We started listening to NPR in October, when we bought the new car and discovered our antenna actually picked up the station. I suppose this is a perk to a high end car, because NPR never worked in the old Toyota. Mostly, the station is Cedric's preference, because he enjoys listening to news that lasts more than 60 seconds and in-depth political commentaries. Though they have been doing an extraordinarily detailed reportage of the Duke rape case every day at 11:30 for the last month, and I do enjoy that one.* Neither of us, however, much enjoys the music. It's almost exclusively classical, and I've tended to complain incessant classical music makes NPR come across as pretentious. Does NPR consider other types of music to be inferior? Do people like classical, or do they like the idea of liking classical? And the Saturday afternoon opera? Good grief do I scoff at that.

And yet, and yet... I believe something may be rubbing off on me. Perhaps a question of exposure, after all? Twice, in the last week, I've been unable to leave the car after reaching my destination, because I've found the piece playing on the radio so moving. I worried, both times, that I would never be able to hear the music again - and that would be a great misfortune. NPR isn't like mainstream radio; they don't rotate the top 20 every hour. They play obscure pieces that they may never play again. So I waited, in my car, for the announcer to tell me what was playing, and then tried to scribble the name of the artist and the piece as best as I could understand. It isn't easy because the titles are often not in English. After some detective work, I've found the first one - Number 194 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria performed by Sequentia (I had written: Conte cas des Maria - Sequencia (see, not easy). I haven't figured out the other one yet, but like the Cantiga, it is a 13th Century piece. I'm still looking.

NPR, it seems, is growing on me. And it's making realize that I can be weeeeee bit narrow minded and defensive. Of course classical music has validity. It can co-exist with folk ;-). I can make some room for it in my itunes list. But the Saturday afternoon Russian operas? Probably not going to happen.

* Incidentally, this highlights a big difference between Cedric and me. I care more about the human stories, and I enjoy speculating about the motivations and actions of the individual, and considering the individual as affected by other individuals and the larger society. Cedric prefers to think of the society at large, seeing individuals as part of larger movements, I suppose.

You may want to check with the station itself about the availability of other public radio formats. With the advent of HD-high Definition, public radio stations are multiplying their formats so you can have choices. For example, in the Washington DC area there is WAMU. They have 3 formats in HD. One is a news-talk (humor) format with a lot of NPR and APM programming and local talk. Their second HD station (frequency) is bluegrass music and their third station (frequency) is a mix of international news and programs not available on the other two.
Public stations now have the option of broadcasting what amounts to 3 stations all within the same amount of space that used to allow only one. Check it out. Also check their web site for teh music section. You will find all kinds of music that you just cannot hear or find anywhere else. When I work on my computer, I listen to public radio as downloads or to stations all over the country since I like lots of different kinds of music.

You may want to check with the station itself about the availability of other public radio formats. With the advent of HD-High Definition, public radio stations are multiplying their formats so you can have choices. For example, in the Washington DC area there is WAMU. They have 3 formats in HD. One is a news-talk (humor) format with a lot of NPR and APM programming and local talk. Their second HD station (frequency) is bluegrass music and their third station (frequency) is a mix of international news and programs not available on the other two.
Public stations now have the option of broadcasting what amounts to 3 stations all within the same amount of space that used to allow only one. Check it out. Also check the NPR web site for the music section. You will find all kinds of music that you just cannot hear or find anywhere else. When I work on my computer, I listen to public radio as downloads or to stations all over the country since I like lots of different kinds of music. Most stations stream their programming on the web.

Thanks for the info. I will look into this.