A few subconscious realisations of mine were cemented whilst driving across Southern USA this past year.
- There is a small diversity of food on Route 66 (*ahem*only*Subway*&*McDonalds)
- Small in McDonalds sizes = Large in Australian McDonalds sizes
- Middle America LOVES country music
- NPR
NPR was obviously the favourite discovery from the above (there were more it just wouldn’t be such a great impact if I included other positive things…right…).
NPR (formerly National Public Radio) is a not for profit radio syndicator to over 900 public radio stations across the United States, receiving funding from both public and private sources. The media organisation expanded in 2007 to incorporate NPR Music, a music discovery service distributed to NPR’s many affiliate stations across the country. And music discovery it does. Case in point: Anna von Hausswolf can probably say thank you to NPR for a sold out album release party at Brooklyn’s Glasslands earlier this year. Featured artist on their ‘First Listen’ program turned an unknown artist in the US into a hip new thing.
My first exposure to NPR was via their drive-time show ‘All Things Considered’ where the DJ was essentially reading a story of lost lovers, interjecting with snippets of latin music. I wasn’t vibing it and switched it off. Turns out All Things Considered is one of the most listened-to radio shows in the whole of the US. So I took this on board, and gave it another go.
I was road-tripping out of the Grand Canyon the next time I tuned into a local affiliate of NPR. This time, an obviously elderly woman was (struggling to) host questions from callers, and read the news in a timely manner. I stayed tuned, since I reasoned that she must have been a historically famous news announcer and NPR was hosting her back for a particular reason (and I needed to find out if was right). I was wrong; NPR is just super democratic & inclusive, and support equal employment opportunities to people of all ages & disabilities. How many people or organisations talk about this and can actually exemplify their action for it?
Ohh I get it. And then I fell in love.
NPR blows my mind in terms of diversity comparatively to any Australian radio show. NPR Music churns out so much current content in the form of interviews, news, live music streams & webcasts, studio sessions…the list goes on. Besides the actual radio shows available to listen to, there is a huge variety of niche podcasts available to stream online, including ‘World Café’, ‘Jazz Profiles’, and ‘The Thistle & Shamrock’ Celtic Music, and their Live Concert Series is phenomenal. They stream live from SxSW, the Village Vanguard here in New York, the Newport Jazz & Folk Festivals, Monterey Jazz Festival, from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, to exclusive Studio Sessions and Field Recordings (musicians performing in unconventional locations).
No matter what music you’re in to or what mood you’re in, NPR has something really interesting going on. For one of the broadest ‘Top 50 Albums of 2013’ lists, check out NPR’s 50 favourites here.
Their range of news articles has kept me more interested than any other program in a long time too, and I find myself constantly privy to new information to my ears.
ABC NewsRadio in Aus broadcasts a whole hour of highlights from each day’s program between 12:00 and 13:00 Monday to Friday, and their app is also free to download from the Australian app store here.
-Lani Williams
