Most radio listening takes place in the car or while doing other things that allow freedom for the ear, but not the eyes and hands. Podcasts permit a shift of listening time from a set appointment to virtually any convenient occasion. I do it while “power walking” (most) every morning in what sometimes seems like a vain attempt to diminish the results of sitting behind a desk for 35 years. The act of putting one foot in front of the other can be pretty monotonous and by “podding along” while plodding along the mind also gets something useful to do. So it is with the time spent commuting to work day after day.
Podcasting has expanded almost exponentially so very quickly that it can justly be considered a medium all its own. Therefore, the attempt here has to be to highlight only a small portion of it, just one corner where excellence reigns. Some of the best radio comes from the public networks of the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S. Apart from the originating program’s web site, most programs are made available through any number of other amalgamation sources such as iTunes and TuneIn. Admittedly, these are thoroughly subjective recommendations, but my interests and tolerance for incompatible views are pretty wide-ranging. Here’s another in a continuing series of small samplings, offered in a 90 minute scope (more or less): — — ****************** CAPSULE REVIEW The Urbanist - Monocle 24 If you’re not familiar with Monocle 24, you should be. It’s a non-commercial 24/7 Internet radio station operated by the monthly Monocle magazine that takes a globalist stance. The presentation is straightforward, without a lot of production bells and whistles. But it takes a differently nuanced perspective by emphasizing the cultural and social over the political. It’s a refreshing take at a time when the political seems to dominate all. “The Urbanist' is one of its lead programs and focuses on cities, where the vast majority of the human population resides and works. Whether it’s urban issues, a particular city, a comparison of museums or aspects of everyday life in a city, the program really captures the uniqueness of being an urbanist. Check out its website for a fuller description of this program, the station and its many finely produced programs. https:/www.monocle.com/radio ****************** “Letters from the City" THE URBANIST - Monocle 24 How a city handles a pandemic reveals much about its character. As urban centres around the world begin to reopen, Monocle’s correspondents send us letters from their own outposts. (34”) https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-urbanist/449/ “Mark Cuban Wants to Save Capitalism from Itself" THE NEW YORKER RADIO HOUR - NPR and WNYC New York Public Radio Mark Cuban identifies as a capitalist, but the billionaire investor, "Shark Tank" star, and Dallas Mavericks owner has been advocating for changes that point to a different kind of politics. Cuban tells Sheelah Kolhatkar that the economic crisis now requires massive government investment to stabilize the economy from the bottom up; he's pushing a federal jobs program that would warm the heart of Bernie Sanders. "We are literally going from America 1.0," he said, "to trying to figure out what America 2.0 is going to look like." Plus, Katy Waldman picks three novels that provide comic relief; and Susan Orlean gets a life lesson in origami. (30”) https://www.npr.org/podcasts/458929150/the-new-yorker-radio-hour (scroll down to June 2, 2020) __ __ A monthly (well, mostly monthly) compendium of these newsletters, plus on occasion additional pertinent material, is now published in The CIDX Messenger, the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian International DX Club (CIDX). For further information, go to www.cidx.ca John Figliozzi Editor, "The Worldwide Listening Guide” NEW! 184 page 9th EDITION available NOW from Universal Radio [universal-radio.com], Amazon [amazon.com], Ham Radio Outlet [hamradio.com] _______________________________________________ Internetradio mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/internetradio To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.
