What's On Your Radio

DEBORAH CROMBIE: One of the things that always strikes me in the UK is how different radio is from the US. Radio in the US has always seemed very age and genre segregated. Country music fans listen to their country station, rock music fans their rock station, old hippies like me, the Oldies station, etc, etc. And I have to admit that the only thing I listen to in the car or at home is usually NPR. (For which I am very grateful!) But I think this segregation encourages us to live in our own little bubbles.

In the UK, everyone listens to the radio. Most people have radios in their kitchens. And most people still listen to the four main BBC stations. 

Here's an example of the retro-type radios people tend to have in their kitchens (many are digital and bluetooth!)

BBC 1 skews a little younger music-wise. BBC 2 is the most mid-range--they play everything from oldies to the most current music. BBC 3 is mostly classical but they play jazz and other interesting stuff, too. All the stations have some news and talk programs, but  BBC 4 is all talk (don't even THINK about equating this with American talk radio!) There are plays and books and dramas written just for radio, news, current affairs, comedy, games, science documentaries, just about anything you can talk about, really.

I know we can get  a lot of varied programs like this now on podcasts, but that's not the same as having everyone sipping from the same cultural bowl, talking about the new band that debuted on Radio 1 or the latest Radio 4 drama over the water cooler.

I love the idea of radio being a way for us to be more connected, rather than less.

Reds and readers, do you still listen to the radio?

JENN McKINLAY: I love BBC radio and it's sad that we don't have something similar here. I am a hardcore NPR listener. In the car and I keep a radio on my desk that I flick on when the words won't flow and I need to hear other grownups thinking big things. Otherwise, I listen mostly to classic rock since the punk rock of my youth is now classic. When exactly did that happen???

HALLIE EPHRON: When I'm in the car I listen to NPR - we have two stations that are talk, though I get tired of listening to the voices of the same commentators over and over again - and one station that's classical music. I alternate. LOVE it when it's the weekend and I can hear Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me or Celtic music on A Celtic Sojourn. And when I'm home alone, cooking dinner, the radio is my companion. (Funny, I don't need it when Jerry's home.)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We listen to Celtic Sojourn too! And love Wait, Wait. And Fresh Air. There's a show on a local college station that's all Broadway music, and I love that, too. But when I am in the car, it is usually with Jonathan, so we don't listen to the radio. On road trips, it's Sirius with classical, or politics, or folk music, on, when I get my hands on the controls, I choose Broadway music, or oldies (Jenn, agreed!)  or Frank Sinatra channel. I get to hear new stuff, thank goodness, when I am in the car with my news photographers. So I remain a tiny bit--and I mean TINY--not completely out of it. Sunday mornings we listen to classical radio until Meet the Press is on.

Whoa. I remember when the radio was on ALL the time, my little transistor plugged into my ear. 


DEBS: I LOVE Wait, Wait!! I'll bet we all do. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I do! Like the rest of you, I'm an NPR junkie, and listen to many of the shows on my local station, MPBN. I'm also grateful they introduced the wonderful Maine Public Classical last year, and that tends to be on all the time at my house. Interestingly, though I get most of my music from "the radio," several of the stations I love I tune into by streaming from my Alexa. It's wonderful that living out in the country, I can have any station I want crystal clear. I told you I love Alexa!

I also have certain types of music I enjoy listening to depending on what I'm up to. Housework - oldies on 100.9. Cooking and puttering in the kitchen - adult contemporary on 98.9, Country music in the car - we now have at least three stations in our area playing country.

LUCY BURDETTE: Hallie, I'm just like you--if John's not home and I'm cooking, I always turn on NPR. And that's what I listen to in the car too. Unfortunately in our building in Key West, the reception is AWFUL. You have to practically stand by the window holding the antennae to avoid static. My favorite show on Saturdays is the Moth radio hour (storytelling) and on Sundays, love the baroque music.
 
RHYS BOWEN: As one who started out working for BBC radio, I regret that only NPR comes close in the US. I worked in radio drama and our plays got as much rehearsal as a TV plays. The most distinguished actors in England were in our casts. And the first piece of writing I sold was a radio play. But also comedy, quiz shows, talk on the arts. I only listen to radio when I'm driving. Usually NPR.

DEBS: Rhys, I love that your first piece of professional drama was a radio play. Don't you miss those here?

I manage to keep up with what's current a little bit because I watch The Voice. Thinking about it, maybe that's the biggest exposure we get nationally to a lot of different styles of music and performers.

Readers, tell us what you tune in?