In a modern radio studio a short distance from the UNC-Chapel Hill campus a radio program is recorded and broadcast throughout the Triangle area in the hopes of shedding light on the stories that shape this world.

Lights and meters pinpoint the inflections and volume of a woman calling from Ghana who is telling her story of an Africa for Africans and who has left the comforts of America behind to live in the land of her ancestors.

“The desperation my ancestors must have felt is so terribly overwhelming, it’s hard for me to describe without getting emotional,” the caller, Janet, said after being coaxed by the host of the program, The Story, Dick Gordon.

Gordon, separated from producer Greg Kelly by a glass partition which cuts the studio into two rooms, coaxes Janet to talk about her experiences in the castles and dungeons that acted as ports for African slaves to travel along the Middle Passage.

Kelly and Gordon speak with each other through a closed-circuit microphone, activated only when either of them pushes a button on their side of the studio.

“I also wonder about Africans attitudes towards women,” Kelly prompted Gordon to ask.After close to 90 minutes of interviewing, Gordon, a veteran journalist who has won many of the top journalism honors, can feel where Janet’s story really lies.

“Her best stuff is how she’s changed personally,” Gordon said. “I want to stick with that.”

Gordon, whose nationally syndicated show The Connection for WBUR in Boston was cancelled in August 2005 but was a highly sought-after commodity for WUNC in Chapel Hill, which produces The Story.

“When Dick’s gig at WBUR at Boston ended abruptly — much to the chagrin of its listeners — thousands wrote in and asked, ‘What are you doing?'” Kelly said.

WBUR’s unpopular decision became WUNC’s advantage, and they quickly jumped to obtain Gordon for a new program.

“The second they found Dick was free, N.C. public radio sprung into action and got fund raising going and they snapped him up,” Kelly said.

According to a press release from Joan Siefert Rose, general manager of WUNC, fund raising, as part of the Capital Campaign, was overwhelming. It reached the sum of $650,000, well above the normal annual contributions.

While some may argue in this digital age of iPods and satellite radio there is no place for public broadcasting, others disagree, as evidenced by the high donations WUNC received, and they tune in loyally each day to their favorite public radio programs.

“I listen when I’m driving in to work/school and back, which is about a half hour each way,” Jeff Jacobs, sophomore in communication, said.

Jacobs, who listens to public radio on average six hours a week when he is in his car, doesn’t tune in just because it’s there.

“They tend to cover stories more in-depth than what you get on TV, and they seem to focus more on substance than just whatever spin the pundits/handlers/PR people try to put on an event,” Jacobs said.

Others began their public radio addiction through conditioning by friends and family, but now look to its programming as a staple of their day.

“It started out with my mother annoying me by listening to it every morning on the way to school, but eventually I was hooked on Morning Edition and by the time I was driving my own car, NPR was all I would listen to,” Sonya Patel said. Patel is a freshman in biomedical engineering and was referring to one of the many programs syndicated by National Public Radio and broadcast by member-station WUNC.

“I even have Talk of the Nation programmed in my phone to call them up every now and then. I’m a pretty big NPR groupie but I love the things they talk about. I love knowing the news before most everyone else and I love hearing about the random things that I’d never know.”

It is Patel’s “random things that I’d never know” which drives the producers of The Story. Their goal isn’t to give their audience the headlines each day and tell the bare-bones facts, but rather to delve into the meat of the issues affecting everyone’s lives.

“The premise” is what separates it from other programs, according to Kelly. “It’s not necessarily everyday people. Even if you get an expert on slavery, why is it they are so interested in eradicating slavery? What is it in their past? What is the story behind their position? So it’s not so much everyday people. It’s the story behind positions. It’s the privilege of experience over analysis or conclusion. It doesn’t mean analysis or conclusions aren’t important, though.”

It is this difference in reporting stories that makes both Patel and Jacobs hopeful for The Story and the Triangle.

“It shows just how much the Triangle is becoming a model community and area in this country,” Patel said. “We’ve got great jobs, great housing, great schools and now we’re bringing a nationally syndicated show to our area. I think it highlights the greatness of our area, puts us back on the map with places like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City as a place where things like jobs, education and community are important, valued and emphasized.”

But for Kelly, who has experience in broadcasting, the vindication for the area to be on par with big markets like the ones mentioned with Patel will come if the show is a success.

“It depends on how well it does,” Kelly said. “My understanding is there is no national radio program south of the Mason-Dixon.”