Marketplace (or, Why the Front Page Rearrange)

Back in June, I got a call from a freelance NPR reporter about doing a story for the show Marketplace about community acupuncture. He lives in Philadelphia, and he learned about community acupuncture the way everybody else does -- because his girlfriend's roommate gets treated at PCA. Sure, I said, and then I didn't say anything about it here because I don't believe these things until they actually happen.

It was another six weeks before he called again and said that Marketplace said yes to the story. Then it was another couple of weeks before he interviewed me by phone, and then he went in person to PCA to interview Korben, Ellen, and some of their patients. He said the story would probably run the last week in August -- and of course Korben and Ellen and I were all hoping it would run while we were visiting them in Philly, so we could quiver in terror together while we were listening. We didn't hear anything, so we called him, and he said that the story was still being edited, and it could run any day now, and he would "probably" be able to tell us ahead of time.

But just in case we don't get any warning, we're telling all of you now.  Stories on Marketplace only run about three minutes in length, but guess how many people listen to Marketplace in a given week? Did you guess eight to ten million? Are you now hoping that 1) this reporter has a kind heart, and 2) none of us said anything stupid? Yeah, us too. Also, the story will remain on Marketplace's website, as far as I can tell, for a year or more, probably with a link to the CAN website.

So. In the hopes that this unprecedented level of publicity will lift all of our boats, we did a hasty rearrangement of the front page to make it easier for those millions of potential patients to find a clinic. We'll see how this new arrangement works, and if it doesn't, we'll change it again. Cross your fingers, everybody!