Podcasts

Another media that has become particularly important to me in the past year is the podcast. I enjoy listening at work, allowing me to block out the sounds of my officemates and concentrate upon my own work. I enjoy listening in the gym and on the bus also, leaving the bustle of the external world behind. So what do I listen to?

At work I prefer to listen to programs that are composed of smaller, newsy stories that can be ignored or followed at will. Any multi-minute narrative will either distract me from work or be missed as I concentrate.

My favorite programs are comedy news quizzes- something that British television excels at. On the radio, NPR has the excellent Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me broadcast weekly out of Chicago. From the BBC I enjoy the Friday Night Comedy Show, which is either the Now Show (with the incomparable Mitch Benn) or the News Quiz. Of questionable utility and comedy is the world-famous Car Talk (yay MIT!).

Since I listen to NPR's Morning Edition before arriving at work every morning, I get additional news from the BBC Radio 4's Best of Today and the broader Newspod. I fear I am becoming middle aged because I enjoy Women's Hour (which I always listen to on the radio whilst in London) For financial news I listen to the NPR Planet Money podcast. For science news I listen to the dull NPR On Science podcast, the metaphysical Radio Lab, and the pure delight of Cambridge's Naked Scientists. I even sent in the request for them to look into lemon/potato batteries.

If I am not reading in the gym or on the bus I listen to the incomparable This American Life. I have enjoed its live in theatres annual show and the television program it has on Showtime also. I also enjoy Selected Shorts, in which actors read short stories. They have featured some of my favorite authors, including Neil Gaiman, Haruki Murakami Kiran Desai and Nadine Gordimer. Sadly, the entire Prairie Home Companion show isn't available as a podcast, but its jewel, The News From Lake Wobegon, is.

Some podcasts that I feel no great affection for, but they fill the hours, include: NPR's B-Side Radio, the Jonathan Ross Show, and the BBC Documentaries.

I can no longer imagine a world where I couldn't listen to my favorite English language radio programs on my own schedule, aiding my workday and workouts. Any recommendations?