Jonesing

The other day, I realized I missed NPR.

Well, that's not quite it. I've can tune into an NPR station, WNYC out of New York, whenever I like. And I always hear about 20 minutes of Morning Edition on the way to work, which is usually discussing something both miserable and intractable. Arab-Israeli conflict, anyone? But what I was really missing were the shows I used to hear all the time: Fresh Air and Radio Times, both out of Philadelphia. Fresh Air is a national show, but it plays on NYC at a time that's doubly inconvenient -- not only am I generally not in my car at 8pm, but by that time NYC's FM station switches to classical music, and I have to go fishing around on the AM dial to hear it. Radio Times is a Philly-area call-in show, and as far as I know isn't on NYC or any other station besides WHYY.

No matter. Podcasts are more convenient anyway. So far I've just listened to a few Fresh Airs. I like the show because no matter the subject, Terry Gross always elicits an interesting conversation. I never used to be able to pick and choose, but since there's a podcast backlog, I've managed to listen to Richard Dawkins about his book The God Delusion, as well as a reporter who worked on the story of the changing chemical balance of the oceans, and actor Gabriel Byrne (who even briefly talked about one of my favorite movies, Miller's Crossing). In other words, I'm really enjoying it. (I'll be dipping my toe back into Radio Times tomorrow. I'm pickier about my subjects with that one. I don't really give a hoot about gardening, and even less about what people might call in to say about it. And I'm only slightly more interested in Don Imus, although here's a piece about racism, politics and that niche of talk radio that I found interesting enough to read to the end.)

At the end of Thursday's Fresh Air (which I heard today), the music critic reviews an album by British singer Amy Winehouse, Back To Black. I'd seen enough mentions of her in Entertainment Weekly to seek out one of her songs on YouTube the other day, and I liked it enough to play it a few times. Then I surfed away, thinking "If I ever hear that song again, I may have to buy that album." So today I hear some of it on Fresh Air, and my opinion hasn't changed. It's called "Rehab"; give it a listen and you might feel the same.



Rob