Overcommitted
By Mitch Berg
Chad the Elder makes it official; he’s retiring from the NARN after an almost-five-year run.
And the piece is actually a great retrospective, not only on the NARN’s history, but on the thing that’s always made the show(s) unique:
I would hope that most of the time we’ve played the role of serious amateurs on the NARN. I doubt if there’s been much temptation to succumb to delusions of grandeur since doing a Saturday radio show from the catacombs of the Patriot studio in Eagan hardly lends itself to thoughts of grandeur (although when the septic system backed up people did get a bit delusional).
I have wondered for a while how long Chad would be able to balance three toddlers and a productive day job with the Saturday gig.
We’re about three weeks away from our fifth anniversary – which, when I step back and say it, blows my mind. In 18 years spent doing one kind of radio or another over the past (gulp) 30 years, I never had a job (or in this case, “job”) last more than two years, to say nothing of five. Which isn’t bad, for an enterprise that most of the NARN cast gave between three weeks and a year, way back when.
Anyway – all the best, Chad, and here’s hoping we can keep things running until your calendar frees up just a tad. It’s been five great years…
…although I can’t help but wonder if he’s skipping out to avoid some karmic justice.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
It’s too bad, but totally understandable. When you have kids, Saturday is go day and you end up getting pulled in a million directions.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
So long, Der Elder, and thanks for all the fish… and for all the enjoyable radio.
(I’ve certainly thought many times, and still do, about writing the same post about blogging…)
February 12th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thanks Mitch. By the way that conservative comic from the early days of the NARN wasn’t the same one who’s coming to town in a couple of weeks, was it?
February 12th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
that conservative comic from the early days of the NARN wasn’t the same one who’s coming to town in a couple of weeks, was it?
I believe you’re right!
February 13th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I think so.
But forewarned is forearmed.
I’ll be asking about airline peanuts. What is up with ’em?
February 13th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I’m trying to think of the changes at NARN as kinda like the cast changes at NYPD Blue: I thought just about every one was a mistake, but, as it turns out, each one of them demonstrably improved the show.