Hello and welcome from my new desk at National Public Radio!
I am still amazed by this, but, y’all: I just started as a reporter/host at Planet Money. And I appeared on my very first episode as a real employee on Saturday, explaining the repo kerfuffle in brief. You can listen here!
Before joining full-time, I did one episode from my seat at Barron’s, Episode 920: What Should We Be Worried About?, where I tried to make covenants cool n accessible, with the help of expert host Jacob Goldstein. I also appeared on sibling podcast The Indicator, which is co-hosted by an old pal from the Financial Times, Cardiff Garcia. We talked about fee structures, billionaires fretting about inequality, nuns taking on gun companies, and the mysteriously persistent gender split in hedge funds, among other things.
It’s really fun! And it’s entirely different from anything I’ve ever done, which is exactly what I wanted and also disorienting and very good for humility.
An expert producer once told me that when people are new to TV, they’ll inadvertently manipulate their speech in a weird way, usually without knowing or noticing they’re doing it. This frequently shows up as talking out of only one side of your mouth. It’s a subconscious response to the command to perform, your brain saying ok, ur doing something different, so DO something different. Of course this is bad guidance, and talking on TV should be done with both sides of a mouth, as usual. But it’s a natural response to an abnormal situation, and happens to a surprisingly large percentage of the new-guest population. For example, I did it.
I have just learned that there may be a podcasting/radio equivalent, or at least I have one: I’ve caught myself faking a midwestern accent. I am from Virginia. I do not know why this is happening, I am not sure if anyone else has this problem, but keep your ears peeled for my best Tina-Fey-doing-a-Sarah-Palin-impression.
Anyway, thank you, as always, for following along. And if you know of a fascinating financial yarn, if you recently underwent a challenging yet educational and fun adventure, please give me a shout.