What I learned working for a Christian college radio station #1: speaking into a microphone in an empty room

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I worked at WETN 88.1 FM, Wheaton College’s radio station, for all four years as an undergraduate and for several years later as a faculty member. This is the start to a non-consecutive series of posts regarding the valuable lessons I learned while doing this. #1:

You are alone in a radio studio. You sit down in front of the mixing board and computer display. Various audio equipment surrounds you. You put on headphones, press a button to turn on the microphone, push the fader up, and start speaking.

This is a common occurrence in a radio studio but it is an odd situation compared to most of life. Typically when you start talking there is a visible audience. You are talking to a friend or a family member or to a coworker. They can see you and you can see them.

One of the first things I learned as a first-year student in college at the college radio station was to talk into a microphone with an audience in mind but no one in front of you. No immediate reactions from people or a visible audience. You can hear yourself in your headphones but that is about it. You just have to keep going until your segment is over.

What does one say in such a situation? Can you carry on a conversation with yourself? Can you imagine who might be listening? It took time to feel comfortable doing this, to have a sense of what you could feel comfortable saying and how long it might take. Even if many people have experiences talking to themselves in their heads or out loud, it is a different experience doing it into a microphone for public consumption.

And it is a skill that I think has served me well. In comparison, such an experience makes talking in front of people look more attractive. They react. They are not imaginary. You get quick feedback regarding how what you are saying is landing. There might be opportunities for dialogue. If you can keep a conversation going with yourself, having material to work with in conversation often provides better opportunities.

I do not know how many hours I ended up talking by myself into a microphone. I did spend a lot of solo time in a basement on-air studio or recording for on-air and creating ads and promos in a recording studio. The on-air studio had a few methods for interacting with the outside world – a phone line that could also be placed on-air, the computer (AOL Instant Messenger and email in my early days), and the campus “Blanchard Cam” that showed outside conditions in front of our main building. A lot of time to figure out how to be comfortable with that microphone.

I also had enjoyable radio experiences with conversation partners. I co-hosted a talk show one academic year and we regularly invited guests for conversation. I read news on our morning show and had more off-the-cuff interactions with multiple hosts. I did play-by-play of football and soccer games with partners. Radio was not only a solitary experience but learning to talk alone was critical to the experience and for other areas of life.

Religion and a California suburb that is a “blue zone”

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Loma Linda, California was designated as a “blue zone,” a place where people tend to live longer. This designation is connected to the religious history of some of the residents:

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In 2008, Loma Linda rocketed to the national stage when it was dubbed a “Blue Zone,” the term coined by author Dan Buettner to describe a place where people not only live longer but also live healthier lives. Nearly 20 years later, the California town of around 25,000 people still stands out rather oddly in its peer group, which includes beautiful international destinations like Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; and Ikaria, Greece. All of them are set against mountains or sea, with residents who live a more traditional lifestyle…

The Blue Zone designation actually makes him a bit nervous, he said, and he doesn’t tout it often, since the data that the designation was based on is now rather old and was based solely on the Seventh-day Adventist part of the community. He said it’s been brought up among city officials as a way to promote the city, but members are often divided. 

Even Dr. Gary Fraser, whose research was the base for much of the Blue Zone status designation, told SFGATE that “the Loma Linda experience is totally irrelevant.” The research done was important, and the designation is significant, he said, but the overall study of longer living is more complicated and technical than it’s often presented, and it has more to do with Adventists than Loma Linda.

He said that when he began his research more than 40 years ago, it was helpful to be able to study Adventists because it helped level the playing field. Since most don’t smoke or drink and participate in similar, healthier lifestyle activities, researchers could analyze their diets more effectively and understand how that affected longevity. Fraser said, if anything, it points to the importance of studying how people eat, something he’s continuing to do today.

Another possible way to frame this story: American suburbs are often assumed to be similar. They are based around single-family homes, driving, and a particular lifestyle.

But leaders and residents within a community can often describe what makes their suburb different from other suburbs. We have this particular trait. There is this historical event that shapes who we are today. We are different from neighboring suburbs because of this.

The particular difference here is having a designation as a “blue zone.” And this seems related to a particular religious group in the community, Seventh-day Adventists. There is a Seventh-day Adventist university in the community that describes itself as having an emphasis on “health, science, and faith.” Not every suburb would have a concentration of this particular group that is a smaller conservative Protestant denomination.

So what helps distinguish Loma Linda from other suburbs near Riverside and Los Angeles? A concentration of particular Christians that is linked to longer life expectancy.

Which American communities will give up local services in order to not have any property taxes?

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As multiple states consider having no property taxes, what happens to the local services that property taxes fund? This could include local schools and local services. Many communities value their local services, whether the residents themselves make use of them and/or because they help contribute to local property values.

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So if there is less funding for local services (this assumes county or state funds might not make up the loss of property tax revenues), which ones would people be willing to forgo? Some possibilities:

-Local schools. Lots of complaints about how much schools cost, particularly labor costs. And people who do not have kids in the schools might want to pay less for schools. (Counterargument: the quality of schools helps boost the status of communities and is related to property values.)

-Local police/fire. Do we need this much local coverage?

-The number of local government employees/functions. Are they all needed?

-Thinking about these last two: why not consolidate police or roads or other local services with other communities or within an entire county? (Counterargument: individual communities then have less say over how much the local services interact with their residents.)

I suspect that places that eliminate property taxes may then have some interesting discussions about how to make sure the services that property taxes helped fund continue. How many residents will actually accept a decrease in local services and amenities?

Carving a full balsa wood model of New York City

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One man made a full model of New York City:

Three quick thoughts:

  1. Cities can fascinate people. The scale, all the activity, the density of people. This is one way to express this fascination.
  2. I appreciate the ability to see the city from above. There is something about this perspective that helps take in the whole city at once. Maps offer some of this but do not have the 3D angle or this size. Observing this model would provide a very different experience compared to being a pedestrian at street level.
  3. Does this fit into the professionalization or side hustle of hobbies? It is one thing to enjoy carving wood; it is another to keep going to create this size of a product that can be in a museum.

Arguing that American homes should be more like cruise ship staterooms

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What if American housing was more like staterooms on cruise ships rather than large single-family homes?

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My family went on a cruise last year over Christmas, and our week aboard the ship convinced me that we’ve got our ideals around home all wrong. The ideal American house shouldn’t be a single-family home with a big yard out in the suburbs. It should be a stateroom on a cruise ship.

Staterooms on cruise ships are famously compact and likely smaller than the bedroom you’ve left behind. But here’s what you get instead: a top deck with multiple pools, hot tubs, and a splash pad, layered atop a mall food court, stacked on top of entertainment venues ranging from a piano bar and a pub with live music to a comedy club and theaters with multiple performances a night. If you want to relax, you can grab a seat by the pool or hot tub. If you want activity, there’s a track, a gym, rock-climbing walls, and a basketball court that transforms into a bumper-car track a couple of hours a day. If you’re hungry, or if a small person is pestering you for a snack, there’s pizza, tacos, soft serve, and just about anything else you might want available nearly all day long. Whatever you and your family enjoy in a vacation, chances are you can find it on board.

Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis class of ships labels its different zones “neighborhoods,” as if to invoke the longing so many of us have for distinct, walkable communities. The “Central Park” neighborhood, for example, really does provide a kind of uncanny valley version of an urban street scene, where you and your spouse can sit outside at a wine bar while your kids wander freely. The “Boardwalk” neighborhood calls up nostalgic memories of festivals and ocean-front piers…

And that’s the lesson of a cruise, I think: A dream home doesn’t need a spacious primary bath or walk-in pantry. What matters even more than a grand entryway or a two-car garage is space and time to gather with people we love, and people we haven’t met yet.

This argument would resonate with those who like denser, walkable neighborhoods and communities. Residents can still have private settings they find comfortable but they have easy access to social and entertainment options.

But I wonder how many people would find this model attractive when single-family homes are an option many like. Is a stateroom big enough for household members to have their own space? It may not need to be a lot of private space but I also recall the conversations during COVID when all the people stuck at home tried to carve out spaces in their residences. Where would households store all their stuff? Does that stateroom come with a garage, basement, or storage facility? Some may not like shared walls or the homeowner’s association that comes with the stateroom or the parking issues they fear in denser settings. This may all work for a vacation when people have a short-term commitment but how many American residents would adopt this for years.

I wonder if there is a developer who would simply plop a cruise ship model into an existing American community. This version might not be able to sail for interesting locales but the idea of having many options nearby for a price would appeal to some. Imagine the Royal Caribbean development in a suburb.

Trying to count the social patterns that have not happened yet, AI job takeover edition

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It is hard to know how many jobs AI might eliminate when we cannot yet count many jobs eliminated:

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Measurement doesn’t abolish injustice; it rarely even settles arguments. But the act of counting—of trying to see clearly, of committing the government to a shared set of facts—signals an intention to be fair, or at least to be caught trying. Over time, that intention matters. It’s one way a republic earns the right to be believed in.

The BLS remains a small miracle of civilization. It sends out detailed surveys to about 60,000 households and 120,000 businesses and government agencies every month, supplemented by qualitative research it uses to check and occasionally correct its findings. It deserves at least some credit for the scoreboard. America: 250 years without violent class warfare. And you have to appreciate the entertainment value of its minutiae. The BLS is how we know that, in 2024, 44,119 people worked in mobile food services (a.k.a. food trucks), up 907 percent since 2000; that nonveterinary pet care (grooming, training) employed 190,984 people, up 513 percent; and that the United States had almost 100,000 massage therapists, with five times the national concentration in Napa, California.

These and thousands of other BLS statistics describe a society that has grown more prosperous, and a workforce endlessly adaptive to change. But like all statistical bodies, the BLS has its limits. It’s excellent at revealing what has happened and only moderately useful at telling us what’s about to. The data can’t foresee recessions or pandemics—or the arrival of a technology that might do to the workforce what an asteroid did to the dinosaurs…

This was the point Goolsbee wanted to emphasize: Economists are constrained by numbers. And numerically speaking, nothing indicates that AI has had an impact on people’s jobs. “It’s just too early,” he said.

A lack of certainty should not be mistaken for a lack of concern.

This sounds like a classic issue facing those concerned about particular social problems: can the numbers help you build a case that this issue is important and worthy of the attention of others? With all the possible social problems that need attention, having clear data regarding the problem can help make the case to the public and leaders. But, if this is largely speculation regarding AI, how many will act based on that?

Another important factor regarding counting: it is a key way of trying to make sense of a large and complex society. When you have a country with over 330 million residents, 50 states, and numerous important social patterns occurring, having data to look at can help make sense of what is happening on the broad scale. Anecdotes offer little on a large scale; case studies might provide some insight. Having statistics on a society-wide scale is necessary.

A third way to think about this: those who could generate numerical predictions or have small sectors that could provide early data on this could be helpful for others.

More Chicago suburbs now have majority-minority populations

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Analysis from WBEZ shows more Chicago suburbs have a majority of nonwhite residents:

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Skokie is one of more than thirty Chicago-area suburbs that have shifted from majority-white communities to majority non-white ones in the past two decades, according to a WBEZ analysis of demographic data for nearly 300 suburbs in Cook County and the five collar counties from 2005 to 2024…

Between 2015 and 2024, 18 suburbs flipped from majority-white to majority non-white, up from 12 during the prior 10-year period spanning 2005 through 2014.

Many suburbs today are no longer the white, middle-class enclaves of the mid-20th century, said Willow Lung, an associate professor of urban studies and planning and director of the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network at the University of Maryland…

Overall, an increase of more than 600,000 nonwhite suburban residents over the last two decades completely offset the region’s loss of white suburban residents.

This is part of a nationwide trend where suburbs are increasingly diverse by race, ethnicity, and social class.

At the same time, the final paragraph cited above hints at another change; white suburbanites in the Chicago region leaving for elsewhere. What happens then in these suburbs as populations change? The article describes broad patterns but there are likely also interesting stories of what communities have become as their residents change. This could affect how a community sees itself, amid other possible reactions.

Will these patterns continue in the coming years in the Chicago region with more suburbs becoming majority non-white? And will white residents continue to leave for other suburbs or move out of the region all together? If both continue, how long until the image of “white, middle-class enclaves” of suburbia is no longer common?

Where Americans might migrate to if they could afford their “ideal” city or state

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Imagine cost was not a concern and Americans could move to their ideal locations:

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The cost crisis isn’t just making people broke. It’s making them homeless in a different sense, forcing them to abandon places that used to feel like theirs.

More than a third of respondents have already moved because where they were living became too expensive. About a third of those relocated to a different city, while another third left their state entirely, searching for someplace they could actually afford. Half of Gen Z respondents reported moving due to costs, compared to just 19% of baby boomers.

What’s worse is how many Americans have stopped dreaming. About half of all respondents don’t believe they’ll ever be able to afford living in their “ideal” city or state. Among Gen Z, nearly two-thirds have abandoned hope of affording their ideal city. That’s not just about housing markets or inflation. That’s about an entire generation learning to aim lower because aiming higher feels pointless.

The geography of affordability matches expectations. Coastal states and mountain resort areas rank as largely out of reach, with Hawaii, Alaska, and Colorado at the bottom. California, New York, and Illinois aren’t far behind. Meanwhile, Southern and Midwestern states dominate the affordable rankings, with Mississippi, Alabama, and Oklahoma at the top.

Would everyone chase warm weather? Meaningful work opportunities? Centers of entertainment and leisure?

We could chalk up the mismatch between where people live and where they want to live to their choices. Can’t anyone move anywhere in the United States? Can’t people pursue certain careers and/or education that leads to opportunities? Perhaps it is a matter of preferences: some people want to live in rural areas and others want to live in big cities?

Of course, we do not have a system where costs do not matter. Housing is the largest budget item for many households. Finding a quality place to live is often expensive. If lots of people want to live in the same places, this drives housing costs higher unless adding more units to the local supply helps offset the demand. If millions of more people want to live in the largest metropolitan regions, what would it take to make it possible? Would it be desirable if more people gathered in the already populous places?

These are questions to consider as people and places struggle with housing prices. Not being able to live where people want to live could have all sorts of downstream effects.

The difficulty of measuring the U.S.’s housing needs

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How many housing units are needed in the United States? Different sources disagree and they measure the issue in different ways:

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The disparate projections reflect the challenge of quantifying the nation’s housing needs, a puzzle that rests on assumptions about how much a home should cost, how many people it should hold, and how big a footprint it should have…

The U.S. has 146 million homes, Census Bureau data show. Of those, 8.1 million are “doubled up” households, meaning people are sharing space with non-relatives. Zillow’s housing estimate assumes most of those people would prefer having their own place. There also are 3.4 million vacant homes available to rent or buy, the real estate website says. So Zillow economists subtracted the number of available homes from the number of doubled-up households and concluded that the nation needs 4.7 million more homes…

Several analyses zeroed in on two questions: How many homes should be vacant, and how many consumers have delayed striking out on their own because of the cost…

For many economists, that suggests the equation should be: the number of existing households, plus the number of homes that should be vacant, plus the number of households that would naturally come into being if there was enough inventory to lower prices.

This matters for multiple reasons. First, it is helpful to have more accurate estimates. This can help policies intended to help. These are methodological questions; how do we measure what is happening on the ground? Projections that are too high or too low could lead to not addressing the issue or actions that do not have the intended consequences.

Second, the number of units needed matters because it is part of the public discourse about housing. The article describes estimates ranging from 0 units needed to 8-20 million units are needed. When discussing social problems in public discussions, these numbers can influence a sense of urgency. If people hear there are 5 million units needed, are they more likely to act compared to hearing 1 million units are needed?

Third, the numbers are part of a national discussion. Housing needs can vary quite a bit place to place. Housing is often a very local issue. These numbers are about what could be done on a national level which then has affects on local efforts.

These different measurement strategies and results could end up make it harder to reach consensus on what should be done.

I like a city’s map as part of the basketball floor

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NBA teams in recent years have come up with some unique basketball floor designs. Here is what I saw last night when watching the Chicago Bulls play the Milwaukee Bucks in Milwaukee:

The area inside the three-point line and outside the lane is a map of Milwaukee streets. I do not know the city well enough to immediately know what part of Milwaukee displayed. But, I might be be able to figure it out with a little time. A Midwest grid is visible with some slight variations.

What if every NBA team put a map on their floor? Some of the might be more recognizable than others. Perhaps the maps could be bigger; imagine the map being outside the three-point lines and spanning most of the court. Or the map could emphasize a particular neighborhood or city feature.

I generally like seeing maps. I want to figure out what they are showing and consider what we can learn it. This map might be more of a decorative element than anything else but I am in favor to adding more maps to sports settings.