call and flip through their contacts to help us find people who might be good for the show — people we might not otherwise know of. As we mature as a show, we are fortunate to grow more and more friends. Andrea Paluso helps us find people affected by family issues. Rob Smith helps us on business stories. Bill Lunch assists us with politics. These are just a few of our many, many friends.
And as for the more traditional friends — actual, social friends of the producers and staff of this show — it is actually very rare for them to be on our air. And, if they are, they have gone through a rigorous editorial process — always vetted and pre-interviewed by someone else on the staff.
So, all that to say, you too can be a friend of the show! Just pick up the phone when we call!
