Governor Dannel P. Malloy and more than 150 public radio fans, show alumni and former guests packed into the Thomas Hooker Brewing Company in Bloomfield to help WNPR celebrate 5 years of the station’s morning talk show Where We Live last Thursday. “What we’re celebrating is the chance to have those kinds of conversations that commercial TV and commercial radio simply don’t allow to happen,” Malloy told the crowd. “The opportunity to take 55 minutes or a half-hour, and have a detailed conversation and hold people accountable for what they say, and what they do, and what they profess is something that we as a democracy can’t afford to lose,” Malloy said.
“The last governor wouldn’t even come on our show,” said John Dankosky, long-time News Director of WNPR, and host of Where We Live. “This one comes to our party – at a brewery!”
Also at the party were Attorney General George Jepsen, Comptroller Kevin Lembo, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, WNPR afternoon host Colin McEnroe, and Frank Tavares, the SCSU professor and national “voice” of NPR.
The first Where We Live aired in June of 2006, but as Dankosky told the crowd, the September party marked five years since he began working with Senior Producer Catie Talarski – “the mastermind” of the show. The pair welcomed founding producer Diane Orson (now WNPR’s Senior Editor) and current Producer Tucker Ives, and welcomed back former staffers like Libby Franklin, now producing the news talk show on St. Louis’ KWMU. Also on hand were former guest hosts Anna Sale (now a national political reporter for WNYC in New York) and Av Harris (now working communications for Secretary Merrill).
Harris grabbed a guitar and jammed with Hartford band String Theorie, and the show honored former gubernatorial nominee Bill Curry as their “most frequent guest.” Other guests included Peter Good and Jan Cummings, the graphics team behind the iconic Whalers logo, and the new logo for Where We Live.
Where We Live began when the station replaced classical music with an all-news format. It has since conducted more than 1000 conversations with newsmakers, politicians, researchers and engaged listeners. The show has twice been honored nationally as “Best Call-in Show” in public radio by Public Radio News Directors, Inc.
