A Nasty Little Confession

I've become an NPR junkie. It started back in November when I was driving home from my anniversary run. I was tired of flipping around the dial trying to find music to enjoy, and I'd only brought my gym iPod, and since I listen to its music selection quite frequently yet don't add a lot to it, listening to its contents on an 8-hour drive was just overkill.

So what did I do? I tuned in to NPR. I listened to it on the public radio station out of OSU for a good while, and then I caught it again (after enjoying an Indian station out of Arlington, I think, for most of my trek through the Arbuckle Mountains) north of Fort Worth and finally landed on KUT on that long haul between Waco and Georgetown.

Because I listened to a few different public radio stations, I got to hear a few programs (or segments thereof) a few times, and I'll admit that while I didn't get to hear all of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me for that weekend, I enjoyed the hell out of it. And need I tell you how much informative NPR's news spots are? Or how entertaining and enlightening Fresh Air and All Things Considered are?

My Ears Take a Break
A few times over the past three or four years, I've simply stopped listening to my usual radio stations because I've grown weary of the music and the blather. This year (well, technically last year) I had to take a break from commercial radio because, well, I was sick and bloody tired of 101X playing a certain song from Kings of Leon every 15 minutes. While in the past I've tuned in to the local classical music station, this time around I opted for NPR because, as I said a few paragraphs back, that trip home from Okiemolah had me hooked.

And I think I'm a better person for it. For example, when the car of some NPR journalists was bombed in Iraq, I heard the really, really amazing audio from when it happened while I was driving to the gym one morning. I hear interviews with folks who make the news for one reason or another--politicians new and old, musicians, activists, movie and TV folks (not just the acting people), authors, analysts, thinkers, empty-headed spouters, etc.--that allow these people to be more than just a face or just a quote or just the celeb du jour.

Surprisingly enough, even the boy enjoys listening to whatever NPR has on when he's with me in the car. Just as he occasionally requests that some song or another that's playing on 101X be added to his iPod, he's requested that some story or some segment be added to his bedtime playlist. For example, the boy was quite enthralled with This American Life's annual "Poultry Slam" edition that we caught part of over the Thanksgiving weekend. One story involved The Penguin, while another was a story from the wife of the late Spalding Gray that involved a wayward bird. It was the latter that compelled him to request the program be added to his iPod. I myself thought it rather touching that the bird story--which the husband thought trite and schmaltz--was what caught his attention. Not that I wouldn't have been thrilled if the amusing story about The Penguin had been what had captured his attention....

Laughter: The Best Way to Survive Traffic and Other Annoyances
Here's the best part of NPR: I get to laugh a hell of a lot more than I did when I was listening primarily to commercial radio. Sure, Jason and Deb on 101X's morning show are amusing for the most part when I'm on my way to the gym, but sometimes they and other morning show people get tedious because you have to put up with commercial breaks. And you don't get them when you're out and about in the late morning, during the afternoons, at night or, worst of all, on the weekends. But on the weekends on NPR, you get a lot of opportunities to laugh. I so often flip over to NPR in my car and find some program on that's designed to make the thinking person laugh--and laugh a lot and laugh really hard.

If you need a laugh on this first weekend of 2009 (perhaps because you got your December statement from your bank or credit card issuer), you must listen to the New Year's 2008 edition of The Capitol Steps' "Politics Takes a Holiday." The boys and I caught snippits of it while running around this morning (after kickboxing and bagging up for recycling the leaves in the backyard we'd raked up yesterday), and the husband and I just had to listen to the whole thing once the boy was down for his nap.

So do yourself a favor this evening, Gentle Reader. Keep the TV off (because the FSM knows nothing decent comes on Sunday evenings, and once you've heard Andy Rooney bitch about one thing, rest assured his bitchings about other things are exactly the same), browse over to The Capitol Steps' site, download the New Year's 2007 show while you pop some popcorn and pour yourself a beverage, then sit back with your refreshments and enjoy the show. You won't regret it--unless you spill your beverage all over the place or snort it out your nose in one of your laughing fits.