Behind the tow truck driver who arrives to haul off a listener’s donation in support of her local public radio station, lies a diehard public radio staff. One of those folks is our esteemed Catherine Fenollosa—known to those of you who suffer all the way to the bitter end of Car Talk each week as “Frau Blucher” Fenollosa.

Catherine produces the promos that NPR stations around the country use to get the word out about the vehicle donation program. She’s the best person for the job, too, having nearly 20 years of national-level public radio experience, contributing work to programs like Marketplace, Weekend Edition Saturday, and StoryCorps. She’s worked at two of the most renowned stations in public broadcasting, too—WBUR in Boston, and WNYC in New York.

Catherine’s latest audio offerings are right here. For those of you who’ve ever wondered how a public radio producer creates her programming, we asked Catherine to walk us through the process. Here’s a glimpse from her end of the microphone.

Thanks Catherine!

-- Doug Mayer
Car Talk Vehicle Donation Program Czar


Catherine Fenollosa produces promotional spots for the Vehicle Donation Program.

Behind the Scenes with Catherine Fenollosa
By Catherine “Frau Blucher” Fenollosa

What’s it like to work at Car Talk? Exactly what you might imagine, actually: laughter, practical jokes, daily injections of cappuccinos, hair raising rides in Tom's jalopy, and more practical jokes. (Trust me, Tom and Ray NEVER tire of wrapping a toilet seat in Saran Wrap!)

And as much fun as it is working with Click and Clack, it's also nice to escape the chaos of Car Talk Plaza, and do a little work on behalf of the Car Talk Vehicle Donation Program. My job? Roam the country talking to generous listeners who've donated their cars to support their favorite public radio programs—all in an effort to create promos that are both great programming, and serve to spotlight one great way to support your local station.

Here’s how it works. A small group of listeners who've donated their car get a call from me-- after they’ve volunteered to help out, mind you! We chat on the phone a bit, talking a bit about their beloved ride—how that VW got them to their first job interview, the Volvo that they drove to their wedding ceremony, or the trip in the Taurus to the hospital for the arrival of their first child.

What am I listening for? I'm in search of those heart-warming, funny, and irreverent donation stories from listeners who simply cannot imagine life without their local public ra station. Like, for example, Caleb from St Louis Park, Minnesota, who listens to Car Talk on his local station, and also has over 129 episodes on his iPod, for when he works nights. (We kid you not!)

So how do the spots get created? First, I show up at a donor’s house with my recording equipment. It's about the size of a deck of cards. We pick a relatively quiet place to sit and talk while I record our conversation. Usually within a minute or two, my host has forgotten that I'm holding a microphone or that I'm wearing rather nerdy looking headphones. And we sit and talk. We look at pictures of the car. We have coffee. I fend off cuddly cats. And we talk some more. We talk about NPR, their local station, and all the programming they love. In exchange, I usually share a few insights into the hosts I know best. (Yes, they really are brothers, yes they run a garage, yes they did in fact go to M.I.T. and no, Tommy hasn’t had quite that many wives. Yet.) We talk about how their old car is now being turned into—quite literally-- All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and Marketplace. We like to think of it as the car that keeps on giving!

Mostly, though, I'm there to listen. I do a lot of nodding and smiling. After all, I don't want to get my voice on the tape. During the process, I hope to capture the personal and funny stories listeners have to share.

With the interview done, I go back to Car Talk Plaza and start editing. When I first started working at Car Talk, we edited the show on big reel-to-reel machines. I'd actually physically cut the recording tape with a razor blade and write something memorable about the conversation in china marker on the back. Then I'd tape all these strips of tape up on the wall and hope that one didn't fall off the wall and succumb to an untimely death under the roller wheels of my office chair.

Today, though, we edit the show and the vehicle donation programming on computer, using a program called Pro Tools. It's amazingly efficient and quick. With the click of a mouse, I can edit a donor’s conversation about her beloved VW camper van from 15 minutes to 2!

When I'm editing a conversation, I'm keeping an ear out for the most emotionally powerful moments. Like Lisa, who owes her newfound career to a story she heard on NPR, and decided to donate her car as thanks. Or Joe, who finally caved after years of pledge drive-induced guilt, donated his car to his local public radion station… and now feels positively jubilant about his decision.

Once I've selected the best moments of our conversation, I toss in a little music and voila, completed programming suitable for airing on more than 500 public radio stations. That’s the quick overview of things. (Hey-- if I told you everything, I'd be out of a job!)



All of this is a job, of course, but it’s also quite heartfelt for me. My entire professional career has been in public radio. It's my second family. After I had my son Henry, Tom Magliozzi visited me in the hospital and he had all the nurses believing he was the baby's father… try explaining that one to the nurses. (They weren't sure if they should believe Tom or call security!)

Talking with NPR listeners and vehicle donors has been a touching experience for me. I've learned that those voices that come across the radio are family to them, as well. We all brush our teeth to Renee Montagne, eat lunch with Terry Gross, sip coffee with Tom and Ray. We all rely on our favorite public radio programs to educate us. To make us laugh. To satisfy our curiosity.

As a public radio producer, it's cool to meet listeners on their home turf. To see the coffee machine they rev up while listening to Morning Edition on the kitchen radio. To hear the laughter as they recount a family road trip and the hours of Car Talk they loaded onto the iPod. These are the moments that fuel my day, when I'm standing at Car Talk Plaza wondering WHERE on earth Tom and Ray hid my office chair. Yet again.