This is NPR. National. Public. Radio.

Soooo....I have a confession. I am a NPR junkie. I listen to it all the time. And by all the time, I mean I have not changed the dial on the radio in my car since March. Except for one or two Saturday evenings when they feature that awful country and western music show. Anyhoo.


My loving husband suggested I blog about my fascination with public radio, and I quickly reminded him to get a blog of his own. But. It got me thinking about how much I do love the soothing sounds of Lakshmi Singh reading me her slightly left reports of the news and Michele Norris telling me what I should consider. (and yes, I did have to look up how to spell Lakshmi's name. It has always intrigued me though, so I guess now I know.) So I thought I would share my confession of obsession with all three of my avid readers out there.


It was in fact my loving husband who introduced me to npr. I really didn't know it existed until a couple of years ago. Out of frustration with pop culture and the horrid music it produces, I hesitantly scrolled through the stations one day until I landed on 89.5FM, which come to find out is broadcast from a local university. One morning drive into work with Morning Edition and Steve Inskeep had me hooked. The beauty of the station is that it is not like CNN- you know, allnewsallthetime. Sure, it does keep me more informed on the global market, America's foreign policies and our current Wall Street situation, but it also offers views on other cultures, updates on the advancements in science (which I hardly ever understand but just feel smarter by listening to them and pretending to understand them), and reminders about local art exhibits and farmers markets, which make me feel like I am supporting local business. And somehow, I think that's a good thing.


NPR isn't like AM radio, which drives me absolutely bonkers. The sounds produced on AM radio are enough to drive a woman to drink. The local radio hosts have the worst accents, grammar and practically scream into the microphone in an effort to be heard over the horrible, horrible background of static that always seems to come screeching from the speakers in the car. I could be slightly jaded toward AM radio, because the stations seem to be primarily sports talk and heaven knows I LOVE sports talk, but I don't think that would be a fair assessment of my distaste. I mean the production quality sucks, people.


Now, back the peaceful sounds of national public radio. For those who have never listened to it, I hope you aren't thinking it is radio's equivalent to PBS. While there are some decent programs on PBS, you really won't find anything on NPR that resembles the Lawrence Welk Show. No no. No accordions, flutes or tiny bubbles being insinuated on this station. Well...I suppose the awful country and western show does slightly resemble Mr. Welk and his polka band, but it's only on Saturday nights and it really isn't that bad. Moving on.


I think in a time when current culture is somewhat fake (insert my refrain from a rant about how kim kardashian became famous), nrp is actually real. And not reality show real, real people real. All the stories I listen to don't claim to be real people with a fake story line or is it fake people with a real story line? Whoo, just thinking about that show makes my head spin- and I know I am in the minority in my age group, but it just confuses the heck out of me! No sir, npr is not fake --npr is educational, enlightening and even when they are telling me that my retirement just went out to sea or that an earthquake killed 17 people in Sri Lanka (I am making that up-I am not sure Sri Lanka can even have earthquakes) or that I could potentially be losing my home at any given second due to some guy named Freddie, they deliver this information in such a calm, soothing manner that my blood pressure hardly goes up at all. And they don't make me feel stupid- they clearly identify the issues at hand and calmly explain them in simple plain language. People who make me panic by their condescending tone= bad. People who make me think about panicking but don't actually make me panic because they are calm and patient= good.


I realize I am tagging myself as a gigantic nerd by actually posting this, but I figure my three readers either know me well enough to confirm this statement is true, and/or are related to me so they can't judge. Well, they can judge, but not too much.


So there you have it folks. I am a card carrying member of NPR Anonymous. And thanks to my loving husband for suggesting this blog topic. Even if he really should get his own blog : )