You get what you pay for

Friday afternoon, I was in Canton getting ready to pledge pitch as we pushed toward the end of the spring membership drive.

Jackie Sauter — who out news-junkies the news team — was the first to pick up on wire reports out of Binghamton that something horrible had happened.

I had shown up in Canton wearing my Carhart work pants and a two day growth of beard. (That’s why I’m in radio.)

I had no equipment, not even a cell phone.

So when NPR called and asked NCPR to scramble fast to help out in Binghamton, Ellen Rocco chipped in her phone. Radio Bob Sauter loaned me his personal laptop.

Joel Hurd found a field-recording kit and cables.

I was on the road in a quarter hour. (Fortunately, I had a couple changes of clothes still in the pick-up.)

I connect these dots — the pledge drive, the team at NCPR, and my work here in Binghamton — because the dots ARE connected.

NCPR does great journalism because we have incredible people on our staff, with deep experience.

And we have that team because thousands of our neighbors chip in whatever they can to support us — $5, $1,000, jars of honey, whatever.

You get what you pay for, right?

Part of what listeners get for their generosity, naturally enough, is our work: the best radio and journalism we can manage.

But you also get our true gratitude and friendship. It’s an honor to be working with (and for) all of you.

And now…I can’t wait to get home.

–Brian, checking in from Binghamton