June 11, 2009

BBC comes to TD, OR
‘World Have Your Say’ samples Americana — with syrup

By Sam Craig
of The Chronicle

     Momma Jane’s Pancake House can now officially call itself “World Famous.”
The breakfast spot in The Dalles hosted the BBC program that’s also aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting, “World Have Your Say” Wednesday morning. The show, hosted by Ros Atkins, drew a capacity crowd to Momma Jane’s for a conversation, literally, with the rest of the world.
     Calls came in from Mumbai, Nairobi and England among others to discuss the topic of unemployment. The caller from Nairobi informed the crowd his country was suffering from a lack of pancake houses and prefers healthier fare like yams over hotcakes.
It looked a bit like the inside of an anthill as the host, a crew of a half-dozen or so, and a bevy of wait staff hustled and bustled their way through the restaurant.
     Green-tipped microphones were held to the mouths of locals by BBC staffers in order to debate the merits of unemployment insurance and the overall lack of jobs with callers spread across the globe. Twitter tweets, blog comments and emails shot off the inkjet and into the hands of the blue-t-shirted staffers who would quickly run them over to Momma Jane’s patrons to read in between bites of home fries.
     “I’m really overwhelmed by all of this,” said Jane Shepard, proprietor and official Jane of Momma Jane’s. “This is out of my area of my expertise. Two weeks ago they called. When they first called, we all thought it was a joke. The BBC? Are you kidding? It’s really cool.”
     Recommended to the staff of “World Have Your Say” by Steve Miles, the City of The Dalles code enforcement officer, the show, which was broadcasting from Portland the rest of the week, didn’t want anyone to stop what they were doing on their account.
     “If you need to answer cell phones,” Atkins said before the show, “Go right ahead. Clink glasses, converse. We’re in a real American pancake house and the world should hear that.”
     After the hour-long show, the microphone runners, signal relayers and production assistants packed up for the trek back to Portland’s Pioneer Square for the next day’s show, but not before Atkins invited the Momma Jane’s crowd out for a proper pint at a Portland pub.
     The first-time pancake house experience may have been a bit of a shock to the system of some of the British workers, as attested to by one of their frequent tweets on the web site, Twitter:
     “Coconut syrup, pancakes, eggs, fruit, coffee, sausage patties,” it read. “This isn't so much breakfast as an assault. I may be stretchered out.”
     To listen to a podcast of yesterday’s show, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whys/