Host intro:
Starting Monday … WNIN-FM will be airing ‘The Think Show,’ the flagship mid-day talk show out of K-E-R-A … Dallas Texas from 10 A-M to 11. WNIN’s Tim Jagielo spoke with host and managing editor Krys Boyd about her thought-provoking talk show.
Timothy Jagielo
We're on the line with Krys Boyd, host of Think of KERA out of Dallas, Texas. Krys Boyd, thank you so much for joining us.
Krys Boyd
Thank you, Tim, it's nice to be here
TJ
You will be a brand new voice to tri-state listeners— so southern Indiana, northwestern Kentucky, southern Illinois, starting next week. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your show, and maybe how it's unique?
KB
Sure. My name is Krys Boyd, and I am the host and managing editor of the Think show, and we are really a show about ideas. So we conduct our interviews from a journalistic perspective. But we are trying to get beneath the headlines and go deeper into the subjects that affect us all.
So we talk a lot about science and about history and about ethics. And we talk about current events, by taking two steps back from what's happening today and trying to figure out how we got to here.
The nice thing about the show is that it's a full hour, one on one with a guest and it allows us to talk about very complicated things that are in the news and in our world that are very important, and often require more time than you can get into a story that just runs a couple of minutes.
TJ
How do you prepare for those interviews?
KB
A lot of reading; most of my work time is actually preparation for the show — it is reading things that the guests and other people have written about the subject. We're talking about writing introductions for the show. And I also prepare some questions in advance, although that's just a guideline, rather than a direct script that I work from. The hour that you hear is sort of the tip of the iceberg. And under that it is a lot of work getting ready.
TJ
Do you have a favorite guest that you've spoke with or conversation that kind of stands out to you as a great example of what you want to accomplish with your show?
KB
I'm going to answer this the way every mother would, which is that I don't have one specific favorite. The truth is I have new favorites every single week because so many times what we strive for on the show is to get a new perspective on a subject that we think we already understand completely.
And so when someone comes along with a fresh idea about something, I get really excited. Just today in fact, we prepared an interview, recorded an interview with a woman who wrote about the history of refrigeration, which seems like the world's most boring topic, but it's fascinating — refrigeration helped to change the shape of cities, it has changed the way we eat, it may have even changed our gut microbes. It is a fascinating subject, and yet one that we hadn't thought to be excited about before or very appreciative of. And so this week, that is my favorite.
TJ
You know, everybody uses refrigerators, of course, if we're lucky. And to that point, I've mentioned where we're located, we're located kind of at one intersection of the Midwest in the South. How might your show appeal to listeners of both of those worlds and communities?
KB
I'll tell you, we are really proud that this show comes out of Texas, and not because of that braggadocious, Texas spirit that we're known for, but because we know there are smart people in the middle of the country, we know that the interesting ideas that are happening and the interesting things that are happening, don't just happen on the east and west coast, they don't just happen in the nation's capital.
There are people who are hungry for ideas and information all across this country and have interesting perspectives. And I think that you know, the fact that we are also located in the middle of the country. You may not think of Texas that way. But many people here do. I think I think it's a it's a view of life in the United States and around the world that is shared by many millions of people in the parts of the country that in some places are called flyover country. I just don't believe that's true.
TJ
And this is not to talk about (another show) but this is why I love the show The Middle because it's highlighting the way people fall in the middle of the country, not a coastal perspective.
KB
100-Percent, yeah.
TJ
Another thing we're learning is that like a lot of media, the audience for NPR might be aging in some areas. How can a show like Think, maybe be ‘future proof’ in a way, and appeal to a variety of ages?
KB
We have a young, partially young staff and I think that's really important. You know, we have a producer who's only 25 on the show, and his perspective and the things he reads and the media he consumes is very different from mine.
I'm Gen X, and because we're really interested in new ideas, I think that draws us to topics that are of interest to people who are younger, who are maybe just starting to figure out what they want their news and information sources to be.
It's also helped for that, we have a podcast that goes along with the Think show. So if you miss an episode, you can check out the podcast, I think that's very appealing to younger audiences, so that people can maybe discover the show in one place, but find it in another.
And I also think that our orientation with with a female host is sort of a young concept, you know, 30 years ago, most of the people that you would hear in positions like mine, were men.
TJ
Have you had guests that you were going to be talking to where you thought to yourself, ‘okay, so Gen Z is going to love this person?’
KB
All the time, and I actually my kids are Gen Z. So I have a sounding board close at hand. We have talked about things. We're planning future shows about how dating apps have changed, and how they work for young people.
We've talked about how Gen Z and millennials are having fewer children than earlier generations and what that might mean, we've talked about the ways that education, economics works for younger audiences, I think that's really relevant.
We get into pop culture here and there. And I think that's always a lot of fun. You know, what I'm not trying to do is pretend that I am, you know, a Gen Z host, I want to sort of bring my curiosity about people who are at this point in their lives to the show itself.
TJ
I always try to ask, like a future question. So I guess, how might you like to see radio programming or NPR programming, evolve, or maybe even improve, as we go forward?
KB
I think the most important thing is always to keep the audience at the center of whatever it is we do. You know, everybody, every journalist, every host, every producer is going to have particular things that they are interested in as a person, and I think you can bring that sensibility to the programming.
But what matters the most is the people who will be using this programming and what is useful to them, and that means listening, when people really like something and also listening, when you hear from the audience that something really didn't work for them, and responding accordingly.
Of course, if you are having conversations that are challenging and interesting, and focused on truth, there are going to be times when you know, your guests will say something that not everyone in the audience likes. But we recognize that our audience is remarkably open to listening to things that may not match their worldview. But we'll help them expand how they understand the world.
TJ
We're heading into another election season. And as we all know, it's going to be a repeat of 2020. Why is that perspective important to listen to those views that you may not agree with?
KB
Oh, boy, it's important for us to understand each other because it helps us to recognize that we can come to different conclusions about the way the world works without seeing one another as enemies. We still I think have a lot that can be shared in an American identity.
I think if we listen with empathy to how other people came to believe very passionately, what they do believe, we don't have to agree with everything they say, but suddenly we can see them as a thinking human rather than a person who is trying to 'destroy the country' just to spite us. And I think it's really helpful to have conversations that leave open the possibility that, you know, we're all still looking for answers that we haven't necessarily settled on precisely the right way to address all of our challenges and problems.
And I think if we listen to other perspectives, and stay open to the possibility of changing our minds, we have a better shot at making this country a place that works for everyone.
TJ
Is there anything else you'd like to add about your show that maybe our listeners might want to know?
KB
I think, ‘Think’ is a show for people who always have more questions after they listen to a really well-reported news story that you may provide, after they read something that they find interesting after they hear something on the street. We are really a show that is more about raising interesting questions and thinking about things in challenging ways than we are about providing all the answers.
I think there's a hunger for that. And I think because of the way media works now, many of us only get a couple of minutes worth of information at a time. And lots of people, I think want more and I think our audiences owed more we we owe it to folks to sometimes take a step back and give a topic as much time as it needs in order to be fully explored.
TJ
Thank you so much for your time. Again, that was Krys Boyd. Host of Think out of KERA in Dallas Texas. Again thank you so much for your time I really appreciate it and I'm really excited to hear your show.
KB
Thank you Tim I appreciate it