Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Usually when I appear on the radio program Insight (weekday mornings at 9 on Capital Public Radio, KXJZ), the host starts with an apology. I know from hosting a radio show myself for the last 22 years that conversations can run a little long, so the people at the end of the show (where my stories inevitably were, after the crime or forest fire stories) get less time than they might have been promised.
This status of coming at the end of the broadcast is a family tradition. My dad, Davey Marlin-Jones, was the theatre and film critic for the CBS affiliate in Washington DC all through the 1970s and most of the 1980s. The movie reviews came last because the arts are almost always seen as the least newsworthy element of the day’s news. This meant that my dad had to heed the hand signals that he was getting from camera operators; one told him to chat amiably with the anchors after his review, while the other told him to talk faster because the broadcast had to conclude exactly on time so that locals could watch the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
Ironically, going last on Channel 9 enhanced my dad’s local star-power considerably. In an era when most people got their information about the world from TV news, and at a time when Walter Cronkite was the most trusted man in America (could you imagine a journalist having that designation today?), and at a time when people gathered to watch the news because they didn’t yet own VCRs, all the local news junkies knew my dad as that wacky guy on Channel 9 who reviewed the films. At Boston University I made friends with a guy named Paul who told me that he often tried to convince his parents that Davey Marlin-Jones must have owned the TV station, for why else would they let him do such nutty things on the air?
Because of my dad’s local celebrity, people would yell his name from passing Metrobusses on Wisconsin Avenue, he would get sat immediately in nice restaurants (I later learned that he would habitually tip the maître d’), and he’s get into conversations with Vice Presidents of the United States. Once my dad noticed a bunch of armed men in suits visiting our sandwich shop (at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Macomb Street), so he told my brother and me to get ready to duck under the table. Then Walter Mondale walked in, and ordered a sandwich. They had to dine outside because Eleanor Mondale wasn’t wearing shoes. As we were leaving not long thereafter, Mr. Mondale spotted my dad and waved him over for a conversation and for the shy children to meet each other. I got the sense that reported wild child Eleanor was not terribly interested in Oliver or me, but we still had to make small talk while our dads chatted about film and politics.
None of us could have imagined Twitter back then, but on this past Thursday I was the lead-off guest to talk about Elon Musk buying Twitter, and what it will mean for online micro-discourse. I invite you to listen to my lead-off appearance on the KXJZ’s Insight website. I enjoyed the conversation, losing my words only once, channeling my mom who has outlived my dad by a couple decades so far, and who now has trouble with conversation. As Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock says, “It is impossible to say just what I mean!” Many of us feel that way, whether we are chatting with vice presidents in sandwich shops or discussing Elon Musk’s attempt to take over what he calls “the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity will be debated.”
When it comes to the media, these are strange times and likely to become stranger, with a concentration of media ownership and influence in the hands of an ever shrinking number of men. Not only does Musk have more followers (almost 90 million) than Walter Cronkite had more viewers (almost 30 million), Musk will soon own the medium, just as my friend Paul thought about my dad and Channel 9 in Washington DC in the late 1970s. I look forward to commenting on these changes. Look for me at the end of the broadcast.
In addition to topic raised above, this week’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on the following topics: breakfast cereals, blizzards, hurricanes, detectives, Madison Square Garden, pool players, gladiators, habitable landmasses, plant materials, best pictures, Ireland exports, French terms, oily misinformation, delish words, mountain peaks, golden shovels, museum finds, uplifting spoonfuls, little puffs, Superbad resignations, recipients of calls, Roman gods, people born overseas, categories of delicacies, successful singers, music videos, current events, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to all the supporters on Patreon who make all this happen, especially the Outside Agitators, the Original Vincibles, and Quizimodo, who sustain this enterprise. Kudos to the players who pledge for their entire team! Let’s look forward to a time when we can all gather again to chat amiably over sandwiches.
Be well.
Dr. Andy
P.S. Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:
- Internet Culture. Increasing in popularity, is “BeReal” a new dating app, music platform, photo sharing social medium, or video game?
- Newspaper Headlines. The city of Tver is a “city of oblast significance.” In what country is it found: France, Israel, Russia, Turkey?
- The City of Dixon. According to the city of Dixon’s 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employer in the city has 470 employees. Name it.