November 6, 2001

Dear Programmer:

In the new era that commenced on September 11th, does comedy have a place? My own answer is a very positive "Yes."

In fact, I believe it has never been more important than in this holiday season to offer Americans the healing power of laughter. We love the jester's ability to discover human foolishness during life's gravest moments. And in a great democracy, we give him permission to find it anywhere.

So, I'm excited and proud to introduce you to our Christmas Right Between The Ears Holiday Special, available free, exclusively to NPR member stations. It's a newscast-compatible hour of inspired, up-to-the-minute satirical sketches and songs that leave "no turn unstoned," and it's guaranteed to put grateful smiles on your listeners' faces.

Besides producing Christmas Right Between the Ears, I'm also the Program Director at KANU-FM in Lawrence, Kansas, and can attest the show's popularity with listeners. In the last decade, our show has collected three Gold Medals at the New York Festivals for Best Comedy Show and Best Writing (plus the Festival's Grand Prize for Entertainment Programs in 1993), four Gold Program Awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and a Silver Microphone Award. Right Between The Ears has been a beloved staple on KANU for 16 years. You'll hear why in our Holiday Show, which includes:

• "The Bob Dylan Christmas Special"
• Christmas with gadget maker Ron Popeil (check out the new "Inside the Chicken" egg nog maker!)
• The Year in Review medley, featuring familiar holiday carols that spoof the fads and foibles of the past year.
• The Burt and Ernie Christmas Show (starring the Osama bin Laden poster boy!)
• From The Casebook of Mobile Holmes, a Yuletide-flavored adventure entitled "The Curious Case of Santa's Helper, or The Subordinate Claus".

Christmas Right Between The Ears, distributed by NPR, will feed on November 30 at 16:00-16:59 ET on A67.3S, with a repeat feed at the same time on December 7.

My representatives at Creative PR, in Los Angeles, will be in touch soon with more information about the show, including demo CDs. That's if they don't hear from you first. They can be reached at 888-233-5650, or at www.creativepublicity.com.

Beat us to the phone or e-mail, and take care of some of your Christmas shopping early!

Best Regards,

Darrell Brogdon
Producer, Right Between The Ears