Letters: Addiction, Music Moguls and Dialing '9'

NEAL CONAN
NPR Talk of the Nation
07-17-2007
Letters: Addiction, Music Moguls and Dialing '9'

Host: NEAL CONAN
Time 14:00-15:00 PM

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NEAL CONAN, host:

It's Tuesday, the day we read from your e-mails. We talked last week about what makes an addiction and whether video games should be defined in medical terms as addictive?

A listener named Shelby(ph) e-mailed to tell us he works in video game production. Yes, we do make games designed to appeal to players and keep them playing, he wrote. But we also want them to be done with our previous game when the next game comes out.

Addicted players are not good for business. Massively multiplayer online games have a different model, though. Instead of selling people the next game, they make money from the monthly fee, so they want people to just play their game. We need to redefine addiction not as lots of specific illnesses, but as one illness that has a focus - be it games, gambling, reading, et cetera.

Another listener isn't so sure. I don't want to log off this online game long enough to talk on the phone, explained Sean Osborne(ph) in Tennessee, so I'll fire you an e-mail while my character is mining. My online friends and I regularly joke about our obsession. Nonetheless, I prefer the term obsession to addiction.

I smoked cigarettes for 20 years trying hard to stop the last 10, and that is an addiction. I can walk away from gaming for a week or two with no withdrawals or uncontrollable urges to play. I cannot say the same for smoking. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some giants to kill.

We've started our summer movie festival last week. Every Thursday, Murray Horwitz joins us. We pick a category and talk about your nominees as the best movies in that particular genre. Last week, it was big caper movies, and Faith(ph), a listener in Newton, Massachusetts e-mailed to ask, is there a list of the best caper movie suggestions? And the answer is, yes. The finalists of the top vote getters from last week is online at our blog, npr.org/blogofthenation.

And this week, we're going to talk about robot movies. So send us your suggestions by e-mail talk@npr.org. That's the address as usual.

During a show a week ago on new music moguls and how people are finding new music these days, I got to say something I don't often have a chance to say.

Let's talk with Jeremy. And Jeremy(ph) is calling us from Tajikistan. Jeremy, are you there?

JEREMY (Caller): Hi.

CONAN: Who knew we had listeners in Tajikistan, and that they could actually call-in to the program? Jeff Rosenberg is here to fill us in. He's director of NPR Worldwide, an overseas - our international broadcast. Jeff, our caller from Tajikistan City was listening on satellite television?

JEFF ROSENBERG: That's right, Neal, the Hotbird system. It's very much like the sort of direct TV, which we have in this country; only it has far greater capacity. It's used by a great many entities including NPR, and this both radio and television on that.

CONAN: And can you get that anywhere?

ROSENBERG: From Iceland to just about the western part of Pakistan. It's an incredible footprint, as they call it in satellites. And needless to say, hundreds of millions of people are in that footprint, the Middle East and the whole of Europe and parts of Asia.

CONAN: And how do you tune in to NPR?

ROSENBERG: You go to your satellite dealer and France has a nice chain called Monsieur Bricolage, I love that, Mr. Antenna, and you buy an off-the-shelf satellite receiver, a little antenna dish like you see in people's houses here, and show the man what satellite you want. And on our Web site, you can see the sort of specs for NPR Worldwide signal. And you get us and hundreds of other broadcasters as well.

CONAN: Our Web site of course, is npr.org. But there are other ways that people overseas can tune in to NPR?

ROSENBERG: That's right. Well - and, of course, today, the Internet and Internet streaming and audio on demand is probably the most popular way. But if you live in Asia for example, in India and in southern Africa, say, Sub-Saharan Africa, you can have a world space digital portable satellite radio. You get a subscription to this, like we have our subscription services here, and you can listen to 24-hours a day of NPR Worldwide.

CONAN: And interestingly, of course, people can call-in from around the world. Our 800 number doesn't work overseas, but there is a number you put out on the overseas broadcast.

ROSENBERG: That's right. And forgive me for not saying it here, but it's for overseas for overseas listeners, and it's on our Web page. When you go to npr.org/worldwide, you'll find it at the bottom of our schedule and even by clicking the TALK OF THE NATION page.

CONAN: And who is the worldwide audience? Is it Americans living overseas like Jeremy?

ROSENBERG: Well, we thought that it would be primarily Americans. And in fact, the surveys that we've taken show that, by and large, just about a majority, a slim majority are Americans or people who have lived here for a long time and now live there. But we have a very high percentage of foreign citizens, foreign language speakers who are listening to NPR for our coverage of the news, primarily, for our cultural programs, for all the reasons that we listen.

CONAN: Jeff Rosenberg. Thanks very much.

ROSENBERG: Thank you, Neal.

CONAN: Jeff Rosenberg heads up NPR's Worldwide services. Of course, you're in Tajikistan or Toledo, you could always reach us by e-mail. Send us your comments, questions or corrections to talk@npr.org. Let us know where you're writing from especially if it's overseas, and give us some help on how to pronounce your name.


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