Mike Crowe

November 25, 2000

I hear you frequently on our public radio station WSLU in Canton NY, the REAL “Upstate New York” – 18 miles from the Canadian border, Eh? Often you are said by the host to live in “Upstate New York”. As a New Yorker, you appreciate that there can be more descriptive words to describe the wonderful variety in the state than just “The City” and “Upstate” ( being everything North of the Throgs Neck Bridge.) I was hoping you could use your considerable weight (wrong word) – influence – with the NPR folks to educate them about New York having places like The Hudson Valley, The Champlain Valley, The Capital Region, The Mohawk Valley, Central New York, The Finger Lakes, The North Country, The Adirondacks, Western New York, The Genesee Valley, The Niagara Frontier and the Southern Tier, The Adirondacks and the Catskills. Perhaps a nice NPR segment on Upstate New York would help the host, reporters and listeners learn that things that happen outside the City happen in a variety of quite different places and not just Non NYC “Upstate”. Or, if they are obdurate and want to use just two geographic references for the State, suggest Canton, NY and “Downstate.”

You should take this up with wesat@npr.org. I don't know anything about it, being a lundsman, pure and simple.