Professor Krasny Has Brought Calm, Professorial Tone to Public Radio for 28 Years

Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Michael Krasny seated in a studio next to a microphone
Courtesy of KQED

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Krasny is giving plenty of advance notice to assuage his loyal longtime listeners. The last broadcast of his weekday hour, from 9 to 10 a.m., will be February 15, 2021 — his 28th anniversary at the station.

“I like the symmetry of going out on the anniversary of the day I started,” Krasny told The Chronicle by phone. “I’ve always liked Mark Twain’s comment that age is mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it shouldn’t matter. But I turned 76 in September and realized that age does matter.”

A new grandfather, Krasny has also recently retired as a tenured professor of English at San Francisco State University, where he has taught since 1970.

It was his calm and professorial tone that worked so well in the call-in format. “Forum” is a serious show about ideas, which is also how he handled himself at San Francisco State. “I see myself as an educator,” he said. “Public radio is an educational forum, and I have always valued what my callers have to say.”

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