Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with talkradio

If the real thing don't do the trick

peachfuzz — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:02:46 -0800

Just curious-filter: Who chooses music for talk radio, and how do they do it? On the big NPR shows, there will always be a piece of out music after an interview or report. I'm curious about who chooses it, and how - sometimes it makes (perhaps dubious) sense with the context of the piece (i.e., the opening bars of "Barracuda" after a piece about Sarah Palin), and you'd think it was selected ahead of time and planned for, but occasionally it indicates some fast footwork on someone's part - this is a silly example, but a few weeks ago a commentator used the word "beshert" at the end of a piece that had nothing to do with Judaism or Yiddish or anything remotely related, and the out music was, bizarrely, a snippet from Yentl. Weird! Is it just some associate producer with a sense of silly humor? Who's involved in making that call?

Larger question - how does music, er, work in a format like this? Do radio stations have huge libraries of music available at all times that they have the rights to play? Or does someone need to think of something and then chase it down?

Using Online Radio for Foreign Language Immersion

RavinDave — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:27:31 -0800

Looking for favorites among the MeFi regulars in the category of: Foreign Language radio streams, suitable for language immersion and/or passive practice. Yeah, I can use Google with the best of'em. I'm well aware there are dozens of ginormous lists and dedicated websites categorizing an absurdly large number of radio stations from around the globe.

Problem is -- precious few of them seem to be of much value. I log onto some Dutch site advertised as "News" and "Talk" and it is invariably playing 90% American music (usually from the 80's). It's a bit discouraging.

And I'm also aware of mega-sites like BBC, VOA, RFI and Deutsche-Welle. These are wonderful resources for the language learner, but I keep thinking: I can do better. I can find something a bit less polished, more colloquial. Something with a more local flavor.

Thus, I turn to the MeFi hive mind to see if anyone has any specific bookmarks they might wanna share.

The ideal stations would not only have plenty of straight news broadcasts, but also interviews, discussions, maybe some caller interaction. The less music, the better (I can find that easily enough).

My particular interest at the moment are:

STRONG: Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, Spanish
MIDDLING: Italian, French, German

But, if you know of a "Portuguese" or "Cantonese" or "whatever" station, feel free to mention it. I have several friends who are always on the lookout for something and perhaps their particular interest will be addressed.

Wait! Wait! I've run out of episodes!

CaptApollo — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:47:52 -0800

I am madly in love with NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Please recommend similar shows, preferably available via podcast. I have an unhealthy obsession with this show - I often use it as amusing noise to go to sleep, listen to it while commuting, etc. I've heard all the episodes many times, and need to expand my options.

Happy Talk

saturnine — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:03:30 -0800

My Freeview box has decided to ignore TV signals! Noooo! I'm looking to get back into listening to radio, and I need recommendations for live shows to listen to online. Things I like/need:

- a mix of crazy right wing and left wing opinions
- a regular amount of callers allowed in to voice their opinions, emails read out, interesting guests etc
- something that broadcasts a variety of hosts throughout the day, 24/7
- topics revolving around the news or general cultural stuff
- English speaking
- no sports
- female presenters not talking about fluffy kittens, cooking, or anything related to cliched women's radio are a plus!
- if there's a station that combines music AND talk, I like hip hop/rap/rock/pop music.

Example for those that know the station: I used to listen to Talksport radio here in the UK (back in the day when I was a young and impressionable teenager) but tuned out thanks to the dominance of sport related topics (I just looked at the schedule and George Galloway is on tonight, but he doesn't start until 10pm GMT). Ideally, I'd be looking for something akin to their schedule in the evenings, but all day and perhaps more varied in subject.

Basically, aside from the podcast, is there a Metafilter in radio form?

Each week we clean the house, and listen to a variety of different stories while we clean the house...

jennyjenny — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:00:07 -0800

What are your recommendations for good radio programs? I need something online to listen to while I clean house. I regularly download and listen to good NPR programs while I'm cleaning the house or doing homework. But my current playlist of: This American Life, On The Media, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Radio Lab, Car Talk and Quirks & Quarks gets exhausted early in the week.

I really like science or health shows, and comedy/entertainment shows. For some reason, I can't really listen to music while I'm doing homework, so no music shows, please, unless they involve a lot of talking.

Radio Free Amarillo?

Bud Dickman — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:01:54 -0800

How do these radio stations pay the bills? There are two AM radio stations here in Amarillo, Texas that I listen to regularly. One is a sports talk station, an ESPN affiliate. The other plays talk radio like Alan Colmes and Michael Savage.

On both of these stations, I never, ever hear a paid advertisement. All they ever play is Ad Council PSA's like for the "Energy Hog," giving blood, and so on.

Conversely, another local AM station is full of local commercials.

How do these stations stay in business? Do they receive any money for playing PSA's? Even if they are part of a corporation, like Clear Channel, it would seem impossible to have a radio station broadcasting 24 hours a day without revenue.

Also, even if their listenership isn't that large, it seems like they could sell cheap ads - which would be better than all PSA's, all the time.

Lets take some calls, on the air. Hello? Hello? Okay, next caller?

Rash — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:42:17 -0800

Almost invariably, on talk radio programs, when we go to the phones, the first caller isn't there. How come? I think the problem must be technical, I find it hard to believe folks who go to the trouble to dial in first just give up, losing patience. But maybe it's just a matter of confirmation bias, as detailed by teece recently.

Are there portable satellite radio receivers?

grumblebee — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 09:36:15 -0800

What with all the brouhaha over Howard Stern's move to saltellite radio, I've become interested in this service. But I listen to music almost exclusively on-the-go. So I'd only subscribe if I could listen on an iPod-like device. Are there any small, portable satellite radio receivers? I tried Googling, but I'm too ignorant about receivers to understand the results.

What are some good debating tactics to use when appearing on an AM radio show?

inksyndicate — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 10:50:42 -0800

What are some good debating tactics to use when appearing on an AM radio show?

Recommendations for a streaming audio add-on to a web browser?

callicles — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 08:54:35 -0800

my poor brother is trapped by local talk radio. can you help? (m.i.) he likes to listen to the radio while at work, but all of the local talk shows are sub-par. i've suggested listening to something online, but his work blocks all programs which might allow his to listen (realplayer, winamp, windows media, etc.).

does anyone know of a java or web-based program that would allow him to stream audio? or some program which would allow him to skirt these installation blocks?