KGOU listener Miranda Conway was in our Norman studios recently, talking about when and where she listens.
Q: Please tell us about yourself.
Miranda Conway: I’m from Northern California. Growing up in California gave me a love of nature, diversity of culture, and an appreciation for various cuisines. I work at Tinker AFB as a military officer.
Q: What are some of your primary interests or favorite pastimes outside of work?
MC: I love to visit national and state parks. I enjoy hiking, cycling and kayaking. I love discovering restaurants, art, and entertainment throughout OKC. I spend lots of time keeping up with current events. KGOU helps me find local events and navigate local, statewide, and national politics.
Q: Why do you listen to public radio/KGOU?
MC: I listen to KGOU because it is a credible source of news and information about my local community. I trust KGOU to have high integrity and civility in reporting.
Q: Where, when and how do you do most of your listening?
MC: I listen to KGOU while driving to work, going to church, running errands and travelling. I also sometimes play it at home while cooking dinner or cleaning. KGOU is my companion during my daily commute because it provides quality coverage of current events, as well as wholesome entertainment. By the time I get to work in the morning and come home at the end of the day, I feel informed about topics shaping local, national, and foreign policy. On the weekends, I thoroughly enjoy radio shows about topics other than just politics, such as Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!, Radiolab, TED Radio Hour, etc...
Q: How did you first discover KGOU?
MC: As soon as I moved to Oklahoma a few years ago, I tuned into KGOU. After listening to public radio for so many years, it wasn’t hard scanning through the local radio stations and finding KGOU. It was my first “preset” radio station upon arrival to Oklahoma.
Q: What are your favorite programs and why?
MC: Some of my favorite programs are:
- Morning Edition: informative
- 1A: professional, respectful, and open
- All Things Considered: informative
- TED Radio Hour: insightful and educational
- Radiolab: super super interesting!
- Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!: hilarious
Q: How does KGOU contribute to your daily life or the community as a whole?
MC: KGOU contributes significantly to the community by being so accessible. You needn’t pay for cable or wifi for quality news (although if you do, KGOU is also easy to find on the internet). At no cost to the public, KGOU provides credible and professional information to complement the public’s interest in politics, education, community, art, social science, history, and more. I find NPR’s presentation of the news to be professional and level-headed, consisting of diverse, credible sources. NPR brings expertise and objective research to relevant topics. As a non-native resident of Oklahoma, KGOU’s local news has helped me learn about my community’s policy-making and significant events. KGOU’s local news helps me to be an informed citizen and neighbor.
Q: What are some recent stories or topics that caught your attention?
MC: If I start listening to Radiolab while driving, the story’s intrigue almost always keeps me sitting in my driveway long after I’ve stopped driving. A particularly memorable story from Radiolab was titled 'Nukes,' about the military members up and down the chain of command that would be (or were) involved in the use of nuclear weapons. I thought it was creative and insightful of Radiolab to look into the actual procedures and human hands behind a nuclear event. It aired during a time when the national discussion about nuclear weapons centered broadly around the president and other nation-states. Radiolab’s coverage of the topic was refreshingly specific and thought-provoking.
A recent story by Radiolab that aired last December called 'Black Box' captured my attention and kept me listening during a roadtrip. It was a story unlike anything I had heard before, presenting the listener with unexplained mysteries that confounded science and human understanding. As I started to drive out of range of KGOU during the broadcast, I remember frantically searching for another working frequency so I wouldn’t miss the rest of the story!
I plan my Saturday morning errands around Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me! because it’s so cathartic and funny. The panelists and guests always put on a clever show.
Q: What motivated you to make your first contribution to KGOU?
MC: I first contributed to KGOU in 2017 because I had been listening to public radio for years and I felt it was time to give back now that I was in a financial position to do so. For years, I told myself that I would donate once I was “finally settled,” but I realized that I was making excuses and that there was no better time than now! I encourage others to contribute to KGOU because the public is ultimately responsible for sustaining credible, non-commercial news media. That’s you and me! Thanks to the contributions of others, I know that I can always tune into public radio and hear reliable reporting.
As a community-supported news organization, KGOU relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online, or by contacting our Membership department.
