# National Public Radio and you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** radio-podcast\ **Created:** [June 13, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107 "2022-06-13T14:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/41 "2022-06-14T03:32:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I can’t say I have ever heard a public radio reporter or commentator fulminating. You’re right, the reporters don’t fulminate. However, the stories are written and presented so that _you_ will do all the fulmination. I don’t have the energy for that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/42 "2022-06-14T03:54:41Z")
I’ve been listening to NPR affiliates for a long time now. I started out on Jefferson Public Radio in Southern Oregon which broadcast multiple stations but I generally listened to their _Rhythm and News_ channel, which played non-stop eclectic music from 9a-3p and the usual morning and afternoon news programs. After moving north to Corvallis I listened to KLCC out of Lane Community College which had more programming and less music. Now here in Vancouver I listen to KOPB from Oregon Public Broadcasting out of Portland. I tend to enjoy Fresh Air, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, and Radiolab. I don’t mind Morning Edition or All Things Considered for news content. I’m not on the road long enough to really hear much so I listen to most programs on podcasts when I go for a walk or run. One program the JPR station I mentioned above played a lot was eTown\*, a music variety program featuring live music and interviews with the performers. I’m actually not the biggest fan and when I was back in the Rogue Valley visiting friends this weekend, I was a bit annoyed with the station’s decision to play like 3 consecutive episodes of the program. ETA: By eTown I actually meant Mountain Stage. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/43 "2022-06-14T04:02:27Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I listen to NPR stations…pretty much all the time I’m in the car, and all Saturday and Sunday morning that I am home. That’s us! My wife found a map/list of every NPR station and printed it out (in case we have no signal on a road trip, I guess). For our usual trips through the midwest, I have all of them memorized… And I’m starting to recognize landmarks where we can switch over. (“Look, hon, the falling-down barn with the ineffective Good Luck Hex Symbol on it! Tune up to 89.7!”) And on Saturday morning I head off to our farmer’s market while she catches up later, after _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me_ and all the other morning shows. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/44 "2022-06-14T04:04:28Z")
> [@digs](#): > > My wife found a map/list of every NPR station and printed it out (in case we have no signal on a road trip, I guess). There used to be a pledge bonus that was a colorful map of affiliates nationwide. I think I had it at one point. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/45 "2022-06-14T04:36:16Z")
Fresh Air is entirely dependent on the guest. A celebrity or creaative-type is almost always an instant NO. But “Michael Scott is a reporter with the Sheboygan Review whose recent story details the complicated relationship between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel and Mastercard” makes me wish I didn’t have to get out of the car when I get to my destination. I do like Terry. > [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > It feels like people trying too hard to entertain. I feel the exact same way. There’s a few nuggets of haha in there but it just seems forced. > [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > One reporter I don’t like: Mary Louise Kelly. Reason: it’s like she crowds the mic and when she inhales, the microphone gets every bit of it. She’s ok and I haven’t noticed the inhale except when she’s trying to cut off/get a word in when someone’s going on too long but that’s the technique of all of the interviewers use. I do get bugged when she does the concern sigh or concern murmurs, though. > [@Acsenray](#): > > His show was my least favorite NPR culture program. I never liked APHC although I’d sometimes get into the car when it was on and I’d enjoy a song where he wasn’t singing. Then, he’d start talking and I’m heading straight to the classic rock station. And Garrison’s nose breathing sounds were ponderous. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/46 "2022-06-14T11:10:51Z")
I listen to KBAQ which isn’t what one would call “NPR” even though it is. It’s just a classical radio station that has no commercials and infrequent pledge drives. 🙂 I had to have far too much dental work when I was young, and the dentist always had “All Things Considered” on. To this day I can’t listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/47 "2022-06-14T12:09:15Z")
You left out [Squirrel Cop.](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/115/first-day/act-two-0) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/48 "2022-06-14T12:11:13Z")
I certainly did. That was definitely a highlight. Highly recommend. The Taylor Dayne story is in this episode: [Invisible Made Visible - This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/464/invisible-made-visible) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/49 "2022-06-14T13:29:33Z")
BTW, I see that cowboy and large animal veterinarian contributor to Morning Edition [Baxter Black](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baxter_Black) died last Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/50 "2022-06-14T14:02:53Z")
I listen to a local public radio station (KPCC Pasadena, KCRW Santa Monica) during about half of my commutes\*. I like their news programs, but don’t listen to other programs for the most part. I do try to catch two programs in particular: Marketplace (distributed by American Public Radio, not NPR) and Left, Right & Center (by KCRW). Marketplace does good overviews of economy stuff. I like it when the call up various small business owners to get their local perspectives. Left, Right & Center is great for hearing partisan perspectives. \*Other half of my commutes are podcasts or chatting on the phone. Anyone else do “co-commutes” where you chat with a friend who’s also commuting at the same time? Maybe it’s an L.A. thing. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/51 "2022-06-14T14:24:42Z")
If I’m in the car, the radio is either playing the music I’ve saved to my phone, or it’s NPR. I love NPR. Other than PBS, they are the most reasonable and reliable news source for me. And I find things like Story Corps to be routinely poignant or worthwhile. But my favorite are the niche programs, like Wait, Wait; This American Life; or RadioLab. Hidden Brain is also regularly fascinating. And Terry Gross is a national treasure - she engages in conversation, and is always well versed in her guests work, and I could listen to her talk to people all day. It is true that some things don’t connect with me - I did turn off Garrison Keillor, and that Wait, Wait knockoff (Ask Me Another) annoys me. And I could do without Saturday morning puzzle games. But even that stuff is preferable to regular radio programming. > [@zimaane](#): > > some of the hosts have strange verbal tics, like the Saturday guy with the exaggerated HAW HAW HAW laugh Scott Simon is a mensch! You take that back! > [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > One reporter I don’t like: Mary Louise Kelly. Reason: it’s like she crowds the mic and when she inhales, the microphone gets every bit of it. When she first started, she drove me nuts because I kept hearing “mouth sounds” while she articulated her words: After a short time, though, it subsided and I don’t notice it anymore. It occurred to me later that she was probably nervous when she first began the role, and had a very dry mouth. Now, I like her voice. And (if I can be forgiven for being so bold) she’s quite fetching, which is surprising considering her job is a radio one. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/52 "2022-06-14T14:32:45Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > My son is (was?) a big fan of This American Life. He especially recommended to me a story about something that had happened at Columbia University, I think, involving something about phone messages and the Little Mermaid. “Comedy gold,” the narrator kept calling it, but it wasn’t even remotely amusing in my memory and the backstory wasn’t even remotely interesting. Very self-indulgent, I thought. I listened to several other pieces at my son’s urging, most of which were mundane and pointless at best and dull and boring at worst. Maybe I’m just not the right audience for the show. I’m a fan of listening to “This American Life” in podcast form. If I had to listen to it on the radio without the ability to skip past uninteresting segments, I would have given up on it long ago. I also listen to the “Planet Money” podcasts (again skipping past episodes I’m not interested in). In terms of CBC programs, I like listening to “As It Happens” on occasion (e.g. while cooking dinner or on long car trips). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/53 "2022-06-14T15:08:59Z")
I like NPR. I like morning edition and all things considered. I enjoy wait wait don’t tell me as background (my husband listens to it). I didn’t like ask me another, and I find this american life variable. Some of them are fascinating, and some make me change the channel. I never really liked a prairie home companion. Planet money is okay. I enjoyed car talk, but don’t really miss it. > [@asterion](#): > > Every time I flipped it on, it was nothing but American politics and all-Trump-all-the-time leavened with some “everything everywhere is racist and sexist” and I just gave up. I haven’t found this to be true. I like NPR news in part because it ISN’T all screaming headlines. And it does pick up some important international news, unlike most of my other news sources. (For instance, my NPR affiliate plays an hour of BBC world service, which I like.) > [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I’ll be honest, I can’t remember whether it was NPR or whether it was Rachel Maddow on MSNBC who said it (MSNBC is doing it too), but I clearly recall somebody fulminating on the air about an incident in which a PERSON IN A WHEELCHAIR was among those arrested at a protest. See, that doesn’t sound anything like NPR to me. That sounds like Rachel Maddow (whom I don’t listen to, because she annoys me.) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/54 "2022-06-14T17:34:17Z")
> [@2\_More\_Bits](#): > > What other countries have something equivalent? I don’t know NPR, but the BBC has [Radio4](https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7j) (general speech - some news, current affairs background features, information, drama and comedy) and [Radio5](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/schedules/bbc_radio_five_live) for 24-hour news and sport, and a chain of local radio stations which will have some local news and current affairs programming as well as music. There are also commercial competitors, with some degree of public service obligation in their licences, as well as the obligation to be balanced in reporting and commentating. The BBC also has a [World Service](https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl9p), which is predominantly news and current affairs ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/55 "2022-06-14T18:47:51Z")
I practically only listen to radio in the car and I’ve been listening to NPR/Public radio stations since I moved to the US. If there’s something on I don’t enjoy I’ll search around for music, but around here that seems to almost entirely be country or christian and interspersed with trumpian ads or hosts, so I stick with WUNC if my wife is not in the car to provide a podcast. No program that sticks out as “I won’t listen to that”, but I turn off the occasional segment I don’t enjoy and I’m sure if I could remember them there would be clusters in some programs. Does Norway have anything similar? That depends on what one considers similar. Norway still has a national (former monopolist) broadcasting corporation. They had two radio channels when I was a kid, now they have dozens? I guess the older ones of those are more similar to NPR programming than anything else on the airwaves in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/56 "2022-06-14T18:51:20Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > You left out [Squirrel Cop.](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/115/first-day/act-two-0) Also this great piece on the Schoolcraft situation - [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/414/transcript](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/414/transcript) ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/57 "2022-06-15T12:54:05Z")
If I’m in the US I enjoy listening to NPR, and I sometimes listen to it in Montreal where I’m living at the moment. I enjoy the current affairs shows such as All Things Considered and I also enjoy This American Life. My only complaint is that there are a couple of prominent female presenters with really bad vocal fry who have rendered otherwise really interesting topics and interviews completely unlistenable to me. I love The World, usually presented by Marco Werman; to me it’s a fantastic, no BS show that’s really interesting and informative. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/58 "2022-06-15T13:34:25Z")
NPR is by far my most listened-to station. You think NPR is boring, listen to regular radio with its 20-song playlists. If regular radio played deeper cuts and had more individualized DJ input rather than playing computer-generated playlists, I might listen to it more often. When driving, what makes me pass my time most is being engrossed in a story or listening to interesting spoken content. For that reason, local news radio gets a top-tier preset spot, too. As for programs, I most look forward to _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me_, _Sound Opinions_, _This American Life_, _The Moth Radio Hour_, _Curious City_ (a short, local Chicago-based segment that answers a listeners question about the city), _Science Friday_, _All Things Considered_. There’s also stuff from other markets that I look up like _Ask Me Another_ (nowhere near as good as _Wait Wait_, but still engaging). There’s really very little I won’t listen to on that station. With Internet radio, when I want music and a more fresh and interesting mix, I listen to BBC Radio 6 mostly, and sometimes KEXP. Locally, in the mornings, I will listen to Q101 on drives, because they have a little quiz show called \*Are You Smarter than Know-it Ali?" (as in the female name more often spelled Ally). I like talk-type content for my morning drives, punctuated with the occasional song. I’ll also occasionally listen to WXRT (an alternative rock station). But for music, they get really annoying after about thirty minutes listening to the same damned music I’ve heard for the last 30 years. Even the current stuff they play is boring music to me: I’m not a fan of Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, Of Monsters for Men, and that sort of stuff. To be fair, their playlists are a decent mix of music, but it’s still almost all over-played crap. GIVE ME A DEEP CUT! There was or is (I’m not sure) an secondary HD radio station for The Drive FM that plays classic rock deep cuts, but neither of our two cars plays HD radio, and the one car that did got totalled in a rear-ender last year. Too bad, as that was a nice change-of-pace. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/59 "2022-06-15T13:44:08Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > _Ask Me Another_ was _so_ hipster self-congratulatory, and all you need to follow it was having sat in front of the TV as a kid in the 80’s. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > In that case, may I recommend _Says You!_ It’s somewhere in between _My Word_ and _Ask Me Another_. > [@Moriarty](#): > > It is true that some things don’t connect with me - I did turn off Garrison Keillor, and that Wait, Wait knockoff (Ask Me Another) annoys me. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I didn’t like ask me another, > [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s also stuff from other markets that I look up like _Ask Me Another_ (nowhere near as good as _Wait Wait_, but still engaging) “Ask Me Another” was cancelled in September: [Ask Me Another : NPR](https://www.npr.org/programs/ask-me-another/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107/60 "2022-06-15T13:48:50Z")
Ah, well, I guess it’s been awhile since I tried looking it up. 🙂 There was another show – maybe this will ring a bell with someone – that was not carried on WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio), but I would sometimes catch on Milwaukee’s affiliate (or some other NPR affiliate north of Chicago) when I was up in that direction. It was an audience participation-type show with quiz games. That’s about all I remember about it. I feel like it may have been a show produced by Madison or Milwaukee – there was something Midwestern-feeling to it, as I remember. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Last I remember listening to it was around 10 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-public-radio-and-you/966107.md?page=4)