About the Program
A Way with Words is public radio’s lively show about words, language, and how we use them. Funny, informative, and fast-paced, the show features language experts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett answering listeners’ questions about word and phrase origins, books and writing, old sayings, regional dialects, foreign languages, curious family expressions, and slang.
By looking at the world through the lens of language, A Way with Words listeners get fresh and entertaining perspectives on politics, pop culture, history, sports, music, literature, business, and science.
Financial support from sponsors makes all of this possible.
To see our very reasonable sponsorship rates, to get a copy of our prospectus, and to see how great our recent ratings are, email us or call producer/co-host Martha Barnette at (760) 208-1885.
Why Public Radio Audiences Love A Way with Words
We know there’s a need for a show like this: every week we receive a flood of calls and emails from listeners from across North America and from around the world. Here’s why listeners tune to A Way with Words:
—They have curiosity about language that is going unresolved.
—They want clear answers about good grammar and speech.
—The want expert perspective on word origins and proper usage.
—They want a place to talk about speaking and writing, and to share their own stories about words and how we use them.
—They don’t just want to ask questions, they want to give opinions.
—They want to be entertained while they’re learning.
The Audience You’ll Reach with A Way with Words
A Way with Words is truly a coast-to-coast program, with more markets being added all the time. Besides big markets such as Seattle/Tacoma, Dallas, San Diego, Miami, Indianapolis, and Madison, forty new frequencies were added in the first three months of 2009 alone, including stations in upscale sections of Connecticut and New York. The program is also in the top 50 of all public radio podcasts when ranked by number of downloads per month. On top of that, Martha and Grant are nationally recognized language experts who are consulted for their language expertise (on the record and for background) by all sorts of media.
A Way with Words Audience Loyalty
The audience loyalty of A Way with Words often rivals or surpasses that of public radio stalwarts like Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me, Car Talk, and A Prairie Home Companion. In fact, A Way with Words sometimes even has higher loyalty figures than Weekend Edition, This American Life, and Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? Highly successful pledge drives also reflect the generosity and loyalty of A Way with Words listeners. All of this means that A Way with Words brings in bountiful pledges from loyal listeners.
The A Way with Words Team
Co-host/producer Martha Barnette has a background in Latin and ancient Greek. She’s the author of three books on word origins, including Ladyfingers & Nun’s Tummies: A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names (1997), chosen by the Los Angeles Times for its “100 Best Books of the Year” list. Her other etymological books are A Garden of Words and Dog Days and Dandelions. She holds a degree in English from Vassar College, did graduate work in classical languages at the University of Kentucky, and studied Spanish in Costa Rica at the ILISA School. A former reporter for The Washington Post and contributing editor at Self, she has freelanced for numerous national publications, from The New York Times to BARK!
Co-host/producer Grant Barrett is a lexicographer and dictionary editor specializing in slang and new words. He’s the editor of the Official Dictionary of Unofficial English and the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society and editor of the “Among the New Words” column for its academic journal American Speech, and composer of the “Dictionary Update” for the journal Copyediting. His prize-winning online Double-Tongued Dictionary, tracks slang, jargon, and neologisms and his new project, Wordnik, aims to be the best online dictionary in the world. Grant has written on language for such newspapers as The Washington Post and New York Times and writes a fortnightly language column for the Malaysia Star. He holds a degree in French from Columbia University and has studied at the Université Paris Diderot.
You can see also see full bios of Martha and Grant here.
The guiding force behind the scenes at A Way with Words is Senior Producer Stefanie Levine. A 15-year radio veteran, Stefanie has been producing A Way with Words for the last six years, refining the format, developing the hosts’ talent, and overseeing improvements in quality, consistency, and audience numbers.
Quiz Guys Greg Pliska and John Chaneski round out the show. Each episode includes two language quizzes: one from a Quiz Guy, and Grant’s Slang This!, in which callers try to figure out which of his goofy slang definitions is the real one.
To find out more about sponsoring the program, to get a copy of our prospectus, and to see how great our recent ratings are, email us or call producer/co-host Martha Barnette at (760) 208-1885.
