Tom's rants about NPR

[Julie]

I like Car Talk and I like it better than ALF!

[Chad from Oregon]

While I do tend to enjoy This American Life, I have been known to shut it off when the failed attempts to be witty get out of control. This, of course, is a small price to pay for the joy of hearing Friend Of The Show, John Hodgman, do a segment from time to time. Top notch.

[Jack from Arkansas]

John Hodgeman was on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me a week before he was on The Best Show. He made a perfect score on the segment "Not My Job" ensuring Carl Castle's voice on someone's home answering machine.  Come and get on the nerd-train folks!  Whoo-woo!

[yesno]

I had a higher opinion of NPR before I started being able to listen to BBC/CBC/etc shows.  CBC's Quirks and Quarks is a better science show than anything on NPR, and Radio 4's In Our Time is a better egghead show than anything on NPR.  The BBC, as far as international coverage goes, is much better than NPR.  They're not even in the same league.  NPR has better coverage of DC.  Big whoop. 

My NPR name is Jodhn Mondovi.

[joe s]

I think This American Life, RadioLab, and Studio 360 are all PRI shows. If that makes a difference

I was screaming this in my head while reading this thread.  I'll save my comments on PRI shows for another thread. 

I loved the Best Show commentary on the smug laughter of Wait, Wait's audience.  I'd just started listening to that show again and I got excited when they talked about Twitter novels, but was deeply let down when there was no mention of FD.  I'd love for Tom to be a panelist on that show.

Also, Terry Gross of Fresh Air is on somewhat of a hot streak.  She's had a good month. 

[Trotskie]

One of the worst feelings ever:

Driving home from a weekend excursion that was maybe not as fun as you anticipated, or maybe just "over".  You and your thoughts in a silent car.  Eh. 

What do you have to say for yourself radio?  Scan-scan-scan: praise music. Scan-scan-scan: evangelical sermon.  Scan-scan-scan: oh, hey, NPR.  OK.  Maybe, maybe...  Wait; fuck.  Praire Home Companion.  Give it two seconds (maybe this time).  No!  All it took was that one moment of hope for the joyless washboard voice to wring your guts, rinsing out the memories of twenty other weekend-ends. 

Bloop, radio OFF.  But there you are, steeping in a silence of weak nostalgia and weekender traffic.  Singularly alone in this life and destined to never have fun again.   

I hate him/it so much.  So much.  He is a true Villain. 

[masterofsparks]

One of the worst feelings ever:

Driving home from a weekend excursion that was maybe not as fun as you anticipated, or maybe just "over".  You and your thoughts in a silent car.  Eh. 

What do you have to say for yourself radio?  Scan-scan-scan: praise music. Scan-scan-scan: evangelical sermon.  Scan-scan-scan: oh, hey, NPR.  OK.  Maybe, maybe...  Wait; fuck.  Praire Home Companion.  Give it two seconds (maybe this time).  No!  All it took was that one moment of hope for the joyless washboard voice to wring your guts, rinsing out the memories of twenty other weekend-ends. 

Bloop, radio OFF.  But there you are, steeping in a silence of weak nostalgia and weekender traffic.  Singularly alone in this life and destined to never have fun again.   

I hate him/it so much.  So much.  He is a true Villain. 

This is the saddest story I have ever heard. Possibly made sadder by the fact that I have had nearly the same experience.

[nec13]

I like Car Talk and I like it better than ALF!

Harry Shearer hates Car Talk. Therefore, I hate Car Talk.

[Fido]

BBC World News is my jam. I also like On Point with Tom Ashbrook some of the time, except when Jane Clayson fills in. She has that horrible non-regional, fake-sounding news broadcaster voice that sounds so unnatural and it doesn't work well with On Point. Tell Me More is always good, but I usually forget it's on.

I'm loving Tell Me More since I discovered it a while back. Michel Martin is a mighty fine broadcaster. I have the same problem: it's on my station literally in the middle of the afternoon, so whenever I catch the show, it's usually by accident.

Longtime Fresh Air fan too. And Prairie Home Companion, while it's kind of directed at people like my parents, well, it's hard for me to brook much criticism of it. My feeling about PHC is much like that of NPR in general. So listen up, haters: if you don't like it, don't listen.

Aren't there much better things for you to pick on, like Fox News or CNN, or any one of dozens of syndicated talk-show blatherfests? Or most of the crap spewing from commercial radio? Of course there are.

[Fido]

Wait, I just re-read Trotskie's post above. Does Trotskie have a point? I think so. Umm... I've been on the road on a Saturday night only to realize there's nothing much on the radio besides Prairie Home Companion, which I'm not always completely thrilled about. But since I live in New York, there's always WFMU, or something else on NY public radio. But when I'm out in New Mexico or upstate New York? Probably nothing else worth listening to, so I'd choose silence. Sad indeed.

[Mike A.D.]

What grates me is the pretention some of its listeners carry around.  Like, listening to NPR puts them in a special club or something.

NPR is as mainstream as it gets.  Morning Edition's audience is larger than the Today Show's, second to Rush Limbaugh.  ATC isn't far behind.  NPR is seeing major growth while radio is flatlining, and sure, they earned it.  There are some really innovative people working there.

But please, NPR fans, dial it down a notch.

(Had to modify spelling of "pretention."  Thanks, Karma, I get it.)

[ericluxury]

NPR shows are incredibly hit and miss, with mostly miss.
But calling it smug? Ugh. Thats both the laziest criticism a person could make about NPR and the exact criticism that people would make of WFMU, The Best Show, it's fans, and the fans of many of the things that are Best Show and this board approved.

You have to take things on their merits and just because a show is conscious that its a smart show doesn't make it good or bad. Some of the smartypants shows are good and some aren't.

p.s. in 100% agreement about Prairie Home Companion. Its aggressively boring.

[Regular Joe]

This show Wire Tap. I know it's a PRI show, but it bugs me every time it comes on. Have you heard it?

Yeah, the schlemiel/schlemazel bit is tried and true, but this show is such a direct rip-off of the unique Scharpling and Wurster rapport, it sickens me. It's very much like two Ira Glass clones straight out of broadcast college just turned on The Best Show, said "Hey, we can do that", then got themselves a show on PRI. It is also (not surprisingly) smug beyond words.

[Bryan]

I haven't heard Wiretap for a while, but I used to love it. The one I'm thinking of is a CBC show hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, who is a TAL alumnus, and the show definitely has that vibe, but I never thought it came across like a S&W copycat - at least it didn't used to.

[SexyAnkles]

You have to take things on their merits and just because a show is conscious that its a smart show doesn't make it good or bad. Some of the smartypants shows are good and some aren't.

Similarly some showypants are smart and some are not.