When is the last time you listened to the radio? I mean, really listened. Not just that inevitable transitional period between starting your car and pulling out your auxiliary chord to listen to your first jam of the trip. I mean sat down and actually listened to music, a broadcast or those god-awful commercials. For most of us, the answer is “not in a while” or “I can’t remember.”
Don’t worry — I don’t blame you. Who wants to sit through 30 minutes of advertisements to hear that Taylor Swift song being played for the 18th time, or wait around for the radio host to stop talking about Beyoncé long enough for him to actually talk about something worth listening to when we have the ability to plug in our phone and pick and choose what we want to hear?
I'm here to tell you that you don't have to.
National Public Radio (NPR), the non-profit media organization that networks 900 public radio stations in the US, has produced and distributed news and cultural programming since 1971.
You've probably pressed the scan button on your radio and come across a group of men or women nonchalantly discussing something you have never heard of.
This is NPR.
But don't let that discourage you from tuning in; NPR has a broadcast that can appeal to all topics of interest. They aren’t all necessarily people sitting around talking, and NPR is not necessarily only accessible in your car.
NPR can be accessed through a podcast. If you have an iPhone, it comes automatically with this app installed. Through this app you are able to access a world of free radio programming that you may or may not have known existed. If you didn't know before, now may be the time to find out.
NPR is the producer of some of the country’s top podcasts. They have podcasts that can appeal to almost everyone. Whether it be music, movies, comedy, news or intellectual discussion, there is a podcast for that.
Serial, a 12-episode podcast, consists of a journalist discussing her journey to find the truth about a murder of a girl in Baltimore, Maryland, by interviewing the victim's alleged killer, friends and murder experts. It allows the listeners to decide whether they thought the killer was guilty by presenting trial evidence that even host Sarah Koenig discovered on her own. The first season is over, but a new season has been said to premier sometime later this year. Serial is a spin-off of This American Life.
This American Life is a weekly public radio show that discusses different true stories every week. These podcasts are very similar to an episode of "Dateline" or "Criminal Minds," in that it can be quite personal and realistic. Each episode tell stories things like crime or kids being switched at birth — there is really no limit to the stories they can tell. However, all of their shows are conducted in similar ways.
Invisibilia is one of NPR newest podcast that launched in January 2015. Invisibilia is Latin for all invisible things, and it explores the intangible forces that shape human behavior, such as our beliefs, psychology and ideas. The hosts take dry and scholarly topics and transform them into fascinating conversations through interviews with logic-defying cases that contradict our society’s general beliefs.
Ask Me Another is a unique podcast that features puzzles, word games and trivia in front of a live audience. Host Ophira Eisenberg invites in-studio guests and celebrities to test their knowledge and have a few laughs. It is almost as if you were to go to a friend's game night or a real-life version of Trivia Crack. Think you can keep up with the brain teasers and banter? This might be the podcast for you.
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