By ELIZABETH ANDERSON
Observer staff
April 9, 2008

Photo by LIZ ANDERSON.
Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan between first and second hours of the show.

I didn’t expect my afternoon at the Newseum to end the way it did: sitting on the metro next to National Public Radio talk-show host Neal Conan. But it started when I entered a side door at the Newseum to be part of a live audience for “Talk of the Nation,” which Conan hosts.

It was Media Preview Day at the Newseum, and journalism professionals, teachers, and students almost filled Knight Studio to see what most only hear.

Show staff pointing and signaling when to start, passing out comment cards to the live audience, inviting audience comment, and when technology seemed to act a little iffy, it was fascinating to see the staff working cohesively to pull off a quality program in spite of the glitch.

The unseen and unheard

What listeners didn’t see or hear after the final second-hour break was what happened when it was discovered there was no audio coming from the Ethics Room downstairs. Conan and two audience guests went there to play a game at the Ethics Table. I perked up even more, curious to see how they would solve this problem. I knew they wouldn’t end the program early, or play music the remaining 15-17 minutes of the show.

The executive producer was on the phone telling someone to get Conan back to the Knight Studio, the board operator kept the music rolling, interspersed with Conan’s pre-recorded voice announcing technical difficulties.

I didn’t see Conan running when he re-entered the studio.

“He looks remarkably calm,” I thought. “I don’t see any sweat beads or anything, and he isn’t huffing and puffing.”
I was impressed.

I could tell he was a tad winded when he explained the technology mishap to listeners after the break. His verbal strings were peppered with more breaths. I was still impressed because he didn’t need 10 minutes to catch his breath like I would’ve wanted had I been in that position.

The show goes on

Newseum Vice President of Broadcasting and Programs Paul Sparrow joined Conan in the studio, posing ethics questions to the live audience and callers. The Ethics Room did get sound before the end of the show, though.

I was impressed that the staff members of a nationally known show are so down to earth. They engaged interested students and audience members in a 30-minute question and answer period. Afterwards, I was invited for drinks. I’ll be working as their summer intern and figured it would be nice to join them for refreshments and start the get-to-know process.

On the Metro

The thing that tickled me most was running into Conan on the Red Line. We waved at each another and he sat next to me. He carried a black backpack, and his dress shoes were replaced by mostly white athletic shoes, metro-chic that contrasted with his dark suit. I don’t know why, but seeing him in his suit and sneakers was comforting to me along with asking him questions about the book he’s reading for an upcoming show.

The show

The first hour was a conversation about 2008 presidential campaign coverage. Featured guests were Clarence Page, a syndicated communist for the Chicago Tribune; Ann Marie Cox, Time.com editor and founder of the political blog Wonkette.com; William Kristol editor of The Weekly Standard and a New York Times columnist; and Jerry Seib, The Wall Street Journal’s assistant managing editor and executive Washington editor.

Later that hour, Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull discussed their Pulitzer-prize winning articles about sub-standard conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Priest, Hull and photographer Michel du Cille won the 2008 Public Service award for the series “Walter Reed and Beyond.”

The first-hour discussion was interesting. So was the second hour when Conan talked with guests representing two sides of the federal shield law argument. Matt Cooper is Washington editor for Portfolio Magazine. He was threatened with jail time for not revealing an anonymous source in a federal probe into the leak of a CIA officer’s name. Cooper’s source gave the o.k. to mention his name. Mark Grannis is a partner at the Washington, D.C., Law Firm Harris, Wiltshire, and Grannis. He’s also the attorney for Dr. Steven Hatfill a former “person of interest” in the anthrax attacks investigation who was never charged.

Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy began hour two, joining the show from West Virginia public radio studio. U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton is holding Locy in contempt because she won’t reveal the names of all her anonymous Justice Department sources, some of whom she quoted in 2003 articles about Hatfill. Locy said she told Judge Walton she didn’t recall exactly which of her sources informed those stories so she was ordered to reveal them all. Her case is scheduled for appeal in May.

“Talk of the Nation” will broadcast live from the Newseum again next Wednesday. From what I hear, it just might be a regular thing, but don’t quote me on that.