Chalk this up to things I never thought we’d be talking about… The Washington D.C. bureau of the Swedish National Public Radio (yes… Sweden) contacted the Chamber of Commerce, me and a few other Middletown leaders to discuss the revival of Middletown post-recession.
I said something along the lines of “who… wants what… seriously?”
The short version was that yes, Swedish National Public Radio was coming to Middletown, a city which they felt was a good comparison to certain aspects of Swedish society and they wanted to discuss what we do better, what they do better, and how we compared with each other.
I thought it was an interesting enough prospect that I agreed to the interview, wondering what I had gotten myself into. The good news was that if I completely botched the interview, only people in Sweden would know about it!
I have to say that I had a wonderful time discussing Middletown with the interviewer. She asked great questions and we had a thoroughly enjoyable conversation about how Sweden is, how the US handles things like day care and health care, and how we had bounced back from the last recession.
Two stories were broadcast last week. The shorter one was in the news section. The longer story was broadcasted in a current affairs program. Both are in Swedish, but it’s still interesting to listen for a minute or two!
https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=1637&artikel=6535106
https://sverigesradio.se/sida/gruppsida.aspxprogramid=4403&grupp=22645&artikel=6534984
