A Serious Addiction

Hello. My name is, and I'm addicted to National Public Radio.

Approximately two months ago the CD player in my car broke. I truly was upset. I didn't really listen to music in the car, either on the radio or on my CDs. But because I have a long commute each day, I had started listening to audio books. The library was my best friend. I had finished one by an author I had never heard of, and found I really paid attention to the language and nuances of dialogue when listening to a book being read aloud. And I'd also almost finished Jodi Piccoult's entire library. Ear candy to be sure, but because she wrote her books in first person "parts," they lent themselves well to the medium. It was fun to escape into rich language, similes, and a wild story on my way to work.  A reason to be excited for the drive to, ugh, work.

So with the CD player broken and no method of real entertainment, I turned on the radio. Talk about disappointing. It's happened. I'm old. The station that my son listens to is hideous. Loud and obnoxious. If that is new, popular music these days, I'll stick to my three favorite artists and rotate through their CDs until I'm bored. The "oldies" station (meaning eighties) doesn't play Depeche Mode or Crowded House. It plays Twisted Sister and Metallica. Then there's country and the "easy listening" station, which I'm sad to say, is the station that most closely resembles my taste.  When did I become my mom?

So I don't listen to any of them. 

I had always known about and listened to npr, but more passively and on shorter drives.  Sometime in Novemeber that changed. I turned that dial to 90.1 FM, Colorado Public Radio, and it hasn't moved.  In the morning I catch the tail end of Morning Edition, followed by Fresh Air. On the way home I listen to All Things Considered.   Weekends? Well if there isn't a human interest story or news, I'm sure to catch "Prarie Home Companion" or "E Town," "Car Talk" or "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me"... or any number of amazing programs.

I knew my addiction had reached epic proportion when:

• I consistently knew all the stories on NBC Nightly News BEFORE Brian Willams reported them.
• I found almost all my conversation with my husband being punctuated with something like, "I know. I heard that on npr," or "Oh, on npr today..." or "Did you know that..."
• My husband saying, "You are only allowed to tell me one npr story today."
• The cross between a tender smile and annoyed smirk that hubby gave me when he told me, "The Cubs signed Kerry Wood," and I replied, "I know."
• When I asked if we were going to watch the State of the Union address, my husband said, "Why? I'm sure you will hear all about it tomorrow on npr."
• I had listened to stories on npr podcast and live stream only to find that they hadn't yet aired on our local npr station, thus I was hearing stories twice.

If you have not discovered npr, you must. Recently I listened to Trent Reznor talk about his Oscar for writing the score for "The Social Network" and the work he did on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." I listened to a program about the controversial new book on the Obamas directly from the author. I've listened to the creators of South Park on the musical "The Book of Mormon," heard interviews from members of national security organizations, and enjoyed quirky quips from Tina Fey. And so much more. I love the news. I love the way the news is reported. I love the human interest stories intermingled with the news. I love the arts and entertainament. It is wonderful to be connected to the world on a human, global level. Example? It is moving to hear about women making a difference in their villiages by using their natural resources to bottle and sell oil to tourists. What I listen to and learn is a  true example of learning  the "things I never knew I never knew."

Nevermind that my son told me that this made me a crypt keeper (ouch) since only old people listened to npr. I think what really makes me old is that I have no interest in commercial, teen radio. I believe npr makes me more inquisitive, more thoughtful, more interested and more interesting.  I am informed about our world, our nation, my state, and my town. I know about music and art regionally and globally. I know more about science and research, education, goverment, policy. I have an inside into books and movies, entertainment and the arts. And what's else, listening to npr is fun.

Listen to npr. Discover what you never knew you never knew.