renatasnacks's review against another edition
3.0
I love Sarah Vowell's essays, but I held off on reading this based on lukewarm Amazon reviews. And now, here I am, about to put out my own lukewarm review. This book had some great moments, and it was an interesting time capsule of 1995. I especially loved reading tidbits about the history of This American Life. But, well, it reads like a diary, not like an essay collection--there's something appealing about the unpolished vibe, but mostly I'd take Partly-Cloudy Patriot over this any day. Still, worth a read if you like Vowell's other stuff, or if you like radio, or, whatever.
finesilkflower's review against another edition
3.0
This is Sarah Vowell's first book, before she discovered her thing of narrating history like a story. It's actually in the mold of that "I did a thing for a year and wrote about it" type book that is so popular now. For one year, 1995, Sarah (radio being an intimate medium, I feel like I know her and will therefore refer to her by her given name) listened to the radio each day. She also did some reporting, visiting radio stations, including sitting in on production of WBEZ's "The Wild Room" and "This American Life" (in its first season!), and her own former college radio station. The book is a diary of her impressions and mini-essays on the medium of radio and the type of content found there, including music (oh, the 90s: grunge, rock, oldies. Jerry Garcia dies this year, but the major ghost is Kurt Cobain, who'd died the previous year, and who Sarah loved); news (Clinton, Oklahoma bombing, Michael Jordan); pundits (man, Rush Limbaugh has been around forever); public radio (at a turning point and just beginning to introduce new voices to its staid Morning Edition/Garrison Keillor lineup).
This book is graded on a curve. It's Sarah Vowell! She's young here, 25 or so, but fully herself in all her different sides--the serious but goofy academic, the cool but nerdy music lover, the cynical but hopeful liberal patriot. But the book is hard to get through. It can be dense and meandering, lacks an arc, and the topicality, though interesting (1995 is an interesting year), also makes it quite dated. I admit I didn't read every word. After about the first half, I ended up skimming for the parts about Ira Glass.
There are interesting tidbits here for the This American Life superfan. (Me.) I think it documents Sarah and Ira's first meeting--she sits on on his pre-TAL show, The Wild Room, and then Ira and Anahed drive her home and they listen to Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner," from which she gets the title of her book, "Radio on!" So cute. Later, Sarah observes as Ira, Nancy, and Alix rush to cut together an episode (#4, "Vacations") with five minutes to spare before the to-air deadline. Sarah is a reporter/fan here, but she must have gotten her job at TAL, with her affectionate and admiring title "Consigliere Sarah Vowell", shortly after this book was written.
This book is graded on a curve. It's Sarah Vowell! She's young here, 25 or so, but fully herself in all her different sides--the serious but goofy academic, the cool but nerdy music lover, the cynical but hopeful liberal patriot. But the book is hard to get through. It can be dense and meandering, lacks an arc, and the topicality, though interesting (1995 is an interesting year), also makes it quite dated. I admit I didn't read every word. After about the first half, I ended up skimming for the parts about Ira Glass.
There are interesting tidbits here for the This American Life superfan. (Me.) I think it documents Sarah and Ira's first meeting--she sits on on his pre-TAL show, The Wild Room, and then Ira and Anahed drive her home and they listen to Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner," from which she gets the title of her book, "Radio on!" So cute. Later, Sarah observes as Ira, Nancy, and Alix rush to cut together an episode (#4, "Vacations") with five minutes to spare before the to-air deadline. Sarah is a reporter/fan here, but she must have gotten her job at TAL, with her affectionate and admiring title "Consigliere Sarah Vowell", shortly after this book was written.
jwmcoaching's review against another edition
3.0
The least enjoyable of Vowell's works, I still liked what is essentially a year-long diary of listening to the radio at random times almost everyday. The diary was done nearly 15 years ago, so it's interesting to recall the things that she writes about -- the recent death of Kurt Cobain, the rise of the Republican Congress, Rush Limbaugh, the Clinton Administration. It was also nice to discover new music that I'd never heard before and to hear about the early years of Ira Glass and David Sedaris on NPR.
heathrayhay's review against another edition
3.0
I'm in this habit of purchasing books by Sarah Vowell in hopes that I will be wowed enough to keep them around on my bookshelf. With this in mind I have purchased two of her books and, after reading them in the span of a few hours or a few days, turned around and sold them right back to a second-hand bookstore.
"Radio On" was a decent read. It kept me occupied on the bus rides home. Vowell's ascerbic criticism of NPR radio personalities echoed similar conversations I have with myself when listening to the radio. I never knew those kinds of random rambling could make it into print. As a concept, diligently followed everyday for an entire year, it is impressive in its inspection of a something most of think of as background noise. Her chapter on Michael Heizer's "Double Negative" was, by far (and possibly my only), favorite Sarah Vowell excerpt. The image of Sarah and her friend tossing a frisbee across the void made my day. Oh, if she could just put together a volume of sneering at obnoxious male artist personalities I just might retain that on my bookshelf.
"Radio On" was a decent read. It kept me occupied on the bus rides home. Vowell's ascerbic criticism of NPR radio personalities echoed similar conversations I have with myself when listening to the radio. I never knew those kinds of random rambling could make it into print. As a concept, diligently followed everyday for an entire year, it is impressive in its inspection of a something most of think of as background noise. Her chapter on Michael Heizer's "Double Negative" was, by far (and possibly my only), favorite Sarah Vowell excerpt. The image of Sarah and her friend tossing a frisbee across the void made my day. Oh, if she could just put together a volume of sneering at obnoxious male artist personalities I just might retain that on my bookshelf.
helloooonurse's review against another edition
3.0
I've been a fan of Vowell's for ages, but I started with "Assassination Vacation" and haven't gotten to all that came before yet. In this book, Vowell hasn't quite developed the style that made her later work crackle for me, but she's still quite engaging and has no end of interesting things to say.
heyhawk's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.danscanon.com/2020/03/radio-on-by-sarah-vowell.html
rudy3o0ok's review against another edition
2.0
There wasn't much substance to things on the radio in 1995/96. Who'd have thought!?
mfreitas's review against another edition
3.0
Vowell's first work records a year of her life as a radio listener. A strong debut, but Vowell truly shines in later works, which allow her to indulge her passion for U.S. history.
cuocuo's review against another edition
3.0
I often quote the "What's your excuse, Rush [Limbaugh]?" bit from this book.
alauraborealis's review
3.0
So I picked up this book in an attempt to get pumped up for producing this radio show this month... and because Sarah Vowell's segments on This American Life are almost always my favorites. This book hit on a couple interesting notes but never followed the train of one thought long enough to see where it was going, or better yet, how it changed over the course of a year and was influenced by the project. I'm not sure what a non-radio dork would get out of it. I found the diary format refreshingly simple, if a little gimmicky, but again was frustrated that there seemed to be no real growth in understanding the medium over the duration of the book.