posted
I just wanted to sing the praises of National Public Radio! THEY ROCK! I listen to NPR every day and it is my favorite source of news. My station plays the BBC half the day so it's also great for getting that international perspective. No hype, no stupid fake entertainment like the TV new magazines, just good old reporting. Sure...it's at times a little biased, leaning to the left a bit...but a fair trade I say from the horror of other news media. All hail NPR! Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree. I love NPR! This American Life and On The Media are the best reasons around for a lazy Saturday afternoon.
The news is great - very thorough. It leans a bit to the left, but that counterbalances all the right-leaning voices around me.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Talk of the Nation, Fresh Air, This American Life, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me...all great shows.
I used to listen to As It Happens, which was a plesantly irreverant Canadian news program distributed by...PRI, I think. Great show, but my radio station stopped carrying it.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
But it is quite biased. I remember back in the months before the Iraq War. It seemed like every single day NPR was reporting about protests being held against the invasion of Iraq. Listening to NPR, I believed that I was in a tiny minority of people that supported the idea of invading Iraq. Once we did invade and the main-stream media started talking about the support for it, I realized that I had been deceived by NPR. There was *much* more support for the war than NPR led me to believe.
posted
News should be culled from many sources. I like NPR and Slate because they are left-leaning without making me roll my eyes or want to throw things.
The Wall Street Journal does the same for the right-leaning side. Well, that, plus just about everyone I personally know.
posted
Prarie Home Companion! Yay!! I love that too. It's weird because it is so traditional yet so liberal...but it works.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I liked Prarie Home Companion when I was younger, but I rarely listen to it as an adult. Some of the funny bits are still good, but the show feels a little stale to me when I do catch an airing of it these days. Of course, that might say more about me than it does about the quality of the show.
By the way, if you don't have a popup blocker, be prepared to be deluged when you click on Geoff's link. Nothing pornographic or anything; just an annoying number of popup ads.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I only got one pop-up. I watch news hour once in a great long while. I've got kids of an age and disposition that it's not really worthwhile to listen to any radio.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
pooka, I have to ask. What does you listening to NPR have to do with your kids?
I have a vivid memory of my dad taking me to school every day of second grade at 7:30 exactly. I know it was 7:30 exactly because we listenen to Paul Harvey's News and Comment, and the Rest of the Story lasted the exact length of the ride to school.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
That said, I'm only REALLY annoyed by their liberalism on Saturday nights from 8pm-1am. This is when Traditions, with Mary Cliff, airs. Every once in a while she'll play some modern liberal fight tune that makes my teeth ache. For all that, it's still a wonderful program.
The only program that I strenuously object to is 'Hearts of Space.' Really. Bad. New. Age.
It's unforgiveable that my tax $$ are spent on it. Thank goodness it comes on after 11p on Sundays-- you know they aren't spending lots of money on it.
posted
Oh no! Look out! Here comes the NPR protection racket! Give to their spring drive or you'll get it! Heheh...
But Phanto, NPR is not really THAT biased. It is a LITTLE but it goes with the territory. Intelligent people have a tendency to be biased to other intelligent people. You don't have to give money if you don't want to.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's not the content, is that my son always seems annoyed by any unnecessary noise. I guess I could growl "we're leaving it on because I SAID SO!" But then I would feel really guilty and have to buy them ice cream. So it's cheaper to just not listen to anything. Note I said any radio. That also includes Dr. Laura and the Retro station.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I hardly think the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts are wastes of our tax money. But hey... that's just me. Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Mike you bring up a good point... the lack of broadcasting power. Poor NPR has so little juice that often it's got static or if you're in a big building you can't get reception either from the interference.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
NPR is the only thing on the radio I listen to. I fall asleep to classical music at night and I wake up to Morning Edition. Yes, it's left-leaning, but I like it a lot more than "All patriotism all the time" of TV news.
I really like Fresh Air. I really like interviews and Terri Gross has a really great voice.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Holy blap! Is it that much??? You could buy a chocolate bar with that much money! Blood sucking government scum!
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Telp, you say it's worth it to you. That's great -- you would be willing to donate to the NPR charity. But should people that don't like it be forced at gun-point to donate to it?
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's up to the Endowment for the Arts to make that choice. They donate for the art programs...we just get the slightly left leaning interview programs as a bonus. Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Actually, if you take the current population (293,396,087) divided by the NPR funding (380,000,000) it's only about $0.77 per person. Next year, if the population remains constant, it will only be $0.75 per person. Personally, I'd much rather they spend 380 million on NPR than on some new military toy that doesn't work. So, how about I spend my tax dollars on NPR and you can spend yours on silly military pork.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hell, I don't even listen to NPR and I'd still rather the money go there than on some of the stupid stuff it does.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh don't worry, Phanto. Your money is what was used to make the bullets that are used in Iraq. My money went to NPR.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I gotta say Car Talk is my favorite program. Those guys are so dang funny.
I pretty much listen to NPR exclusively--on my way to work and on my way home. Robert Siegel is a bit stuffy, but the news shows are excellent. Before I found NPR I was thinking news had completely gone to pot.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
<-- has fond memories of going garage-sale shopping with his father and listening to Car Talk.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't think you could field more than a few fighter jets for what it costs to keep NPR on the air. Money well spent. And that is only a piece of their funding (and it is going down). I think a lot of funding is still local both from individual listeners and local and national corporations. Would that all public media ran this way. More content (you can't listen to AM radio without hundreds of ads per hour it seems) and a bit more variety in programming.
I can't see the liberal bias (other than it not being like mainstream radio or television which is so far up the right's bum right now... ) and you won't hear a show like Rush or Beck have folks from many points of view in discussions. Give me the weekly news roundup on the Diane Rheme show where you get the left and right and middle perspectives.
And this isn't Monty Python's "The Argument Clinic" like you get on television pundit shows (The Daily Show does it great by having little kids read transcripts from those shows). These are well thought out discussions with all sides presented fairly and with opportunities to ask questions. Good hosts cut off people if they get hot headed or argumentative. Great stuff.
Does it lean Liberal? That depends on your point of view. There are people who claim that if its not Rush, then it leans left. I find it very informative and gives a wide range of perspectives.
I've also had times when I had to turn it off for a few months because I was tired of listening to "the world will end and its all our fault." It can dish out more guilt and negative views than my mother--Carcinogens, global warming, global cooling, lost resources, murderous thugs in all these countries. I get upset and turn it off, replacing it with Country music.
Then, after a few months I get tired of listening to some really intelligence insulting Country song and I turn NPR back on.
Luckilly, I have found recently that Country is getting more and more intelligent (minus one @#$# artist who "can't tell the difference between Iraq and Iran"), and NPR is getting less and less depressive.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I heard a really...uplifting story yesterday about a doctor in LA who removes gang tattoos for free, to allow the tattooed a shot at erasing the past and starting over.
---
My biggest problem is with Tavis Smiley. He seems intelligent and a good interviewer. Why on earth is his show "All Racism and Victims, All the Time"? I appreciate the perspective, but isn't it just as insulting for the black host to fanatically stick to black subjects as it is not to have the show on at all? Did Tavis Smiley choose this constant theme?
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I like Tavis to a degree but I really like the guy who fills in for him from time to time. I think the Smiley show is to answer a need in NPR programming which is a dearth of African-American hosts or related themes. I guess. I don't think it is "racism" all the time, but it is important issues around race that need discussion. He also does other news issues, but still takes the perspective of "how does this effect African-American listeners."
His live show on PBS seems to be less about this and more about interviewing people he finds interesting (I have only watched the show a few times and there wasn't any of the racial-centered guests or stories).
Our local affiliate plays BBC News for an hour a day. That is really cool and diverse programming. It is nice to hear about how the rest of the world tells stories about the rest of the world (and about us, too).
posted
I was in Louisville KY and heard an amazing Public Radio station. it was some music program on a rainy saturday afternoon that sold me.
In the same set they played Mike Ness, Booth and the Bad Angel, Hank III, and Kitchens of Distinction. It was the most random set i'd ever heard. but i was hooked.
Posts: 1572 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Bubba the Love Sponge, I believe, is the replacement for Bob Edwards.
--
I had an enlightening NPR experience today. I moved home for the summer (230 measley miles) and went from being in Yellowstone Public Radio range to Montana Public Radio, so my programming is all thrown off.
But today, at 1:00, I turned on NPR wondering if I'd find my accustomed From the Top broadcast. Instead, I heard.... World Music Hour! The first three songs were by AfroCelt Sound System, Cheb Mami and IAM. I was so excited I almost peed my pants. I'm not the only eccentric music kid in Montana! It was beautiful.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I listen to NPR every day and it is my favorite source of news. My station plays the BBC half the day so it's also great for getting that international perspective. No hype, no stupid fake entertainment like the TV new magazines, just good old reporting. Sure...it's at times a little biased, leaning to the left a bit...but a fair trade I say from the horror of other news media.![[Hail]](graemlins/hail.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wall Bash]](graemlins/wallbash.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Heheh...![[Wink]](wink.gif)
You don't have to give money if you don't want to.
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
lol Bob!
![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
) and you won't hear a show like Rush or Beck have folks from many points of view in discussions. Give me the weekly news roundup on the Diane Rheme show where you get the left and right and middle perspectives. 
