The Death Hour

I listen to NPR on the way home from work.  The trip isn't that long so I don't get much of it.  But what I do get is nearly always about someone who died.  Every time someone dies, this NPR show replays an old interview with that person or someone who knew that person.

And when I say someone who died, I'm talking about anyone!  Yesterday the show was about Willie Mitchell, died at 81 of natural causes.  Who's Willie Mitchell?  My point exactly.

Mitchell was a trumpet player and record producer who discovered Al Green.

Today's dead guy was Vic Chesnutt, a singer-songewriter who lived in Georgia and was discovered by Michael Stipe of R.E.M.  He died after overdosing on pain killers, likely a suicide.

Now I'm not saying Chesnutt and Mitchell aren't important or anything, but why is NPR nearly always talking about someone who died while I'm listening?  Is it an obituary show?  How do they have time to interview live people when they are only talking about dead people?

And to top things off, the show is a news/talk show called "Fresh Air."  How is the obit page "fresh air"?

My condolences, of course, go out to the families and friends of Chesnutt and Mitchell.  Chesnutt really was a genius songwriter.