I'm a spoken-word junkie. When I'm driving, or doing housework or laundry, I don't usually listen to music. I need my brain to be engaged, and I want to listen to people talking. "I want stories!" Stella yells from her carseat in back, and I concur. Audiobooks are great when I've got longer trips, but right now, I'm mostly listening to KQED. My absolute favorite radio station bar none, however, is the BBC's Radio 4.
Radio 4 is dedicated to spoken-word programming, and it is unlike anything in the US (NPR is its closest cognate). The format is a mix of news and culture reporting, interspersed with comedy programming, plays, call-in shows, and the world's longest running serial drama, The Archers. When I lived in Cambridge, it was on all the time. I scheduled my life by it, and when Stella was born, we scheduled bedtime so I could nurse her down during the 6:30 comedy programming.
So, moving back to the US, it was a wrench leaving all this quality programming behind. Lucky for me, however, there are podcasts available for many of my favorites (including, thank goodness, The Archers.
I used to subscribe to feeds through Google Reader, now I do it direct through iTunes. If you're looking for particularly British (IMO) programming, I'd recommend:
The Archers - British rural soap, updated daily, average length 13 minutes.
Friday Night Comedy - Either the News Quiz (satire) or The Now Show (also satire) - 28 minutes.
Best of Today - Highlights of the daily morning news show. Interviewers are known for haranguing politicians.
Thought for the Day - Included less because of the content than because it would never happen in the US. 3 minute essays by faith leaders on topics of the day.
In thinking about library applications, the obvious thing for SPL would be to put Dial-a-Story, Dial-a-Book, and Telecuentos on as podcasts. Some libraries are doing this already. I wonder, too, if we (this "we" being libraries in general, not just SPL) could convince audiobook producers to let us podcast audiobook teasers, like some commercial sites do.
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1 comment:
This was a good blog, I liked the info about Radio 4 and read the wikipedia info on "The Archers". Also, that was cool that you could click on the link and go to the wikipedia site. I need to learn how to do that.
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