The Radio

It's been a while since I've listened to the radio. I learned to hate it in the states. I hated listening to 10 songs I didn't want to hear to get to one that I didn't really mind... it was never really worth it. I think Thomas Prettyman was one of the few kids around my age (he was older than me then, but now that we're "grown up", we're "the same age") that had as many CD's as I did... Even before becoming part of the typical BMG music club.

But it wasn't just music... it was the spoken word, too. You would get a Rush Limbaugh or other talk show host that was entertaining... but you had to listen when they were on (except for Adventures in Odyssey... we had the whole set on tape), otherwise you missed it. But no longer...

I have finally discovered the world of podcasting (I know, I know... they've been around for quite a while, but I'm just starting to get into it). Any topic you can imagine... Cooking, learning languages, music, cigars, Lost, movie reviews, politics... etc. etc. etc. It is all there. And you can listen to whatever... WHENEVER you want to. But the best thing is that you don't have to listen to anything you DON'T want to. It's great. AND they're free.

My current favorite is NPR's Jazz Profiles. Information and interviews about jazz personalities, diluted by clips of music that further emphasize the points being made. It comes out every Wednesday and the last two were Nat King Cole: The Piano Player and Nat King Cole: The Singer. It's cool to hear the voices of so many famous jazz players being interviewed and hear what they say about eachother.

It's also nice to have something that you don't have to look at, like books or TV/DVDs. You can actually get other things done when your eyes aren't glued to something.

Now if I only had an iPod, I could listen to them on the go!