Dick Gordon's new WUNC radio show set for national launch

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --Enough with the talking heads. Dick Gordon isn't interested.

The veteran public radio voice wants to tell the tales of everyday folks, to sit down for an hour-long chat and just listen. So far, he's heard the story of an eclipse chaser, a father who created innovative devices to help a son born without a left hand, and a man who has developed relationships with some of the hundreds of children he helped create via the local sperm bank.

"When I started working as a reporter, one of my jobs was to go find the people who were part of the news," Gordon said. "Ambulance-chasing produced some really compelling" stories.

There are more stories to come.

After months of test runs on North Carolina Public Radio, Gordon's daily one-hour show "The Story" will go national early next year, part of the stable of radio programs distributed by American Public Media, the nation's No. 2 producer of public radio programs, that includes the popular "A Prairie Home Companion."

"The Story," which started airing a few days a week in February, now airs Monday through Friday on public radio in North Carolina. The show, produced at WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill, was recently picked up by KNOW-FM in St. Paul, Minn., for further refinement before its national debut.

It's another mark in WUNC's national rise. The southeast bureau of "Marketplace," the nationally distributed business show that airs during peak driving times in many markets, opened at the station last year.

Gordon is the former host of National Public Radio's "The Connection," which was broadcast on more than 60 National Public Radio stations before it was canceled last year due to budget cutbacks at its home station, Boston's WBUR-FM. That show followed a traditional pundit-heavy format, interviewing guests on both sides on an issue.

But Gordon, a former war correspondent and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation host, designed his new show to focus on the extraordinary experiences of one person, or how the news affects a single individual. Greg Kelly, the program's senior producer, said opposing views on a topic can be presented "over time."

"I think there's a danger in just picking contentious topics and just saying give me your story," Gordon said. "Unfortunately, I already know what I'm going to hear from a spokesman for the Pentagon."

"The Story" isn't just abandoning the traditional two-sides-to-every-issue format. Unlike other one-on-one interview shows on public radio, a guest on Gordon's show isn't likely to be a celebrity and is sure not to be a pundit or expert. Kelly said the show aims to "privilege experience over analysis."

"I find it compelling, and it's compelling primarily because Dick Gordon is such a gifted interviewer," said David Cupp, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who sometimes assigns his students to listen to "The Story" during class. "It goes back to something that is the basis of effective journalism -- it's about real people."

During a recent story planning session with a handful of producers and staff, topics ranged from the coup in Thailand to possible government favors received by the oil industry. Gordon repeatedly pressed the same question to his staff: "Who's the person in this story?"

"Those are hard guests to get, by the way, and that's another measure of success," said Tom Taylor, editor-in-chief of Inside Radio, which publishes a daily newsletter on the U.S. radio industry.

Gordon actively solicits for potential guests, both on the air and on the show's Web site. Carole Baker e-mailed Gordon about her "Ugly Ducking" tale, telling Gordon about a childhood in which she was often mistaken for a boy because she didn't grow a full head of hair until the second grade.

"My memories of childhood are somewhat shaped by these frequent mishaps," she wrote.

She was soon telling the tale to listeners of "The Story."

"What Dick Gordon is doing is drawing out the stories of real people who are close to the action and have had their life changed in some way or another," Cupp said, "and we're hearing their story."

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On the Net:

WUNC-FM: http://www.wunc.org

The Story: http://thestory.org

American Public Media: http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org