Public Radio: Behind the Voices »

Lisa A. Phillips is a former radio reporter who has worked at six public radio stations in five states. She teaches journalism at the State University of New York at New Paltz and has freelanced for the New York Times, NPR, Marketplace, and other publications and radio programs. Her reporting has received four regional Edward R. Murrow awards, a New York Festival award, and honors from The Communicator and the Associated Press. Phillips is also a published fiction writer who has been honored with a 2002 New York Foundation for the Arts fiction award, the National Society for Arts and Letters/Pittsburgh chapter award and the Scott Turow award. She lives in Woodstock, New York with her husband, Bill Mead, and their daughter Clara.

A collection of personal stories from more than forty of the most listened to voices in public radio

Publishers Weekly

While commercial radio has become increasingly formulaic, Phillips says, the radio audience has established an intimate connection with public radio hosts: "This voice-to-ear relationship is a startlingly radical one in an era when image is everything." The SUNY journalism professor, who has worked at six public radio stations in five states, is passionate about her field, and her fervor is evident throughout these 43 profiles of public radio personalities, her "broadcasting heroes." Blending research with in-depth interviews, she divides the portraits into three categories. "Music" ranges from the spontaneity of Nic Harcourt (on the free-form Morning Becomes Eclectic) to "deliciously polite" Marian McPartland (on the long-running Piano Jazz). "News and Information" covers Susan Stamberg (NPR's "founding mother"), Daniel Schorr, Bob Edwards, Nina Totenberg and others. Finally, the 16 profiles in the "Talk and Entertainment" section include Tavis Smiley, Garrison Keillor and quipster Michael Feldman (Whad'Ya Know?). Phillips praises the narrative style of Ira Glass (This American Life) and the conversational approach of Fresh Air's Terry Gross, although Glass and Gross both declined to be interviewed. Phillips is a gifted journalist, able to draw out her subjects' vibrant presence on the printed page. 16-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW. (Apr. 18) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.