[Avoiding politics is a lot harder than it sounds. I’m just sayin’.]
My continuing half-assed and ineffective effort to avoid politics and procrasting while completing the Squirrel saga has painted me into a corner. I wish to write about something. Yet how does one avoid politics the day after President Cheeto addresses a joint session of Congress? (Unavoidable but abbreviated reporting: People wore white for reasons while looking constipated, Trump spoke without flinging feces which continues to surprise his detractors, and the press sustained its period of hyperventilation. Meanwhile the sky is still blue and the sun rose again the following day. There, I’ve covered the entire event in 41 words. You’ve been a great audience, pick up a CD in the lobby, have a safe drive home.)
A sustained drive in my truck forced me to address an interesting (though unfortunately political but at least removed-from-current-events) question: “Given that NPR has probably always been propaganda, why do I find it so repugnant now?” It’s an honest question. I used to listen to NPR with a grain of salt and that was enough. For example, I listened to them call the seven month Gulf War a “quagmire” in ’91 and cheer the election of Chavez in ’99. (How’d that work out for ya?)
Reporting on both events was biased as hell. Yet I didn’t feel like driving into a ditch to make them shut up. What happened? Did it always suck this much or have I changed?”
As part of my research I unearthed this. It’s only 8 minutes. It’s completely non-political. It’s hilarious:
For those of you who don’t know, “Ask Dr. Science” was on NPR back in the stone age. It remains as funny today as always. I loved it. Can you imagine a time when they had humor?
I think this answers my question; there’s a huge leap from propaganda to humorless propaganda. I just couldn’t cross the gulf.
I keep looking for a dash radio that picks up shortwave. Anyone heard of one that’s cheap and easy to cram into a Dodge? I miss Ask Dr. Science and something like that has to be out there still.
In the meantime I can reminisce; “It’s time for Ask Dr. Science, remember, he knows more than you…”
I gave up on radio years ago I download podcasts to listen to in the car now.
When I last regularly listened to radio, I had a 45 minute commute. Commercial radio had about 10 minutes of content and 35 of commercials. NPR was the best option. I eventually got an MP3 player and switched first to audiobooks, podcasts on CD, finally podcasts off my phone via a cheap bluetooth adapter. There’s podcasts for virtually any taste available–you might like Squirrel Report. (I think there’s more than one, but I’m referring to a podcast descended from one run by a bunch of gunbloggers)
Back in the early ’80s, I designed a converter to stick in the glove compartment of my ’82 Dodge pickup, which worked by tuning the radio to the middle of the AM band, (actually 1.000 MHz) and tuning the converter. It only converted two SW bands.
Today, a friend of mine has designed one that uses all the features of the modern car radios. He puts a receiver in the
fronttrunk, sets the radio to 100. MHz, FM, and delivers audio that way. He can be found at:http://carshortwaveradio.blogspot.com/
This guy is one of the brightest and most creative engineers I ever worked with. He retired a couple of years before me and started this business.
Hey, I have experienced this exact same sensation! And I think you’re absolutely right, it’s the new humorlessness infused with moral preening.
I remember maybe 12 years ago listening to an episode of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. I don’t even remember what the question was but the three possible answers included the Green Party as the second choice. And the host joked, “Only on NPR is the Green Party in the middle.” They were just as liberal and biased as they are now, but at least they used to be able to be funny about it. I blame social justice warriors.
Same here.. it is becoming so that the shows aren’t even enjoyable. I don’t think it is just the SJW effect though. I find myself literally yelling at Inskeep some mornings, … a grown man yelling at the electronic device that vibrates the air molecules in the car.. pretty sad really that it can affect me to such a degree. The funny thing is.. about half of his (or any of the NPR personalities really) questions to ANY interviewer are actually legitimate, intelligent, and are what I would expect from someone purporting to practice sound journalism. It is just he/they project such an air of ‘smug’ when posing said inquiries, especially with the conservatives but even with the moderate guests. See exhibit A here for precise facsimile of the technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFn1WEaYY3A The other half of his questions are what I would expect my 11 year old to ask in a job interview with Willy Wonka at the Chocolate Factory. Either he is REALLY that dumb or he and his producers/handlers think that their demographic is. Either way.. some mornings I just become less intelligent for having tuned in.