In radio, you have two tools. Sound and silence.

When you're working in public radio, you don't have any money to advertise.

There is a feeling, when you listen to radio, that it's one person, and they're talking to you, and you really feel their presence as one person.

But sadly, one of the problems with being on public radio is that people tend to think you're being sincere all the time.

I remember that in Baltimore, where I grew up, we would drive by the radio station and tower of WBAL, and I would try to picture the people inside and what they did there.

One reason I do the live shows - and the monthly speeches at public radio stations - is to remind myself that people hear the show, that it has an audience, that it exists in the world. It's so easy to forget that.