I love NPR.
Yes, we’re
talking National Public Radio. I wish I could say that my love affair with NPR
is decades old, but sadly, that is not the case. I got my first taste of NPR in
the form of MPR – Minnesota Public Radio. During my nearly two years in
Minneapolis, I listened to the Current every single day.
It wasn’t until
I made the fateful move from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls that I really
discovered NPR and all it had to offer. I started my job in Sioux Falls about a
month before I could move into my Sioux Falls apartment. Luckily, I had two
temporary housing options. My grandma had just moved into assisted living, so
her house in Brookings (just under an hour away from Sioux Falls) sat empty.
James was teaching in Ellsworth (also just under an hour away from Sioux
Falls), and he had rented a house there. Don’t get me wrong: I was definitely
glad to have places to stay during my month-long homeless interim, but an hour
each way? YIKES!
It’s very
important for you to know that I’ve never been a morning person. I tend not to
get out of bed a minute before I absolutely have to. My job – like many –
required me to be there at 8, meaning I’d have to leave shortly after 7,
meaning I’d have to get up shortly after 6. I shudder at the memory.
The drive from
Ellsworth to Sioux Falls is boring. The drive from Brookings to Sioux Falls is
also boring. How was I going to keep myself from falling asleep and driving off
into the ditch during those early morning commutes? I have an iPod, but that
can only do so much. I’ve never been big on books on tape, so no thanks to
that. And in my past experience (a summer job that necessitated driving from
Arlington to Brookings every morning for two summers), morning radio was kind
of terrible: especially now that Paul Harvey had died! Woe was me.
On the very
first morning of my month of commuting, I decided to give the radio a try.
Within a few stations, I heard an interesting little story (I wish I could
remember what it was about). Then, another story. Then weather. Then some news.
And – to my delight – no commercials. I quickly found out that I was listening
to NPR. Until then, I had assumed that NPR was mostly made up of radio shows
about cooking and awkward interviews with academics. Boy, was I wrong.
Every day since
then, I’ve listened to NPR. I have started countless conversations off with “I
was listening to NPR and I heard…” James (a fellow NPR aficionado) and I even
became MPR members – a move that, honestly, was long overdue. Now we have NPR
car decals and t-shirts, and I’ve never been better informed in my life. It’s a
shame that it took me so long.
There are so
many things to love about NPR; I could go on forever. I managed to narrow my
long list of things I love about NPR to a manageable five.
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| James has a shirt, too! |
Ari Shapiro
Ari Shapiro is
an NPR White House Correspondent, and he’s got a hot-person voice. I’ve got a
radio crush on him, and he’s the only reason I didn’t get sick of the 2012
election coverage as quickly as I usually would. It’s rarely a good idea to
look up a picture of your favorite radio personality – the face in your
imagination never matches the actual face. Against my better judgment, I took a
chance and found a picture of Ari Shapiro. I am glad I took the risk. NPR has a
bunch of other correspondents that I definitely appreciate – Silvia Pagiolli
has this beautiful deep voice, and Paul Huttner is the happiest weatherman
you’ve ever heard. But Ari Shapiro’s got a lovely face to go with his lovely
voice, and I’m a tad bit shallow.
Car Talk
Car Talk had to grow on me. James was a big fan,
and he coerced me into listening early in my NPR days. A show dedicated to car
repair? I couldn’t think of anything more boring. It took an episode or two,
but against my better judgment, I started to look forward to Car Talk. I have James to thank for
that: these people will call in with questions about their shitty cars, and
James will say, “I’ve had that happen!” James has owned more junky cars than
anyone I know: he’s where cars go to die. Just like the Car Talk guys, it’s hard to stump James with a question about a
crappy car. So Car Talk is definitely
educational for me, as I know little to nothing about cars. Plus, it can be incredibly
funny – you should hear some of the car situations these people get into. Even
if you couldn’t care less about automotive repair (like me), you may find that Car Talk is still right up your alley.
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is the NPR news quiz, and it’s on right
after Car Talk on Saturday
afternoons. This show, hands down, is my favorite thing about NPR. I wish I was
half as witty as Peter Sagal, and Carl Kasell voice? AMAZING. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me has a panel of
three quasi-celebrities, as well as listeners who call in and play the games on
air. The games are “Who’s Carl This Time?” (Carl reads a quote and the listener
guesses who said it or what it’s about), “Bluff the Listener” (the panel reads
three crazy stories and the listener guess which one is true), “Not My Job” (a
celebrity calls in and is asked multiple-choice questions about something
totally unrelated to what they actually do), “Listener Limerick Challenge”
(this one is my favorite: Carl reads a limerick and the listener has to fill in
the last word), and “Lightning Fill-in-the-Blank” (where the panelists try to
fill-in-the-blank in as many news questions as possible in sixty seconds). Never
would I have thought that I would describe an NPR show as “hilarious,” but Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me fits the bill. And
seriously: you wouldn’t believe some of the things they say. A while ago, they
were talking about a new cereal that is supposed to increase sex drive, and they
were coming up with potential names: Count Crotchula being prime a example. Yep, NPR totally went there.
Science Friday
It’s not very
often that I get to listen to NPR on Friday afternoons (having a job that
normally requires me to be at work at that time makes it difficult), but when I
do, I get to listen to Science Friday. Yep:
Sci Fri. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that it’s all about science, but Ira
Flatow (another of my favorite NPR hosts) makes it just as interesting as Bill
Nye does/did (is that show still on?) on PBS. I’ve learned about all sorts of
crazy stuff thanks to Science Friday,
but my favorite was “Where's the Cuttlefish?” They had a segment about cuttlefish that
camouflage themselves, and they directed listeners to their website to look at
photos and try to find the cuttlefish. It’s “Where’s Waldo,” but science-y!
Marketplace and Marketplace Morning Report
Finally, Marketplace. I love Marketplace at 630 and Marketplace Morning Report (which airs at about 751 right after the weather with Paul
Huttner.) Marketplace is a half an hour show, and Marketplace Morning Report only
lasts around eight minutes, but they've both got little money tidbits from all around
the world. They’ve got the serious stuff, of course, like unemployment numbers
and world currency, but they usually end on something goofy: for example, they
had a little story about a guy who had called in sick to work to take a
vacation to Australia. While he was there, he saw a shark swimming towards some
kids, so he picked up the shark by the tail and flung it back into the sea. But
guess who saw his heroics on the news? His boss. And guess who got fired? See,
finance radio can be interesting! Their hosts are the BEST - David Brancaccio in the morning and Kai Ryssdal in the evening. They're snarky and can make even the dullest finance story seem enthralling. I also use Marketplace Morning Report to time when I’ll get to work. If I’m
not almost there by the time they say “let’s do the numbers” (they report on
the stock markets and play a sad song if they’re down, a happy song if they’re
up, and a mid-tempo song if they’re mixed – it’s those little details, NPR,
that keep me coming back), I know I’m going to have to speed up.
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| The voice of science! |
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| Where's the cuttlefish? |
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| This is the best picture I could find. Sorry. |
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