Ten Questions for KQED's Michael Krasny; One on One with Bay Area 'Forum' Host

  Michael Krasny, a Cleveland native, holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin and hosts the daily, award winning Forum program on KQED-FM.  He is Professor of English at San Francisco State and also teaches at Stanford University.

So, Michael, what makes "Forum" tick? Besides you of course. Forum is a program dedicated to bringing a higher level of in depth discourse that is educational and illuminating, mind engaging, newsworthy, sometimes purely entertaining, almost always serving the public interest.  The essence of it is you won't know what the topic will be but you can rest assured it will be presented in a way that satisfies a wide and varying curiosity and never insults the listener's intelligence.

Your shows are very esoteric.
Occasional shows might be labeled esoteric -- like one we recently did on the great French essayist Montagine or another on string theory or the world changing poem by the Roman Lucretius.. But these are fascinating topics that the public appears hungry to understand in ways that do not go too far into the realm of the esoteric, which to me means neither too hard nor too vexing. The challenge is to make whatever topic is broached comprehensible, relevant, if possible exciting and fun and, most of all, interesting!

Robert Redford has called into the show. Impressive.
Robert Redford has called in a number of times because he appears to listen and sometimes gets prompted to call -- as he did most recently when David Brooks was on  or when I was discussing filmmaking obstacles in San Francisco with then Mayor Gavin Newsom.  I could be cute and say Redford has good taste in radio programs.  In fact I will compliment his taste because he gave me a wonderful blurb on my book Off Mike.   Joking aside -- he is a generous man and a concerned and activist citizen.



You've written many books over the years. Any authors that stick out in your mind? I have too many in all genres to name but I have especially been drawn, through the years, to Faulkner, Joyce, Yeats, Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, Harold Pinter, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth and Raymond Carver.   Many of the authors I like I also teach but I enjoy conversing with a wide range of authors of creative as well as expository works and I especially enjoyed the recent fiction of Jennifer Egan and Gary Shteyngart and the poetry of Kay Ryan as well as a discussion I had just today on the recent book by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman.

KQED-FM Radio is the top-rated station in the Bay Area. How's that?
Most popular station in the Bay Area -- unprecedented for a public radio station -- and the number one public radio station in the country.  Some of that is due to the good fortune of being in the Bay Area where listeners crave ontent and eschew so-called zoos and torrents of commercials you find on commercial stations.  We have also had strong leadership and now we have a terrific news operation.  We do not dumb down, resort to tabloidization or sensationalizing.  If the public wants serious news coverage and the excellence of NPR type programming they know where to turn and they do.


What's going on at KGO. Seems dire straits area--you worked there.
From what I can tell Cumulus appears to be clearing people out.  Are they cutting their debt and expenses?  I suppose.  But they are also cutting the veins and arteries of the station, its morale, its domination.  Not that management was anything to rave about when I was there.  Luckoff ruled by despotism and McConnell was a dope.  But Jack Swanson and Ken Berry and others who have been let go were, in my opinion, seasoned and talented professionals.

You like Ronn Owens?
I do like Ronn.  I suppose you could say we are rivals but we share a good deal of history and we have always managed to get along and maintain a friendship.

Who's going to win in 2012?
You can't really predict at this point in time because so much depends on the economy.  But I'm struck by how much anger there is against Obama from both ends of the political spectrum.  The left is disillusioned.  The right just seems to want him out at any cost.

Are the Republicans nuts or what?
The conservative wing of the G.O.P has been trying for A.B.R. -- anyone but Romney.  They tried with Bachman, Perry & Cain, to find someone right enough for them and tried enlisting (begging?) Christie to run for the same reason.  Whether it's Mormonism, inaugurating a form of so-called Obamacare in Massachusetts, or simply distrust,  they don't want to settle for Mitt.  But it looks ever likely that they will have to.  I think a lot of American independents, who will be key, wonder if Romney is worthy of their vote.  But can he beat Obama?  Unless something drastic and unforeseen happens on Obama's watch keep your eye on the economy and unemployment and you'll have your answer.

Mike, you are known fanatic of Jewish humor -Tell me a good joke.
(Laughs) What is this -- Make me laugh?  "Fanatic" is not the right word .  How about aficionado?  Here's a good Jewish joke that helped me place second in the annual San Francisco celebrity stand-up comedy contest.  Of course it must be told well and with a kind of Mel Brooks twist at the end.  A rabbi is trying to raise funds for a new temple.  One of two rich brothers dies.  Both brothers are terrible men.  The surviving brother tells the rabbi, "Say my brother was a mensch at his funeral tomorrow and I'll give a million dollars to the building fund."  The rabbi cannot sleep.  He is tormented.  He wants badly to build the new temple and the million would give him what he needs. But how can he call the deceased a mensch when he was such a dreadful man?  The next day the rabbi gets up at the funeral and  says:  "I must tell the truth.  You all know that this was a terrible man.  BUT COMPARED TO HIS BROTHER HE WAS A MENSCH." 

**Michael Krasny has received many awards for his broadcast work including The James Madison Freedom of Information Award; The Eugene Bloch Award for Human Rights Journalism; The National Media Award from The Association for the Advancement of Psychology;  The S.Y. Agnon Medal for Intellectual Distinction;  The National Lesbian and Gay Journalist's Association Excellence in Journalism Award; The John Swett Award from The California Teacher's Association; The Silver Medallion  from The California Bar Association; The Pass Award  from The National Council on Crime and Delinquency; The Media Award from the Northern California Public Health Association.

*Michael Krasny
*KQED-FM
*Forum
*SF State University
*Phillip Roth
*KGO
*PBS

**ADVERTISE ON THE BAY AREA'S MOST POPULAR MEDIA BLOG! 'RICH LIEBERMAN 415 MEDIA': Rich.Lieberman@Gmail.com

**TIPS/E-MAIL/INTER-OFFICE MEMOS: Rich.Lieberman@Gmail.com



**LOOK FOR MY UPCOMING APPEARANCES ON MSNBC!

**Follow me on Twitter