Maury White<\/a>, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Journalism (now the Department of Life Sciences Communication).<\/p>\nHe kept going with the show (he had no job prospects) and continued with his studies, eventually getting a master\u2019s, then a PhD in Mass Communication in 1975. Part of his scholarly work was about community engagement and \u201chow to get citizen input into planning for change in communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meiller pitched the idea for \u201cThe Larry Meiller Show\u201d in 1978 when Jack Mitchell, then-director of WPR, asked him for an idea for a new radio show.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m thinking about doing a call-in talk show. …Tell me what you think you\u2019d do,\u2019\u201d Meiller said. He came back with a program focused on subjects \u201cthat would help people with their daily lives \u2026 how to fix your car, or how to fix your ache or pain, or how to eat better \u2014 whatever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time \u201cThe Larry Meiller Show\u201d went to air, Meiller had been on the air for 11 years. He was confident he could host a show, but was unsure if anyone would call in.<\/p>\n
For his first topic, he picked something he thought people would have thoughts about \u2014 pet health \u2014 and invited UW veterinary sciences professor Richard Bristol and John Skinner, a specialist in small animals at UW-Madison, as experts. Then they waited to see if anyone would call.<\/p>\n
A listener quickly called in. \u201cShe says, \u2018Well, it\u2019s Grace Pearson from Stevens Point. And how do you know if your cat is a male or a female?\u2019 And Dick Bristol, he leans into the microphone, he says, \u2018Just pick up its tail.\u2019 And we were off and running,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pearson became a frequent caller, phoning in nearly once a week. And even on shows when there might not be many callers, Meiller knows he is still reaching people.<\/p>\n
He did a show all about farm equipment safety with a doctor who was tired \u201cof reattaching people\u2019s hands or arms from farm accidents.\u201d Not many people called, but Meiller left listeners with contact information to request brochures with guidance on \u201cwhat to do with a finger or an arm that\u2019s cut off on the way to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, Meiller was at the hospital when a woman came up to him and said, \u201cYou\u2019re the one \u2014 I did nothing for days but send out those brochures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connecting one listener to another<\/h3>\n
Meiller has always sought creative ways to connect with listeners. Back when he was hosting the agricultural show, he thought he could reach more people by starting a tape service.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d send 10 two-minute features from the guests that I had talked to, and then I would write (up the interviews) for the press service,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
At one point \u2014 Meiller estimates this was around the \u201980s \u2014 he started a record service called Badger Home and Garden, pressing LPs with 20 one-minute tips cut from guest interviews on the show. He\u2019d send the LPs out to about 100 different radio stations.<\/p>\n
Now, he mostly stays connected to people through emails and social media. He\u2019s proud of the \u201ccommunity of listeners\u201d the show has built.<\/p>\n
One listener, a canoe builder, called to say he\u2019d made a canoe for a wife to give her husband as a surprise for Christmas. The couple was based in New York, and the canoe builder called Meiller\u2019s show to see if another listener would ferry the canoe out east.<\/p>\n
A few people volunteered, and a young couple driving to New York for the holidays ended up delivering the canoe on top of their car.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got people who don\u2019t know each other, who are willing to give somebody something very valuable because they listen to public radio,\u201d Meiller said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s rarely a topic on the show, Meiller says, where no one calls in. \u201cA lot of times, my question to the producer who comes up with an idea, I say, \u2018Well, what would people call about?\u2019\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
That can be challenging for a statewide show. Even though the show records in Madison, \u201cI have to focus on 400 miles north,\u201d Meiller said. \u201cI\u2019ve gotta focus on finding things that are interesting no matter where you live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making shows enjoyable for listeners starts with prep. Meiller and his producers do extensive research, trying to imagine what listeners might want to know or ask. For the authors he brings on the show, Meiller reads every single book. He estimates he has about 50 authors on the show each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I finish interviewing, if the authors are in the studio with me, they\u2019ll invariably say, \u2018You read the whole book?\u2019\u201d He said he can\u2019t just skim a book and usually has pieces of scrap paper with notes as he reads \u2014 he\u2019s looking for the small details. He\u2019s \u201cfocusing on the minutiae that I think is going to bring out a lot of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Passing the microphone<\/h3>\n
Being prepared helps him stay focused on the guest, which he said is the cornerstone of every interview. Meiller gave the students he advised and others interested in radio the same tips he utilizes on air: have an outline of notes, but don\u2019t read from a script, and \u201clook at the person you\u2019re interviewing\u2026 people want to look at their question, and I said, \u2018No, look right in the eyes of the person.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He also advises that, as the host, one has to put oneself in the shoes of the listener. This manifests in small ways, like using visual language for radio: he had a guest describe an item as being three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Meiller jumped in and clarified that it was about the size of a dime.<\/p>\n
The show will change once Meiller hands over the reins, but the goal remains the same: \u201cto provide Wisconsin citizens with the best damn information they can get.\u201d And he\u2019s sure whoever takes over hosting will build their own loyal \u201ccommunity of listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n
As beloved as Meiller is now, he remembers the letters he got when he stepped into Maury White\u2019s show back in 1967.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe the amount of letters that came, and they were directed to Maury. Maury said, \u2018Oh, just open them yourself and read them and pass them on to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He read all the letters, which basically bemoaned the idea that anyone besides White could host this show. \u201cHow the heck am I ever going to replace him?\u201d Meiller remembered asking himself.<\/p>\n
Now, nearly 60 years later, it\u2019s that tenure that makes him confident the show\u2019s next chapter will find its own path.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m going to be gone,\u201d he said, \u201cand people are going to say the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source captimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Larry Meiller prepares to retire from his job as the longtime host of Wisconsin Public Radio\u2019s \u201cThe Larry Meiller Show,\u201d he jokes he \u201chas no job prospects.\u201d Meiller began telling this joke as part of the story of how he ended up on the radio, starting as a substitute host for a half-hour farm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2218761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[426009],"class_list":["post-2218760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-city-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WPR-host-Larry-Meiller-reflects-on-six-decades-on-the.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2218762,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218760\/revisions\/2218762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}