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Author Topic: NPR: National Public Radio  (Read 14459 times)

thermodynamics

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NPR: National Public Radio
« on: 07 Jul 2005, 07:36 »
I guess it must be a change in staff or the interns or just good karma in the air, but lately NPR has been playing good music.

i listen to NPR for my daily dose of news in the car on my 30 minute commute to and from work... lately there has been, what i call, good music. Not of the classical persuasion, but the 15-20 seconds of musical interlude between segments. the last couple of days, i have heard pavement and explosions in the sky,and that is only during the 1 hour of total listening time per day! yesterday, while doing a story on 'all things concidered' they featured ALL of sufjan steven's song 'the 'Lord God" bird' ...quite impressive for talk radio. hell, even my college radio doesn't play explosions in the sky!

just a thought... so if you listen to NPR, listen a little closer and you might be suprsed at what you discover.
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deborah

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #1 on: 07 Jul 2005, 08:21 »
maybe NPR will get on the minnesota boat and add a station like this:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/thecurrent/

our public radio system is the bestest in the land.
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Shedonwanna

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #2 on: 07 Jul 2005, 10:34 »
I fucking love The Current.  They have an internet feed.  And you should all check out the in-studio performances.  My personal favorite is when they had The Futureheads for a few songs and a nice interview.

It's the best radio i've heard in a long time.
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deborah

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #3 on: 07 Jul 2005, 11:10 »
too bad those freaks in northfield are all pissy about it.

as fer npr and hipper music interludes, that's been going on for a long, long while.

i still think they should have an offshoot radio station like the current though.

p.s. shedonwanna, did you catch the futureheads either time at the fineline?  those shows were *reall* good this spring/summer
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Merkava

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #4 on: 07 Jul 2005, 11:21 »
NPR is the best radio station ever. Just recently, they had an interview with Feist, which coincided with when I had my dad listen to the CD. :P
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Oerdin

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« Reply #5 on: 07 Jul 2005, 12:16 »
I love NPR and I listen to it daily plus I contribute to my local station (KPBS).  KPBS runs both the NPR and the PBS broadcasts and they fill them with lots of local news, music, and stories.  It's nice to have an independent voice which isn't beholden to any commercial interests.

As for music the NPR program "All Songs Considered" is pretty good at ferreting out new music from a number of different genres.  The reporter seems to be something of a hipster and you can tell she likes indie music though because she always goes out of her way to give air time to struggling indie bands.
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Azathoth

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re
« Reply #6 on: 07 Jul 2005, 15:59 »
As a former MN college radio dj,  I think the current sucks. It justifies it's existence on false pretenses.  The Current claims it's the only station to play independent and local music but college stations like Radio K have been around for years and have been doing a damn good job at doing just that. The current says it provides an outlet for musicians who otherwise wouldn't get exposure but I'd like to know when they find the time to actually do that.  I've heard them play more played to death aritsts like U2, Beatles and faux-indie shills than actual independent music.  I could listen to a great deal of what they play on the current on commercial stations.  I half expect to hear Dave Matthews when I tune in.  I think the current is actually hurting indie rock by associating the term indie with an actual sound and trend and strangling college radio stations.

Independent music fans of Minnesota, don't believe the hype surrounding the Current!  The Current is for thirty-somethings who want to feel superior to commercial radio listeners even though the Current's so called "anti-format" is equally trendy.  Seriously, the stuff on the current is only slightly edgier than what you'd hear in a Starbucks.  Radio K and KFAI are the real deal.

http://radiok.cce.umn.edu/

http://www.kfai.org/ - the on air schedule is very erratic but the late-night programing is mostly devoted to independent rock music.
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yipjumpmusic

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #7 on: 07 Jul 2005, 16:11 »
Hey woa starbucks started playing Pinback and other good stuff so I hear...not that it makes starbucks good but yeah...
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lastclearchance

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #8 on: 07 Jul 2005, 16:13 »
Quote from: deborah
as fer npr and hipper music interludes, that's been going on for a long, long while.


One of the NPR show's theme songs sounds so similar to one of the Beatles' White Album songs.  "Julia" or "I Will" I think.  And if I could get Radiohead's very different "I Will" out of my head I might have been able to name the show.  But I can't.  :/
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Shedonwanna

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Re: re
« Reply #9 on: 07 Jul 2005, 18:50 »
Quote from: Azathoth
As a former MN college radio dj,  I think the current sucks. It justifies it's existence on false pretenses.  The Current claims it's the only station to play independent and local music but college stations like Radio K have been around for years and have been doing a damn good job at doing just that. The current says it provides an outlet for musicians who otherwise wouldn't get exposure but I'd like to know when they find the time to actually do that.  I've heard them play more played to death aritsts like U2, Beatles and faux-indie shills than actual independent music.  I could listen to a great deal of what they play on the current on commercial stations.  I half expect to hear Dave Matthews when I tune in.  I think the current is actually hurting indie rock by associating the term indie with an actual sound and trend and strangling college radio stations.

Independent music fans of Minnesota, don't believe the hype surrounding the Current!  The Current is for thirty-somethings who want to feel superior to commercial radio listeners even though the Current's so called "anti-format" is equally trendy.  Seriously, the stuff on the current is only slightly edgier than what you'd hear in a Starbucks.  Radio K and KFAI are the real deal.

http://radiok.cce.umn.edu/

http://www.kfai.org/ - the on air schedule is very erratic but the late-night programing is mostly devoted to independent rock music.


Don't forget that if all they played was all local and completely independant rock they wouldn't have enough listeners to stay afloat.  Now, for alternative or indie rock fans, there are a handful of stations in the twin cities.  Radio K, kfai, Drive 105 and The Current.  I can always get Drive and The Current, but I rarely get a decent signal of the college staions.  Maybe it's just my car, I don't know.

So then it's down to Drive or The Current... No contest,  The Current plays more of what I like to hear and has introduced me to several new artist that I am falling in love with.  Drive just plays the emo shit.

Those are my reasons for listening to what I listen to.
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mechorg

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #10 on: 07 Jul 2005, 19:05 »
The Drive and the Current are good stations.  I would never follow 'hype' from a radio station, but i like listening to good music which they do play.  A commercial station, even if it is "anti-format" will still have a stronger signal than ANY college station.  
I have about 8 college stations from a couple states programed on my car stereo and usually know by the mile marker where I can tune them in.  The best in my area is WORT in Madison, WI that isn't NPR or a college station.  Its purely funded by the public 'listener-sponsors' and has a large spectrum of shows.

I was happy when my brother told me he had stopped listening to a certain radio station in his area when he found it was owned by ClearChannel.  :D

I usually listen to CDs or MP3s anyway.
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Clara

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #11 on: 07 Jul 2005, 20:05 »
I love NPR.

(Fin.)
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Mnementh

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #12 on: 07 Jul 2005, 20:09 »
Boston (WBER) has been trending too far right for my tastes lately.  I listen mostly for Marketplace and the BBC.
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blooflame

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If you like NPR music
« Reply #13 on: 07 Jul 2005, 20:20 »
Look for the CD series "I Heard It On NPR" - there are a few of them... three are: Jazz for Blue Nights, At Home in the World, and Shake These Blues. They also have "All Songs Considered".  I bought mine through Daedalus Music and Books (http://www.daedalusbooks.com ), but hey maybe you want to go to NPR directly and make sure most of your money gets into the organization.
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thermodynamics

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #14 on: 07 Jul 2005, 20:44 »
on my drive home today, they talked about ticket prices going down for mainstream acts and location-based festivals like SXSW being big. the reporter girl is a hipster for sure... she was dropping names left and right and even mentioned the pitchfork festival in chicago (i already forgot the name and im too lazy to google it) ...i started my commuting job at the beginning of the summer, so i haven't been as frequent of a listener till now, but before i thought it was for "grown ups" and i didn't want to accept it... but damn, npr is just fucking good.

thanks for the heads up about the cds... i think i'll check npr.org in a little while...
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deborah

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NPR: National Public Radio
« Reply #15 on: 08 Jul 2005, 08:09 »
Azathoth - i appreciate your stance in terms of college radio, but the current is *not* college radio, and you shouldn't shit on it because it's not.  i think the key difference between radio k and the current is a little something i like to call "radio friendly" songs.  i'm not talking about "oh i can't play that op ivy song because it swears," i'm talking about picking songs that are 3-5-ish minutes long that won't make someone go "gah my ears are bleeding i need to change the station."  having been a college radio dj in another state for upwards of ten years, i have to admit that i used to fall victim to the urge, and put the ten minute long song from sonic youth on and go have a cigarette, or play mogwai's "my father, my king" in its entirety.  i think the current does a nice job of streamlining the music and weeding through the mess of music dubbed "indie."  
no, the current isn't perfect, and it doesn't always stray far enough from the top forty format for my tastes.  but it *does* stay on the air after sundown, and wow, that's a bonus.

(p.s. are you one of the radio k people that used to come into the triple rock in a huge, massive, relatively-untipping group on sundays, spilling screwdrivers and bloody marys wherever you went?  if so, i just wanted to say it was a real *treat* serving your table.)
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KharBevNor

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« Reply #16 on: 08 Jul 2005, 12:00 »
So is it customary/civil to tip pretty much everyone in the states then?
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Borondir

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« Reply #17 on: 08 Jul 2005, 13:58 »
Quote from: KharBevNor
So is it customary/civil to tip pretty much everyone in the states then?
Not really. Basically only waitresses and others who depend on tips for a living, because they get paid shit. At least as far as I know. Otherwise tipping is just for extremely helpful service. Other Americans feel free to correct me.

Back on topic, I'll start out by saying that NPR is great, and so is the classical that my local station, Radio Kansas, plays the rest of the day. I'm not a hipster so I couldn't tell you anything about songs between segments, since I don't know who they are by, but last night on All Things Considered they did a  feature on music festivals. One of them was Intonation. They talked to people from Pitchfork, and had live audio of Pitchfork employees putting up posters around town, even mentioning that they forgot the scissors so one of the Pitchforkers was cutting tape with his teeth.
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Oerdin

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« Reply #18 on: 08 Jul 2005, 14:20 »
Quote from: KharBevNor
So is it customary/civil to tip pretty much everyone in the states then?


You tip in bars, restaurants, and hotel bell hops but that's about it.  Aim for 10%-15%.
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KharBevNor

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« Reply #19 on: 08 Jul 2005, 14:33 »
I don't think you'd ever tip in a pub in the uk. In fact, I don't normally tip when I'm having just a drink either, unless it's a 'keep the change' type thing. I always tip meals though. Perverse maybe, but I have a rather minimal amount of disposable income.
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[22:26] Dovey: like, maybe, 4 or 5 times that i know of?
[22:26] Dovey: and at least one of those was a blatant ploy at getting sigquoted

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Oerdin

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« Reply #20 on: 08 Jul 2005, 15:05 »
Quote from: KharBevNor
I don't think you'd ever tip in a pub in the uk. In fact, I don't normally tip when I'm having just a drink either, unless it's a 'keep the change' type thing. I always tip meals though. Perverse maybe, but I have a rather minimal amount of disposable income.


We've been getting loads of British and Irish tourists since the pound (both Sterling & Irish pounds) are up against the dollar.  By and large they seem like a great bunch but I have often hear waitresses complain that Brit tourists are cheap tippers.  :lol:
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