When people find out I work in radio, there are usually a few classic questions they ask.
"How'd you get into it?" (I got my foot in the door as an intern.) "Are you related to Michelle Norris?" (Nope.) "Where do your story ideas come from?" (From different news outlets, TV Shows, books, people, press releases, conversations, and a lot of times from my own curiosity.)
But another place our stories come from is you. We read and listen to the letters and calls you send us, and occasionally, we bite.
This story is about just that, and it led me to a fantastically joyful senior citizen who spends her free time playing piano and singing songs for other seniors in nursing homes and community centers.
As a total side note: I have never been hit so much by ANYONE in an interview EVER. "Hit" or "gently slapped," in the way your grandma would hit you to show you that she loved you--in the "pinch your cheek & come over here and sing this song with me, kid reporter!" kind of way.
As a second total side note, that's me singing a duet with her, in the final moments of the story.
Another radio-related question people often ask me: which is your favorite story that you've done?
This one might be a contender.
-Kyle
Support for arts and cultural reporting on Michigan Radio comes in part from a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.
