Favorite public radio programs

February 20, 2006 5:26 PM

Recommendations for public radio programs

Could you recommend programs from your local public radio station that you particularly enjoy. Music, talk, discussion, anything.

I already listen to the more famous ones like Talk of the Nation, This American Life, Car Talk, Fresh Air, etc. and am looking for smaller, less well known programs.

Thanks

posted by sk381 to media & arts (27 comments total)

You can find some great answers in this thread.
posted by fandango_matt at 5:36 PM on February 20, 2006

Probably not small in Australia, but Radio National's Late Night Live with Phillip Adams is one I would've never caught without podcasting. An hour-long show every weekday. Interviews, discussion—good food for the brain.

And if you're interested in good movie reviews and discussion, check out Adam and Sam's twice-weekly Cinecast podcast.
posted by blueberry at 5:38 PM on February 20, 2006

WCBN, U of Michigan student radio. Nice music,ect.
posted by JohnR at 5:49 PM on February 20, 2006

Open Source
posted by trey at 5:55 PM on February 20, 2006

I love love love Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Love it. Laugh my butt off every week.
posted by fuzzbean at 5:56 PM on February 20, 2006

My local public radio station makes Prairie Home Companion. It's not bad. It's a slice of rural, Midwestern life. I enjoy Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me out of Chicago WBEZ, I think. Marketplace Money isn't bad either. It's kind of like a radio version of the Motley Fool. Weekend America is kind of like All Things Considered, but with more fun and less hard news. The Minnesota Public Radio midmorning show is really second-to-none. The former host ended up being a sidekick on Al Franken's show for a year or two. today they had a dicussion in which two professors were bickering at each other over international courts. Good stuff.
posted by my sock puppet account at 5:59 PM on February 20, 2006

WJCT's Electro Lounge is...well, you can get the show description and programming lists from the link. Usually cool, sometimes, meh... This Is Jazz is usually two worthwhile hours a week.

Real radio, from real people.
posted by paulsc at 6:30 PM on February 20, 2006

A Way with Words
posted by sohcahtoa at 6:42 PM on February 20, 2006

American Radio Works
Australia's ABC Radio National (take your pick of programs)
BBC's In Our Time
posted by DirtyCreature at 7:06 PM on February 20, 2006

Link for ABC Radio National should be this.
posted by DirtyCreature at 7:08 PM on February 20, 2006

My local station produces a neat movie program"Take Two"
happens to be broadcasting right now.
posted by hortense at 7:09 PM on February 20, 2006

I'm not sure if it is syndicated, but World View from WBEZ in Chicago is a terrific international affairs program. WBEZ streams real-time, so you can hear at noon CST Monday through Friday.
posted by hwestiii at 7:21 PM on February 20, 2006

American Routes. Folk, jazz, blues, roots american music. I'd be a religious listener if it didn't get played from 5-9AM sunday mornings where I live. I set an alarm clock and leave the radio on over night, manage wake up and listen while I'm half asleep.
posted by kjell at 7:56 PM on February 20, 2006

Democracy Now! Amy Goodman is a truly insightful reporter.
posted by caddis at 8:43 PM on February 20, 2006

Kim Hill has a Saturday morning show on National Radio NZ that's always worth listening to. Interviews, history, science, politics, arts.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/saturday
posted by dydecker at 9:26 PM on February 20, 2006

Kim Hill

I also like the interviews Linda Clark does on her Nine to Noon show. For example today's guest was with a professor who patiently explained to me why children are innately aggressive (truly eye-opening stuff!)
posted by dydecker at 9:37 PM on February 20, 2006

I like KCRW's Left, Right and Center. Its a 30 minute, weekly show on politics. WNYC programs are also pretty good. In particular I like the Brian Leher Show and the Leonard Lopate Show.
posted by mmascolino at 9:40 PM on February 20, 2006

KCRW The Business - Hollywood insider gossip done wit a proper amount of snarkiness. Not People magazine gossip but producer/director/studio gossip. Better than it sounds.

KCRW The Treatment - Elvis Mitchell interviewing (mostly) directors about their recent or new movies.

CBC Radio 3 - unsigned Canadian bands you've never heard of. A good way to hear new music.

NPR Music - NPR collects all there music related stories and stuffs them into a Podcast

WNYC Sound Check - a really well rounded music show. Interviews with musicians and composers, topical discussions with music critics or historians. Almost always interesting.

(all of these are available as podcasts)
posted by doctor_negative at 11:12 PM on February 20, 2006

Oh yeah, if you're in the mood for intense, verbose, extremely well foot-noted conspiracy theory, don't miss Dave Emory on WFMU. Also available as a podcast.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:19 PM on February 20, 2006

Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap, The Simpsons) has been doing Le Show every Sunday for 22 years, via KCRW. It's an hour of news from "outside the bubble", Apologies of the Week, dramatizations, commentary, and much more. It's available in an infinite number of distributions, including podcast.
posted by neuron at 12:04 AM on February 21, 2006

Eklektikos with John Aielli (from KUT-FM in Austin). Frequently amazing, occasionally confounding mixes of all kinds of music, with frequent live music guests as well. No podcast, but try the station's live stream -- the show runs from 9am-1pm Central Time.

PublicRadioFan has been mentioned here in the past -- it's a great directory of public radio programming.
posted by skyboy at 4:16 AM on February 21, 2006

The Diane Rehm Show

The Kojo Nnamdi Show

Go, Kojo!
posted by ersatzkat at 5:24 AM on February 21, 2006

I heart Kojo.
posted by grateful at 6:40 AM on February 21, 2006

On the Media
posted by owen at 8:04 AM on February 21, 2006

I'll second DirtyCreature's plug for In Our Time - it's an amazing show, featuring a panel of academics and experts discussing fairly esoteric issues - the current series has ranged from the the quest for the theoretical gravity particle to philosophy, evangelism and fund-raising in the 13th century Church via the evolution of mammals!

Also, if you can wait a little while, plenty more BBC programmes are getting the podcast treatment, including audio from Newsnight (a news/current affairs TV show) as well as radio.
posted by jack_mo at 8:41 AM on February 21, 2006

I like Quirks and Quarks, the science program from CBC Radio (Canada's national public radio).

I also like the shows on Transom.org, ("an experiment in channeling new work and voices to public radio").
posted by mbrubeck at 10:14 AM on February 21, 2006

I'm a fan of Definitly Not The Opera on CBC1. Unfortunately they don't have archives of their show online but you can get it on Sirius satelite or streaming off the web here.

Also a nod towards Quirks and Quarks which does have a downloadable archive.

Another favorite is Ideas also on CBC1 but again no downloadable archive.
posted by cm at 11:11 AM on February 21, 2006