Sunday, January 4, 2009

As I was saying...

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I love National Public Radio. It's pretty much all I listen to on my car radio. Don't judge me. Try it before you decide it's just for old women and East Coast Liberals, whoever they are. The East Coast Liberals, that is. We know who the old women are. Don't point any fingers. You know what they say about pointing fingers.

My FAVORITE is Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, a weekly, hour long quiz program where you can test your knowledge of the week's news against the best and sometimes brightest guests, along with the show's very funny panelists and the glib host, Peter Sagal. And who wouldn't want Carl Kasell's voice on their answering machine. (Do people still have answering machines? Maybe he records your cell phone greeting). Carl and Peter are shown in the photo below.


Doug Berman, who has been on a 15 year crusade to get NPR to "lighten up", produces both "Wait Wait" and my second favorite NPR show, "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers" with brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi. The brothers diagnose your cars problems by taking your phone call and listening to your description of the problem. Sound lame? No WAY! It's laugh out loud funny. One of the brothers snorts when he laughs, which makes it even more entertaining.

The brothers started out in the 70s with a shop, Hackers Haven, in Cambridge, Massachusetts where people could rent tools and space to fix their own cars. Cars became more complicated, the garage morphed into the more traditional repair shop, and Tom apparently got a doctorate in marketing. I could spend hours wasting time on their website. Be sure to check out the Shameless Commerce tab where you can buy the usual tshirts, hats and mugs, along with recordings with titles like...
  • Maternal Combustion-Calls about moms and cars
  • Men are from GM, Women are from Ford
  • Compendium of Disrespectful Car Songs
One other NPR note - If you happen to catch the Diane Rehm Show, you might wonder what the deal is with her voice. I thought maybe she'd had a stroke since she didn't sound that way in years past. Here's an interesting article for inquiring minds.

You can look up show times on the links above, listen to podcasts of the shows, or just waste a lot of time today. But you can feel really smart doing it because after all, it IS National Public Radio.

And you didn't think I was going to give you any fun links this weekend.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I guess I need to listen to the radio more...stopping by from blog oklahoma to say hi

Stephen said...

Yes! NPR is way underrated and should appeal to thinking people everywhere. Well, I guess that would be mostly older women and liberals. Stupid white men unite!

Shari said...

All Things Considered and Morning Edition are old friends of mine. And the Brothers T. But I appreciate the tip to listen to "Wait, Wait.." I tried it and love it!

Now when Ange is late to church I know she's in her car in the parking lot finishing the Sunday morning Wait Wait show!