theme music From PRX and Transom, this is Sound School. I’m Rob Rosenthal. Back in the early 1980s, the staff at NPR was freaked out and not sure what to do. But, something needed to be done because the network was bleeding money. Steven Oney reported about NPR’s financial crisis in his new book called “ON AIR” It’s a very comprehensive and compelling history of NPR. Oney says that in 1983, the network had only $20,000 in the bank and was seriously in debt. To the tune of $9.1 million dollars. It was major crisis brought about by bad financial management. They way Oney puts it: It was do or die. Public radio old timers have told me stories about this period at NPR. They say it’s seminal to understanding why NPR sounds like it does today. And, there’s one story in particular that I’ve heard a few times. One that is NOT in Oney’s book. In fact, I can’t confirm the story so maybe more it’s more of a tale than a story. But, it involves one of the trippiest radio documentaries I’ve ever heard and a reporter, apparently, uttering the words “no more trips to the dentist.” Music In the 1970s, the early years of NPR, there was a tussle over the sound of the network. Specifically, should “All Things Considered,” NPR’s flagship news program, focus on news and investigative reporting? Or, should there be a mix of news and stories that were more – well, let’s just call them “experimental.” You know, artsy features that would play with the form. This debate went on for years as NPR tried to get a grip on what it was, who it served, and what it would sound like. And it had spent over a decade trying to figure out what it was, who it served, and what it would sound like. Larry – They had just started up and they didn’t know what they were doing. It was kind of an open door. When a studio wasn’t doing anything, the engineers were happy to let you do stuff. You could do anything you want. Do anything you want and it just might make it to air. Including Larry Massett’s first long-form radio story. One that ran just over 15 minutes. A freaky piece called “A Trip to the Dentist.” LARRY – Well, I really had to go to the dentist, you know, and I wanted to do radio at the same time. Simple as that. Larry said that so matter-of-factly. As though, well of course I did. And of course, NPR would air what I made. My, how things have changed. By the early 1980s, NPR had become a force in journalism. And an original voice on radio. Nobody was doing what NPR did on the radio. One way they accomplished that was to launch a second daily news program: Morning Edition. The two programs – Morning Edition and All Things Considered – were very popular. NPR’s in-depth reporting was highly regarded. After a decade of struggles, the network was on a roll. It stood strong. Larry - You know, they were beginning to feel that they were important, that they were an important figure in journalism. You know, it was D.C. and they were hanging out with the guys from the Washington Post and the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, I mean that’s where they were kind of putting themselves, right? Then came the do or die moment. And that debate over the sound of NPR came to a boil. Larry - They finally began to think “Well, ‘All Things Considered’ is a journalism show and there are certain rules about journalism, one of them being you have to be able to tell what’s real and what’s not real on the tape” which was not always the case in the stuff that I was doing…. But, you know the word was coming down that this was not quite the kind-of piece that we should be doing I think is what they thought. Music The people who have told me about this moment, including Larry, said that Robert Siegel in particular held the perspective that NPR should focus primarily on news. Siegel was a reporter for NPR at the time. And according to legend Siegel summed up his position this way “No more trips to the dentist!” I wrote to Robert Siegel in 2011 asking him about this. He told me he didn’t remember saying that. So, I don’t know if he actually said that. Or if someone else said it. And even if no one said it, it’s a strange but excellent encapsulation of what happened to the sound of NPR as it tried to dig out of its financial predicament. At this pivotal moment, the network made a choice. “No more trips to the dentist.” And that’s why today, when you listen to NPR you hear excellent journalism delivered with a fairly predictable sound – day after day. Larry’s feature is now legendary in some public radio circles. Partly because of this tale that’s associated with the piece. And, because it represents a bygone era in public radio. I featured “A Trip to the Dentist” on Sound School back in 2012. I’m bringing it back today because Larry Massett passed away in April. I can think of no better way to honor his work. Or, maybe I should say his art. Art from the margins, as Jay Allison put it recently. Get your ears ready. Here’s “A Trip to the Dentist.” The piece - “A Trip to the Dentist” “A Trip to the Dentist.” Produced by Larry Massett in 1977. Larry told me he produced the piece with three reel-to-reel tape machines. No ProTools or Hindenburg. Just razor blades and China markers coupled with a good sense for composition. Larry - Some of those mixes got fairly complicated and... Are probably not quite right, you know, technically we were really pushing what the studio could do. But we did it and …apparently I have a knack for it, you know. (laughs) It was a lot of fun. I never met Larry in person, I’m sorry to say. But, his work has inspired me. It’s a touchstone. And, I’m not alone. By far. You can hear from a handful of people he inspired at Transom dot org. Barret Golding – one of Larry’s long-time colleagues - assembled a requiem for Larry. It features many examples of Larry’s work plus missives from Jay Allison, Erica Heilman, Scott Carrier, Katie Davis, Robin Wise, Keith Talbot, and Susan Stamberg who put it this way: “Larry never tried on the NPR girdle.” Theme music. On the last episode of Sound School, I dropped the first of two episodes called “Writing Makes All the Difference.” I anticipated dropping the second one into the feed today. But, because of the news about Larry, I postponed it. The second episode of “Writing Makes All the Difference” will drop next time. This is Sound School. The backstory to great audio storytelling. From PRX and Transom. My thanks to Genevieve Sponsler, Jay Allison, Jennifer Jerrett, and WCAI. Music on this episode from my friends at Stellwagen Symphonette. I am Rob Rosenthal coming to you from Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The radio center of the universe. Thank you for listening. ##