So, what are you listening to?
Many people put on CDs, be they straight commercial affairs or ones they've burned themselves, or keep television on as a background while they roam online, and I've done both. I-Pods stuffed with dozens of hours of mp3s and podcasts may even be the level you're operating at. During the weekdays, unless current events become too focused on one event that it becomes almost unlistenable, I tend to listen to my local NPR station, WHYY. Not so long ago that wouldn't have been something worth mentioning to people outside the broadcast area, but now that streaming media and higher speed access have become so common and reliable (it used to be so tinny and brittle) it strikes me as something worth mentioning since listening to it over the net can be so easily done. The programming on WHYY is news, information, general entertainment and interview most of the time, with classical music programming (that once upon a time was its focus) retreating to Sunday nights.
If I'm looking for a music mix I'll sometimes switch to former NPR, now member-supported WXPN, which can be listened to here. They still get their hourly news feed from NPR, but they reached a point some years back where they saw the arc of the future concerning federal funding and restrictions, and opted to cut those hoses/strings in order to seek a more self-directed future. The mix there can be esoteric and/or a little too slanted in its appeal at times - the "socially conscious" vibe can become a little thick at times - but it can be a bit of fresh air as it'll likely expose the listener to music he's unlikely to hear on any mainstream music station.
Commercial radio stations drive me nuts. I'll give them a listen while driving sometimes, but that's knowing that the control panel's a quick stab of the finger away at all times. If I'm working on something else - at work or home - I prefer to have something on I can mentally tune in and out of, but not something I'd find myself wanting to jump away from whenever the latest interminable block of commercials (made worse by each being played several times an hour) or another, damned Bruce Springsteen song is played.
Sometimes I'll seek out archived programming online, too. If I missed the previous week's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me I'll track that down sometime during the week, and there are almost countless hours of wonderful, theme-driven listening - from the comic to the tragic, and almost all of it informative, funny and/or poignant - to be found by poking through the archives for This American Life.
So... what, if any, net-accessible station(s) or audio sites do you find yourself listening to?
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