What if I write to you and I don't want you to put my letter on the website?

Well, I'll just have to make up more fake letters. But don't worry. Not many people come to this website so I have to make up fake people to come to this fake website to read pretend letters about a make-believe radio show. And you thought I didn't have a rich, active inner life!

This website doesn't seem very professional. Why isn't it more fancy?

Very good! There's a reason this website isn't very fancy. For one thing, I have a very slow modem on my computer and I think it is very inconsiderate for web designers to load up their sites with lots of useless pictures and such. It takes so long to load. And besides, if you've come to this page I figure you know about A Jarful of Stories and you're patient and ready for some reading fun. I try to make the website reflect the radio show. If you want fancy, believe me, there's plenty of it on other sites. Welcome to Humbleville!

How did you learn to tell stories?

I'm not sure I really learned. If you read or listen to my stories, you might agree. But I try. And I think that is the most important thing. I feel like I have lots and lots of stories inside of me that are just dying to get out. They want to see the light of day and A Jarful of Stories is the perfect way to get those stories out. I spend lots of time during the day thinking about children's stories. And I hear lots of ideas for stories in everyday conversations. Telling stories has more to do with practice and experience than talent. Remember to include a beginning, a middle and an end and that's about the best advice I can give you. A teacher of mine but it this way: Get your character up a tree, throw rocks at him and then get him down again. The fun of telling stories is how you do all those things.

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Well, if you're reading this, count yourself in! Believe it or not, very few people stop by the website for A Jarful of Stories. That's ok. I love doing this and it doesn't matter if just one person visits each week—which is about the usual number! I'm glad you stopped by and that's about all that counts!

How can I get copies of the program?

So far I haven't had very many requests for copies but if you e-mail me, I'll see what I can do. Soon there will be a "best of. . ." CD for each season of the year containing some of the more interesting (I hope) stories from spring, summer, fall and winter. If you're interested in that, keep checking in at the website for more information.

Where do you live?

I live in Kearney, Nebraska which is right smack in the center of the country. If you get a map of the United States and you put your finger down in the middle of it all, Kearney will most likely under your finger. If not, move you finger slightly one way or the other. That's where I live. It's a nice town on the Platte River and there's lots of corn around here. Why Kearney, Nebraska? Well, I grew up in Nebraska and this is a pretty good place to live. Anyway, we're right next to Omaha (three hours away) and Denver (five hours the other way) so we get to see a lot of traffic going by. Kearney is also on the main tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. If you listen carefully and I'm not so careful, you can sometimes hear a train whistle in the background. Listen closely.

Do you make up these stories yourself?

Yep. This is about the most fun thing I get to do. The good folks at WSCL give me half an hour (actually 29 minutes, to be exact) and I get to make up stories and carry on and have fun. Isn't that great? I have a son and a daughter that constantly remind me of story ideas. Besides that, I usually call on my own childhood for story idea. If you have one, send it along!

How come you didn't update this website during the summer?

What website? What summer? Ok, ok. I was working at a summer camp in North Carolina. The name of the camp is Gwynn Valley and they have a fun website, too, if you'd like to check it out. Anyway, life at a summer camp is very, very busy and I knew I wouldn't have time to keep this website up and running so I didn't even try. And now? Well, I'm back in Nebraska where I live and I have a little more free time so I can spend it working on this website. And you? I hope you had a great summer, too! Thanks for asking.

Why don't you put your stories on television?

In this case, it is better to be heard instead of seen. And besides, these stories would look terrible on television. I think it is better for children to create pictures in their heads of what the characters in these stories should look like. About the last thing I would want is for more kids to be sitting around in front of their boob-tubes watching another children's television show when they would be listening to stories instead. You can listen to stories and draw. You can listen to stories and put together a jigsaw puzzle. You can listen to stories and clean your room. You can listen to stories and brush your teeth. You can . . . I think you get the idea. Besides, I don't even have a television so I wouldn't be able to watch the show if it was broadcast on TV. Nuff said

Why ANOTHER children's radio program?

Like most things, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And the time came about because Sam, my then six year-old son, was listening to a Anderson fairy tale called Little Klaus and Big Klaus on a story program on National Public Radio. Well, the story was kind of boring anyway and then one of the characters chops up his grandmother with a hatchet. Wonderful. My son looks at me and says, "Dad, that's kinda weird. Why did the man chop up his grandma?" I was prepared to tell him that she was involved in a drug ring and was probably as evil as Wednesday. But it didn't really matter. The story was awful and the violence was unnecessary. I fired off a letter of complaint to the station manager with a hasty note that said, "I could do better!" Several weeks later I received a reply from Fred Marino, General Manager of WSCL-FM in Salisbury, Maryland. He wrote: "Dear Mr. Brown, Thank you for your letter regarding the Anderson fairy tale about Little Klaus and Big Klaus which we broadcast January 31, 1999. I regret that it caused you, and your son, concern. Of course that was not our intent. We have been searching for a more appropriate storytelling series for Sunday evenings, but without success so far. Since your background seems suited to our need, I would like to take advantage of your offer to help us. I'll call in the next few days to see if we can arrange a meeting." Three months later, the first program of A Jarful of Stories was broadcast.

How did you come up with the name, A Jarful of Stories?

I was trying to think of something that could hold a story and a jar seemed to be about the best bet. Originally I wanted to call the show "The Story Jar" but that title was already taken by somebody else. There's a website with that name so I tried turning the words around a little and came up with A Jarful of Stories. Anyway, when you say the name "The Story Jar" it sounds like "The Storage" or maybe even "The Porridge" which might lead some of you to think that the radio program is about hot breakfast cereals. Which it is not. It's about 30 minutes.

How can I listen to A Jarful of Stories?

Well, I don't exactly know unless you happen to live in Maryland where the show is broadcast on WSCL-FM in Salisbury. Actually, the program is carried in parts of three states right now: Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. If you wish, you could bug your local public radio station and let the staff know you are interested in hearing quality children's programming. I'll do the best I can to keep the quality as high as possible. So far I don't have the resources to put the audio on the web but who knows, maybe someday.

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