Goodbye, Weekend America!
I probably don’t need to repeat how much I love the radio. Weekend America is among my favorite radio shows. I think I started listening to it right when one of my local public radio stations began carrying it a few years ago. They replaced their broadcast of a great standard and I decided to tune into what they were airing instead. One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday is putter around my home while listening to a bunch of radio shows. I’ve spent countless hours with my ear cocked toward the radio like the RCA dog while listening to news about the conflict in Iraq, the stories of Hurricane Katrina survivors, music reviews, immigrant tales, and the culture and activities of people across America. When I’m pressed to get out for a hike, I’ll listen to the shows in the car.
I believe Weekend America was the first podcast to which I subscribed. I was thrilled! I didn’t have to feel so bad about not being able to stay home on Saturdays all the time. I particularly began experimenting with podcasts when I had to take a long road trip. I stocked a device with about twenty hours of Weekend America shows I had not yet heard and a few other programs and hit the highway. That was amazing. For me, podcasts work better than books on tape because the variety better engages my brain. And I finally had time to listen to the hours of backlogged podcasts.
A highlight of a former job was when I got to do some radio work for the show. Talking to the then-host was one of those moments where I was so excited, I couldn’t think about what to say. My professionalism might have stopped me from blurting “I LOVE your show!” Silly me.
When my commute changed, I felt elated because I finally had time I could set aside to catch up on the show’s podcast. Over the last two years or so, I’ve worked hard on that and was pleased a few weeks ago when I did. I listen to hour 1 on the way in and hour 2 on the way out. It’s ideal!
I learned about the show’s cancellation while listening to a podcast a few weeks ago. The drivers around me might have wondered what happened to cause my jaw to land on the seat and keep me shaking my head and saying “NO!” repeatedly. A tear might have come to my eye, too.
I blocked out Saturday, 1/31, with the hopes that I’d be able to listen to the last show “live on the air,” so to speak (I’m pretty sure the show is not live), but, alas, Chinese New Year’s plans interfere. I’ll hear it as a podcast. While I could procrastinate hearing it, thinking that if I don’t listen to the end of the series, it really hasn’t ended, it includes good incentive: some recently discovered poems by Langston Hughes, one of my favorite poets. That will sweeten the fact that this episode will be the last.
What will happen to the hours of audio, archive of the show, and the people who brought all of that to us? I can’t help thinking about how valuable the snapshot it provides of America in the 2000s will be to historians, sociologists, and other folks who study people, culture, and American society.
While I freely admit I am sad to “hear” it go, I wonder what the radio station will put in its place. At some point in time, this favorite show was new to me. Maybe I’ll discover another really terrific show. I have to confess, though, that I am looking forward to working down the backlog of the other podcasts to which I subscribe. 
Goodbye, Weekend America! It’s been fun listening to you. Where else will I ever get such creative weather reports or learn how to transport a hamster safely across many states on a journey I took several summers ago in the opposite direction? Weekend America, we might very well be weakened America without you.
