8:56 AM, Jul 15, 2008 
National Public Radio
Years ago, when I was still working nights, I listened to Kansas City's NPR affiliate on my drive home from work in the morning. I enjoyed the interesting commentary on current events in its ability to make my tedious commute from the middle of nowhere(Lenexa, KS) to my apartment in Midtown pass more quickly.
Until recently I wasn't certain what made me stop listening to it. I first thought that I stopped listening when I started carpooling with Geoff, but then I recalled that well before I started carpooling, I switched my morning listening to Kansas City's community radio station, as there was more of a focus on the arts, interesting music, and political thought, in a program produced entirely in Kansas City.
Anyway, unable to put my finger on why I stopped listening, I started tuning in again, and have now been listening for a couple of months. This morning, I think I may have figured out why I stopped: It's really depressing. I wake up tired, usually unwilling to exactly hurry off to a 15-minute highway commute among Kansas City's mentally deranged drivers, and when I spend those fifteen minutes listening to all the insurmountable problems that face us as a society, it immediately puts me in a bad mood.
That might sound simplistic, selfish, and short-sighted, but so be it. I know there are problems in the world. I know that many of the problems are of such a severe and overwhelming nature that the degree to which they daunt us alone is reason enough to despair, but here's the thing: there's a lot to be happy about too. I understand that the job of news people is to report the news, and that it's not really news if it's good news, but it's sucking the joy out of my day.
Because of the mood the programming imparts on me, I find myself getting annoyed with silly things like Carl Kassel's post-stroke speech impediment, Maria Carter's chalkboard-scrape consonant pronunciation, Allan Sloan's plaintive moaning voice, Peter Overby's infuriating unidentifiable closed-mouth accent, and Sylvia Pogioli's deep-manlike voice and strange pronunciation of seemingly normal words. I suppose a person might find all this quirky and interesting, but it just drives me mad.
So, I think I'll be taking another five or six year break from listening to NPR.
4 comments
Brad interrupted with:
The one and only thing that keeps me from listening to NPR is that I imagine every single person on the show dresses and smells like a hippy.
The one and only thing that keeps me from listening to NPR is that I imagine every single person on the show dresses and smells like a hippy.
9:38 AM, Jul 15, 2008
KKFI 90.1 fan thinks:
You might give KKFI another chance.
Your Morning Buzz
Airs: M-F 6:00-8 am
Programmer: Stormin' Norman
Progressive, psychedelic,and classic rock that's rooted in the 70's and still growing strong
today. Featuring music from legendary, obscure,and cutting edge artists that will blow your
mind.
You can see the whole schedule at KKFI.org.
You might give KKFI another chance.
Your Morning Buzz
Airs: M-F 6:00-8 am
Programmer: Stormin' Norman
Progressive, psychedelic,and classic rock that's rooted in the 70's and still growing strong
today. Featuring music from legendary, obscure,and cutting edge artists that will blow your
mind.
You can see the whole schedule at KKFI.org.
2:41 PM, Jul 15, 2008
they only sound like they're from uk as in yuk interrupted with:
if you don't like npr or community radio then ask for your money back!
i'm intrigued about someone with your analytical ability who dismisses the ingestion of current events. shouldn't be depressing but it seems like it would get your motor running about why the news presents content the way it does, why certain events are unfolding, what will tomorrow's consequences be for the nonsense people are pulling today?
put it into context that may be more relevant; npr is telling you about stuff today that will influence the price of tomorrow's keg.
in a former life as an ostrich we would get stressed about the number of heyna's lurking around. it felt much better for us if we just kept our heads stuck in the sand. didn't hear stuff. couldn't smell anything other than worms (yuk). could see nothing more than worm poo.
it didn't take five or six years to find out that the heyna's were hungry. very very hungry. then they became so hungry that they grew into politicians, lawyers and talking head news-babes and ate us alive!
eventually the survivors were sent to another planet where another pack of heyna's were getting their first taste of ostrich feathers ... and so the story goes. all because we didn't listen to npr or community radio.
if you don't like npr or community radio then ask for your money back!
i'm intrigued about someone with your analytical ability who dismisses the ingestion of current events. shouldn't be depressing but it seems like it would get your motor running about why the news presents content the way it does, why certain events are unfolding, what will tomorrow's consequences be for the nonsense people are pulling today?
put it into context that may be more relevant; npr is telling you about stuff today that will influence the price of tomorrow's keg.
in a former life as an ostrich we would get stressed about the number of heyna's lurking around. it felt much better for us if we just kept our heads stuck in the sand. didn't hear stuff. couldn't smell anything other than worms (yuk). could see nothing more than worm poo.
it didn't take five or six years to find out that the heyna's were hungry. very very hungry. then they became so hungry that they grew into politicians, lawyers and talking head news-babes and ate us alive!
eventually the survivors were sent to another planet where another pack of heyna's were getting their first taste of ostrich feathers ... and so the story goes. all because we didn't listen to npr or community radio.
2:59 AM, Jul 16, 2008
walt bodine responded:
(perishes)
(perishes)
7:44 AM, Jul 21, 2008
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