NPR Rant

I may be one of the last people to listen to radio in my car.  As that may be, there is one radio station that really upsets me.  I love the WBEZ jazz shows that are on late at night.  Every so often, the station choice rotates around and I find myself listening to the NPR news feed on WBEZ.  Understand that I have invited you into my car but I may not have chosen to give you my undivided attention.  For one thing, I am driving.  Admittedly, I also hate beer commercials, opera; many things irritate me.  However, no one else makes purposely-rude and dangerous noises just to attract my attention.  If something you say interests me, I will attend to your program.  Being rude will not help.

When I hear a soft car horn within my car, the implication is that there is a loud car horn outside my car.  When it turns out that the segment is trying to convince me that they are on a busy street corner in Islamabad, I have eleven other preset stations to turn to.

The most terrifying noise you can hear while driving:

-beep, beep, beep.

The sound of a truck backing up, they often use to announce that the segment is coming from a construction site.

Sirens, babies crying, whistles, gunfire, none of these in any way provide information or entertainment.  If the story needs goosing, maybe it’s not that good a story.

It is clear that the people who produce and the stations, like WBEZ, who purchase NPR never listen to their programs in a normal day-to-day context, too busy listening to books on their iPods.