He Took Off in My VW Bus

by Rabia Fournier

I've been listening to Public Radio since 1974. I remember when Terry Gross had a program called "Signal to Noise" and Jim Campbell was station manager. During those days, I owned a bookstore in town, and several of my friends knew that I drove a 1971 VW Transporter (that's a bus, for those who don't remember it).

One day I was amazed, because a nicely dressed fellow came up to the door of my bookstore and asked me if we could trade vehicles for the day. I was just about to say, "Well, if I knew who you were -" when he said that he was going to do a "remote" from the bus to cover a local event for WBFO.

I was pleased to say yes, and he left me his car and registration and took off in my bus. I wish I could remember who he was. Needless to say, I was grateful when he came back a few hours later with the bus, and we traded back vehicles.

I felt much closer to the station from that day forward. I moved to the state of Washington after selling the bookstore in 1976 and lived there for almost 20 years, until I moved back to Buffalo. I had been listening to KPLU in Tacoma, Washington, for about ten years, an all-jazz NPR station, and was glad to come back to the "new" WBFO news and jazz format. It's the only station I play in the car, at home, and at work.