Chris Drew: For Ozarks Public Broadcasting. I'm Chris Drew. I'm joined by one of the hosts of NPR's Morning Edition, A Martinez. Thanks again for taking the time to join us this morning. We're talking in the context of the mission of public radio and the importance of continued support. Federal funding accounts for about 10% of our budget, and 30% of Ozarks Public Television's budget, we’re sort of one entity here, about $1.3 million. We're likely facing programing and service cuts. Some more vulnerable stations may be at risk of going off air entirely. To start with, I know you have a varied background. You’ve mentioned that on air. You worked for years in commercial radio. Can you just speak a bit about what made you interested in getting into public radio and what makes it distinct or special to you?
A Martinez: Well, what got me into public radio is that they offered me a job. That's how I got into it. They offered me a job that was paying a little bit more than I was making where I was before. So, I wish I had some elevated altruistic reasoning for joining public media, but that was that was that was the reason the bank of the mortgage company motivated me to make sure that I, that I took the better financial offer, and it wasn't like it was millions of dollars more. It just was a little more. But here's the thing I'd never listen to public media. I never listened to public radio before. I took the job at KPCC in Los Angeles in 2012. I, you know, I've been a sports guy. I've been at ESPN. I was the pre and post-game show host for the Dodgers and Lakers for years. I'd never worked in any other thing other than sports media. So, you know, I didn't feel like I had time in my life to, to kind of look for other things to be interested in, like politics and policy and cultural things happening in the place I grew up in. But then when I, when I got to KPCC and got into the public radio world, I mean, it was the most incredible things that I think has ever happened in my life because it opened up my world.
It opened up my brain and my heart to so many things that I didn't know I was interested in because I'd never exposed myself to them. So, I mean, you know, as much as, you know, people say, well, you know, I like what I like and I'm going to listen to what I listen to. I so encourage people to try their best to open things up to other things. And, and if you're someone that happens to be listening to this, you know, and, and maybe you think, well, I know what they do on public radio and public media is really not for me. Give it a chance. Give it a chance. Because I was just like you. And I felt like I didn't have room in my life for it. But now I don't think I could ever live without it. That's how much of a difference public radio has meant in my life. And being able to do stories that, that, that I never thought I'd have the ability to do. Because, you know, I was locked into my sports silo and I didn't think I could live any other way.
Chris Drew: Yeah. I think your work is exemplary of what Morning Edition is like. You cover almost everything. You talk to all sorts of folks. And when we talk about community stations like ours dotted across the country, we aren't isolated. We hear from those reporters every day on Morning Edition. You talk to some of those folks, maybe from Saint Louis or Kentucky or Alabama or wherever. What value do they add to NPR's national news coverage?
A Martinez: Oh, it's such a great resource for us at Morning Edition when something's happening somewhere around the country, the first thing we think of is is there a local member station that can help us with this? Because sure, we could read something online and try and get a sense of the story, but those local member stations are living that story. They're not just reporting on that story. They're also living the story. Because, you know, it's one of the things that I know, I remember from being at KPCC last in L.A. is that, sure, the journalists covered things that were happening, say, an earthquake or a fire, but it wasn't in an impersonal kind of way where that, you know, we'd show up and report and then file a story and leave it there. We treated it as if it was happening to a friend, a neighbor, you know, a colleague. That's how we treated the stories that we were reporting on in Los Angeles. And I'm sure that is how public media reports all over the country and that it becomes a little bit deeper, more comprehensive, a little more personal. And that is the resource that NPR we get to rely on, and that if something's happening in in Missouri or in Florida or in the state of Washington, if a member station is covering it, that's what we kind of like to go toward first, because we know that we're going to get the best possible story that we can get from those member stations because of how connected they are to their communities.
Chris Drew: And when you're out and about, you meet listeners. What sort of feedback do they give you? What are the questions and what are the things they get excited about with public radio?
A Martinez: Oh, just that just that they understand that they can always and still trust us. We are not going to shift our mission because of, you know, what happened with the Senate and, and, you know, voting to end federal funding for public media. That's not going to change what we do, or all of a sudden not going to become something that they don't recognize. We are still going to be there in the way they always know us to be there so that they can trust us. And so when people do come up to me and ask me about this, they always end it with like, well, I'm glad you're still there. I'm glad that NPR is still there and still staying strong and positive and upbeat and still doing the same thing that we are good at. We're not going to shift. We're not going to shift that mission, that mission, you know, established a long time ago. And in a world where people are having trouble trusting the information that comes to them, they know that they can trust us, and that will never change.
Chris Drew: Well, thank you so much for all the work that you and your colleagues do, and thanks for taking time to talk to us and our listeners today.
A Martinez: Sure, Chris. Thank you.
Chris Drew: Yeah. Have a good day.