NPR Pod-casts

Well, it had been a while since I'd checked, but three of my favorite NPR programs are now doing podcast editions:

1) The Writer's Almanac - Garrison Keillor talks about writers and reads a poem.
That doesn't do justice to this inspiring and informational 5 minutes of daily support. It's like an artistic devotional, a sermon on the accomplishments of others with the unspoken but repeated message, "You too can contribute to the collective works of man."

2) This American Life - a collection of radio essays, usually bound to a theme, introduced with wit by Ira Glass. To create your own T.A.L., turn on some jazz instrumentals and speak aloud about the time you did something interesting. Can't think of anything? Listen to this show.

3) Fresh Air - host Terry Gross interviews people. There was a naive time when I believed that a person had really "arrived" when they got to be on Fresh Air. This was before I'd heard of press junkets and book tours. I thought, "Man - what a rush it must be when Terry calls you up and says, 'come be on my show!'." But she doesn't do that.

Anyway, of these shows, Fresh Air has a huge archive of previous episodes in either Real or Windows Media format. So the podcast isn't so important on that one, but Writers Almanac - that's like waking up to biscuits and fresh made coffee with a little homemade peach jelly and soft butter.

The magic of B-flat.

Have you heard about b-flat?

This is an NPR story that is sung,
so best listened to instead of read.
But then it's National Public Radio,
not National Public Book.

Make sure your speakers are working and then click the listen button on the NPR page.