The evening of January 11th, the 232nd episode of Something To Talk About went live from the BCAT Studio. The day also marked ten years since the program began. Linda McNamee produces and hosts Something To Talk About. She first started volunteering with BCAT shortly after moving to Burlington in 2002, but initially had no interest in producing her own program, “I mentioned to the Production Coordinator at the time that I would do whatever was needed at BCAT in any area of production, but I didn’t want my own show.”
McNamee was a regular director for nine years on Open for Discussion a live community interest talk show on Wednesday evenings. “When Arlene DiRocco, the series host and producer, decided to retire from her BCAT volunteering days, she talked me into taking over as Producer/Host.” said McNamee, “Not wanting to leave BCAT with a significant hole in their program schedule, I figured I’d give it a try. The worst that I thought would happen was that my show would be canceled after 6 months. Now, ten years and over 230 episodes later, here we are.”
“I find it hard to believe that ten years have passed.” said McNamee, “It has always been a challenge to find guests, even from ‘Day 1’, but they always seem to somehow magically appear right when I need them and we always manage to find something to talk about.”
Reflecting on the past decade, McNamee said some of the most memorable episodes had guests that bring animal friends onto Something To Talk About, including a hungry red-tailed hawk from the Burlington Science Center, and a 90 year old tortoise who “wandered off the set risers, walked across the studio, and managed to move one of the cameras a few feet.”
“The most vivid memories always seem to involve animals.” said McNamee.
Looking to the future, McNamee hopes she can continue to spotlight the good work of people and organizations in the community with Something To Talk About, “I’ve learned so much about the greater Burlington community and the amazing people who are doing wonderful things. It’s really nice to hear happy stories and recognize the good in our world. I hope that moving forward, “Something to Talk About” will continue to share positive experiences and useful resources that are right here in our own neighborhoods with my audience.”
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