The Best Job Ever
I worked for Voice of America in Washington, DC, from 1989-1993. VOA is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the world.
Some criticize VOA, calling it the propaganda arm of the US government; I never saw that as an on-the-ground worker. The most onerous thing I found at VOA was its three-source rule—at the time, a fact couldn’t be reported until confirmed by three independent and verifiable sources. It slowed us down but at least we were right.
Working at VOA was one of the coolest jobs I ever had. I was a producer, reporter, and announcer in the English general programs division and worked primarily on a radio magazine show which was about all things Americana. I researched and wrote and recorded stories about the most interesting things, from an elephant who paints at the Phoenix Zoo, to the latest recording by Etta James. Every day, we produced a half-hour variety show about life in the US, from the quirky to the sublime.
I never knew who was listening. We got little fan mail. Our host mainly got marriage proposals from Nigerian princes (that was just starting to be a thing). This was way before instant metrics and it was not part of my job to understand our listening public. We broadcast all over the world. But one day in 1991 or 1992, my boss and the host of our show got an amazing letter.
The letter was from Thomas Sutherland, who had recently been released as a hostage in Beruit. Sutherland was the Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beruit in Lebanon and was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beruit home in 1985. He was released six years later in 1991, after being held 2,353 days. He was among dozens of Westerners taken hostage at the height of Lebanon’s civil war. He was not treated well—he was often blindfolded and chained to a wall by Hezbollah gunmen.
But apparently, his captors allowed him to listen to the radio sometimes. And during that time, he listened to VOA and he heard our silly little show. And it helped him endure his captivity. The letter said he was going to be in DC and wanted to take the team to lunch.
This amazingly resilient man wanted to take us to lunch because our seemingly insignificant show helped him pass the time in captivity. Despite the many broadcasting awards and kudos I collected over the years, I never felt so honored in my career either before or since. This was the ultimate compliment. I certainly did not feel worthy of it. I was just doing my job.
Mr. Sutherland hosted the magazine show team at the Air and Space Museum restaurant. He was a gentle, kind, and quiet man. He thanked us. Yes, he thanked us. He told us that the show had helped him remember what living in the US was like, no matter how insignificant the story. I struggled not to cry. Many warm words were exchanged that day; it was a lunch and a moment I will never forget.
Thomas Sutherland lived to be 85 and died in 2016 in Colorado. His memory is certainly a blessing for me and countless others who were lucky enough to be in his orbit, however briefly.
I think back on that incredible memory now that I’m retired, and I feel so grateful that I was able to experience that and generate a long and fruitful career. Who would have thought our little magazine show had the positive impact that it did, at least on Thomas Sutherland? Were there others? I’ll never know. But it’s like everything else in life, I believe. If you put in your best effort and your aim is to help people, the results will be positive.
I helped a man in captivity pass the time through a horrible ordeal. That is more than enough of an affirmation for me. ▼
Beth Shockley is a retired senior writer/editor living in Dover with her wife and furbabies.