farmerwife

That's it - it's hypnotic............ "you will listen every week" embedded in there somewhere.

farmerwife

Perhaps the repetitive thing is part of the charm. It's like being a child again, being read the same bedtime story everynight.
The voice.... I love it... ..... he could just read the old shipping reports we got in the UK .... Dogger Bank..... Faeroes....anything. Time slows down, it's like another world.

He also does a short reflective daily thing with a poem.

Muswell Hill

For the simple reason that the radio station is not charging for advertising as a revenue stream, but that you/us the listener are being sold to advetisers as a product they can reach with their message. When I lived in Asheville, NC a friend of mine was a partner in a local radio station and she informed me that listener rates are the all important carrot to hook advertisers. She told me that 'listeners are sold as a product by us".
Sad eh?

Steerpike

See, I'm more American than you! I love Garrison K's 'News from lake Wobegon'!

Steerpike

Now, that's something to look forward to! Gardening on the radio ... Sounds about as interesting as Golf on TV, or darts, or poker ...

Leslie

American commercial radio is shit because nobody with any brains listens to it so they market to idiots.

Leslie

For the record - I do listen to it in my car. I am an idiot.

Brit3964

Time to get XM/Sirius then and be slightly less of an idiot

Cape Blue

I can't say I've ever noticed the anti-christian focus on the BBC, perhaps just not a pro-christian focus like much of the US media. To be honest, I am surprised it has so much religion and christianity on it when religion is such a minority sport in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/

dgsyd1

If it's music you're after, then college radio is great. The local one is particularly good. I used to enjoy the local "classic rock" station, but it doesn't take long until you want them to play something other than "Stairway To Heaven", "Hotel California", or "We Will Rock You".
I usually enjoy listening to NPR, even though i'm still amazed about how much of their output actually comes from the BBC. It's still by far the best place to keep up with international news over here though.

robin1234

I agree -- Keillor is a bit of a self-important prima donna as far as I can see. I like the "drama" segments, though; Lives of the Cowboys, Guy Noir and that one they used to do about Bob, the struggling artist who was stuck with his family in the midwest -- I can't remember what it was called.
Some of the syndicated talk shows from NPR and PRI etc. are very good indeed; Fresh Air, A Question of Faith, Tom Ashbrook, etc. As someone else said (above,) your local NPR affliliate may or may not carry these.
I think the weakness of non-commercial radio in the US all comes down to money. They just don't have quite enough of it to provide the really high quality programming that you get on the BBC. I live close to two or three CBC transmitters (Ottawa, Kingston etc.) so CBC Radio One & Two are available to us as well as NPR. CBC is more or less modelled on the BBC, but on a lower budget, therefore not such good programming. If you like Prairie Home Companion, though, try CBC's Vinyl Cafe; it's a kinder gentler PHC...
One thing I don't understand about funding for public radio is that the listener is able to contribute to the local radio station (whether it be an NPR affliate, Pacifica Radio, local college station etc.,) but NPR itself doesn't solicit money from individual listeners, only corporate sponsors. I've looked on the NPR site and there is no opportunity for folks to give them a few dollars.

dgsyd1

And if you believe some of the stories, he can be a bit of an arse to the other performers on the show too.

SpaceProg

I think that US radio also has a lot to do with where you happen to be. I'm blessed to live in an area that has several good rock stations playing everything from 60s up to the present. A lot of obscure stuff too. Though if you drive out of range, you could be listening to something completely different.

I'm considering XM or Sirius or SiriXM, though... I've already got enough bills, however. How much do the services cost a month or whatever pay period they have?

Jensmate

Gardeners Question Time is a "must listen" in my household. My companion (a born and bred New Englander) gets a kick out of listening to the program and, due to the gales of laughter elicited, places it in the category of "comedy".
As a kid, we all had to hush when GQT was on --my dad was an avid listener.

I'm imagining Garrison Keillor reading the Shipping Forecast. Now THAT could replace sleeping pills.

Steerpike

Around the time I came here, all you could listen to in London, if you were into popular music, was "Radio 1", or "Capital Radio". I came here and found something like 20 or 30 FM stations, all playing good music. KFOG is still going 25 years later and still plays good stuff. But ... if I drove 100 miles out of the Bay Area, it could be Christian music, Country Music ...

XM is not cheap. After a cheap intro period, they try to charge you about $140/year, but if you let your subscription expire and string them along a few weeks, you start getting special offers for about $80/year. I believe XM and Sirius have merged, but they may each offer different packages still.