“It is my sincere hope that we will never stop finding topics for the generations to share. Someday our younger generation will become the older generation. Won’t it be great to hear how their lives have evolved from where they are now?”
-Phil Mariage, host and producer of KUAR’s “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”
[Download the MP3 for this week]
Hi, Aaron Henkin here, your host and curator for the NPR Station Showcase with PRX. Each week on this podcast, we explore the immense bounty of high-quality local programming that comes out of the hundreds of different public radio stations across the country, and this week our travels take us to Little Rock, Arkansas. That’s the home of KUAR, where for seven years now Phil Mariage has been producing a show with a concept that’s both elegant and simple: “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” is the name of the program, and each episode brings together three guests from three different generations to share their perspectives on a common topic of interest. This week, we’re listening to a recent episode of the program where the topic of discussion was astronomy. Here’s a Q & A with Phil Mariage about the history and the mission of “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”…
Your program is based on a really brilliant concept… What inspired you to pursue this ‘intergenerational-dialogue’ format?
Thank you so much for your interest in our program. Public radio, as you know, is a labor of love, and I can only tell you that our program has been very well received over these 7 years we have been on the air. The inspiration for the program came 10 years before, while I was visiting the father of a family friend in the hospital recovering from hip surgery. He was a survivor of the holocaust. His story of losing his entire family and escape was spellbinding, and when I left a seed had been planted in my mind. While I was moved by his story, I was even more impressed with the realization that each of our generations has a story to tell and that there was no avenue open for intergenerational discussion about the issues and passions of our lives. Over the next ten years that seed continued to grow, and while driving back to Hot Springs from Dallas in 1999, in that five hour drive, I envisioned the concept for the program.
I practice-pitched the idea to two commercial radio stations, knowing all along that it really belonged on Public Radio. My radio home was KUAR here in Little Rock and I so hoped that they would like the idea. They did, and we began first as a trial doing a live program before an audience. The topic was ‘Parenting,’ and as I look back on it now, while I cringe a little by comparison to our current productions, it was a very good first program. We are near the end of our seventh year on the air with over 135 programs and each is a different topic.
What are some of your favorite conversations that you’ve hosted so far?
Some of my favorite topics and guests have been: War with Gen. Wesley Clark, Civil Rights with Little Rock 9 member Dr. Terrence Roberts, journalist Helen Thomas was a guest on a program about the Presidents just before the war in Iraq started, we then did a program on History with Dr. John Hope Franklin, and a program on Liberalism with former Senator and Presidential candidate George McGovern. These are just a few of the topics and guests. A full list is on our site at www.ualr.edu/ytt by clicking on ‘Archive’.
We’re listening to a shorter version of what was originally an hour-long program… Is the show live when it first airs at KUAR? Is it a tough job editing the shows down to a fraction of their original length? What guides you during that editing process?
I tape well over an hour of conversation with my guests, and most of the time they just want to keep talking. So I keep taping. The task then is to edit down to the three time-formats I have been using. First I do the initial edit just to clean things up a bit. That becomes the Podcast, which is posted on our station site, ‘itunes’ and a few other Podcast sites. Next I edit down to the hour-long program and then the half-hour time frame, which is what we air here on KUAR. While that might seem like a great deal of editing, and it is, I have found that with that much material, I can really present a very ‘hot’ half hour program for those who really don’t have time for the longer versions. If they are into the topic or guests, they can always download the Podcast. Technology is so wonderful!
Have you ever had guests from different generations on your show who’ve had trouble seeing eye-to-eye with each other or respecting each other’s opinions on a given topic?
I can honestly tell you that in all the programs we have done, and there have been several very controversial topics, we have never had a confrontation between guests. Differences, yes, but our format is comparative generational thought and that allows us to have well-thought-out conversations between excellent guests. We take no calls, so this is a chance for the audience to listen.
My favorite saying comes from the pages of the book ‘Generations’ by Neil Howe and William Strauss. In it they say, “When history loses urgency, people tend to live at the expense of the future…despite their better judgement.” With that as a compelling reason to bring the generations together in comparative discussion, I have found that there is no end to the topics we can cover and no end to the passion we share here at KUAR in producing this program.
Tell us bit about your history with KUAR… what kind of a station is it, and what other sort of local programming comes out of there?
KUAR is affiliated with the University of Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Science here in Little Rock. Our station is just one of a very few in the nation that is lucky enough to have a sister station, KLRE, which is solely dedicated to Classical Music. I can’t begin to tell you how fortunate we are to have such fine local support for our stations. At KUAR we air all the major NPR programs and we take great pride in the many, and varied, local programs in addition to Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.
While I produce and host the program, it is not and never will be the Phil Mariage Show. Dave Garoway was the first host for the ‘Today Show’, and many have come and gone since. It is my sincere hope that we will never stop finding topics for the generations to share. Someday our younger generation will become the older generation. Won’t it be great to hear how their lives have evolved from where they are now? I only wish we could have a similar window to those generations long ago.
You can hear more episodes of KUAR’s “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” online at The Public Radio Exchange. That’s where producers from around the world share their work. Log on, write your own reviews, and have a say in what ends up on the radio at www.prx.org.