The Great Wasteland that is Radio
Joe Carter and Jeremy Pierce have both come out today with a blog entry on NPR and Talk Radio. Joe has some weak praise for NPR radio and strong condemnation for just about everything else on the (non-XM) radio dial. Jeremy opines that NPR while good, does seem to treat us in flyoverland (and our culture) as anthropological curiosities.
I have two small points to add to the mix.
I'd like to point out that we have at least one radio gem here in Chicago (and anywhere if you're on the internet as it is webcast). Milt Rosenberg's Extension 720 is a great radio show. It's an evening show (9-11pm weekdays) but the topics and discussions are great. Whenever I'm driving and it's after 9 (and no damn baseball game is being broadcast), that's where my radio dial is tuned.
Finally, for the long drive and possibly for the commute,although to be honest my commute either is short or long and on a bike, I would recommend going to the dreaded public library and checking out books on tape. The odd thing, I found about books on tape, is that my tastes are different. When I read for pleasure, I tend to read very different material than what I find I can listen to while driving. The combination of being a captive audience (stuck in a car for an n-hour drive (where n is a number bigger than I might prefer) and the fact that my attention is a little distracted by the act of driving might be the cause. For me, I found most interesting were long histories and biographies. Long books on Gaudalcanal, Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, and the John Adams biography are all books that are ordinarily not on the top of my reading list. But put me in a car, and that list changes shape.
I have two small points to add to the mix.
I'd like to point out that we have at least one radio gem here in Chicago (and anywhere if you're on the internet as it is webcast). Milt Rosenberg's Extension 720 is a great radio show. It's an evening show (9-11pm weekdays) but the topics and discussions are great. Whenever I'm driving and it's after 9 (and no damn baseball game is being broadcast), that's where my radio dial is tuned.
Finally, for the long drive and possibly for the commute,although to be honest my commute either is short or long and on a bike, I would recommend going to the dreaded public library and checking out books on tape. The odd thing, I found about books on tape, is that my tastes are different. When I read for pleasure, I tend to read very different material than what I find I can listen to while driving. The combination of being a captive audience (stuck in a car for an n-hour drive (where n is a number bigger than I might prefer) and the fact that my attention is a little distracted by the act of driving might be the cause. For me, I found most interesting were long histories and biographies. Long books on Gaudalcanal, Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, and the John Adams biography are all books that are ordinarily not on the top of my reading list. But put me in a car, and that list changes shape.
posted by Mark at 11/24/2004 10:25:00 AM
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