The Colin McEnroe Show was born in the late summer, four years ago, and everything about it, for a very long time was the work of three people: Patrick Skahill, Chion Wolf and me.
There's no way that any of you could understand the central role Patrick played in giving the show its intelligence, restlessness and consistency because -- now that he's leaving us to become a WNPR reporter -- I see that I didn't understand it myself. However big a figure I thought Patrick was in the identity of the show, he's bigger than that. I thought he was Data, but maybe he was Picard.
We're going to be OK. Betsy Kaplan and Chion will co-produce the show. We've all been crazy about Betsy since she set foot in our studios as a second-career intern -- she's a former nurse -- a few years ago, and as her role at WNPR grew, I've been wondering how to snag her as a full-fledged member of our team.
Patrick wants to use his voice and instincts in different form. He had a national story on Morning Edition today. That's a nice way to start. Betsy was already a big contributor to what we do, but now it's her show, the way it was Patrick's, the way it is Chion's and mine.
My favorite time of day is usually ten minutes before the show, watching everybody move to their positions, watching the fabulous people I work with solve those last-minute problems, feeling the adrenaline rise. That will never change, but it'll be a little scary for a while, living through those moments without Patrick. I guess it'll always be his show, for as long as it's on.
