The singer/songwriter John Prine, who died just recently from COVID-19, had a song called “Hello in There” which included the lines, “And all the news just repeats itself, like some forgotten dream that we’ve both seen.”
That verse has come to mind often during the past few weeks. Over my many years in this business it has often felt as though the news is a loop—every story is, in some way, like a story that has happened before.
However, the pandemic story is different, at least in my lifetime.
My career is at the stage that the late Senator Robert Byrd described referring to his life as, “The long afternoon with lengthening shadows that stretch away to the hills of the night.”
During my time behind the microphone I thought I had seen and heard it all in West Virginia news, but I’ve never experienced anything like the COVID-19 story.
Once or twice a day, I stop and say to myself, “Is this really happening?” We’re weeks into this and there still is an “unbelievable” factor to this story.
But it is real, all too real and frightening.
On my radio show, Talkline, I have focused almost entirely on pandemic-related stories. I pick out what I think is important, but I never get it all covered. There’s always more that just gets left out.
I suspect that’s frustrating for you, the listener, because during uncertain times, you want as much reliable and accurate information as you can get.
That is very evident when I have someone as a guest to answer questions about additional benefits individuals may be able to receive or the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses. My text line is flooded with queries.
There are just so many different circumstances that affect whether an individual gets a $1,200 check or how a laid off individual receives the additional $600 a week or whether a small business owner qualifies for a forgivable loan.
It gets real complicated real fast, so I keep trying to push out as much information as I can.
Normally, I would be talking a lot about politics now, especially if the Primary Election were still scheduled for May 12. I tried last week for a few minutes with West Virginia Wesleyan Political Science Professor Rob Rupp, but my heart wasn’t in it.
It felt… out of place. You don’t mow the grass while the house is burning.
I figure politics will re-emerge as other functions of the country start back toward some normalcy, and we’ll know it when we see it. But for right now nearly everything seems connected, in one way or another, to the pandemic.
So with apologies to the late Mr. Prine, the news does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it is just so utterly strange it almost defies reality.