Coping with addiction: NPR, the hidden epidemic

My story of addiction will sound all too familiar to the thousands, potentially millions, who share in my addiction. We are a silent minority whose voice is not often heard by the majority of people and rarely acknowledged by the mass media outlets. Our addiction goes unnoticed by most, and this silence made my ability to deny my addiction all too easy.

It all started in an innocent fashion with experimentation on the weekends, but like most addictions, almost imperceptibly, it seeped into the weekdays extending from my private life into my work life and back again. I ended up, where I still am today, a daily user who has allowed my addiction to effect my actions, my thoughts and everyone around me who I care about.

I remember the day when it started, just over one year ago, like it was yesterday. I was driving home from the local grocery store listening to the local rock station 97.9 play Lynyrd Skynard Free Bird for the billionth time and the thought fluttered across my mind (to this day I have no idea where it came from)…..I wonder what is on the local National Public Radio station 91.5.?

So, I turned the dial to NPR (the term we ‘users’ of National Public Radio use) and caught ‘All Things Considered’ with Robert Siegel and Michele Norris. It was a newsmagazine touching on various global issues currently in the news including Iraq, the European Union, and other topics, but was so much different in its approach from the news you see on television. The coverage was indepth, including historical references, compelling interviews with experts and it felt….dare I say….educational. My mind was so much more engaged without having to deal with the distraction of sensationalistic images and videos that tv news often provides. Looking back, in terms of the addiction, ‘All Things Considered’ was my gateway drug; the words were truly addicting and I was getting hooked.

At this point my addiction was still under control, as I would tune into the news on NPR for maybe 1 or 2 hours while driving, but when friends would get in the car I would be able to switch over to a Radiohead CD. Only once was I almost found out when I gave my friend a ride and had accidentally left the radio dial on NPR, but I was able to quickly explain “my mother in law loves this station, I gave her a ride home last night and forgot to change the channel.” He didn’t suspect a thing.

One afternoon, however, while just sitting inside my home, I innocently turned on NPR on a whim (the first time I had taken my addiction out of the car.) I will never forget the words that turned my ‘use’ into a full blown addiction: “I’m Dick Gordon and this is The Story….”.

The Story, quite simply, takes people’s ordinary lives and their everyday stories and makes them extraordinary. Dick Gordon asks all of the right questions to elevate the common person’s story into a compelling interview full of colorful insight that the listener never dared to think may have existed in commonplace events. Dick Gordon is the science teacher who pulls the rock up and shows you the universe you never new existed… I was hooked.

My name is T.J. and I am an addict. I can say those words now and believe them. I can no longer deny that I am one of ‘those people’ who listen to public radio pledge drives and reach for my credit card. Or that I take inspiration from a story I hear on NPR and do further research to educate myself on that topic and even introduce something I heard into a discussion I may be having with friends and family.

I don’t blame Dick Gordon, Michele Norris or Robert Siegel for my addiction. I don’t even blame the show ‘Talk of the Nation’ or ‘Wait wait don’t tell me…’. I know now that my addiction was something I was born with that was simply laying dormant until I received the trigger; for me the trigger was NPR. And I am happy to be an addict.