Ending the era...

This is a belated note of farewell to a show I loved making and ended on December 29, 2013.

- Ana Edwards, June 5, 2018

9 Years! More than 400 shows! 

Short of raising children, the Sacred Ground Project and my current marriage, there's nothing I've done longer with such consistency.

Producing DefendersLIVE for the WRIR audience at home and abroad was an exhilarating, grueling, immersive experience. At first it was about how well I might do radio, but as I began to hear from listeners and get calls from people who wanted to be guests I learned that reaching people with a message via the airwaves is a potent tool. I'm grateful to its existence and far more respectful of its process and its impact. If you're going to do it, do it well, do it with purpose.

A hearty thank-you to those who tuned in. An enormous thank-you to all my engineers and board-ops over the years, especially those who were able to stick with me for more than a few months. Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who kept the equipment running and the facilities in a state of ongoing improvement. You were the stabilizing forces of and escorting voices to an important vehicle for social justice commentary, if led by a slow-maturing novice. I did not attend enough of the parties, but I did enjoy being part of the WRIR team. I loved doing the show and believe good things came of it.

For the curious or nostalgic there is a tab (above) that says "Listen." Click it to get to the archive of mostly live links to DefendersLIVE shows that aired between February 2005 and December 2013.