Friday Podcast
This past holiday season I did something I hadn’t done as long as I can remember. I took a holiday!
By that I mean that I left work on 12/23 and didn’t return until 1/3. I don’t remember doing that since high school.
During that time my daughter, for whom we purchased an I-Pod the holiday prior, informed me that I could download “podcasts” to my Palm Tungsten E that I purchased the holiday prior.
I had heard about “podcasts” but didn’t think much about them. I gave them the same amount of thought as I did “blogs”.
Anyway, I started looking into this mysterious new idea. I began to find a whole new world. There were actually things available in this “podcast” format in which an old guy like me might be interested.
There were jazz music programs and humor programs. There were political programs and writing programs. There were audio rebroadcasts of television shows I’ll never have time to watch and radio shows where I’ll never be around the radio to hear.
Just like when I go to be great restaurant, my eyes became too big for my stomach, or in this case my ears. I began to download everything in site.
Now, it has been a few months and I’ve calmed down. I’ve tossed things that I really was not that interested in and others that I was, but realized that I could live without or come back to another time.
Each Friday, for awhile anyway, I will add a podcast link to this blog. These will include favorites and new discoveries.
KCRW of Santa Monica, California is the first podcast website I will showcase here. I love it because it has so many things to offer for so many tastes. I haven’t listened to every program, but I have listened to a half-dozen or so.
The programs I continue to enjoy include Harry Shearer’s “Le Show”. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a wonderful satire of what’s going on in today’s news. Shearer truly is one of America’s fine talents who does not get enough visibility or praise.
He has been successful in nearly every medium including television (“The Simpsons”, SNL, etc.), movies (A Mighty Wind, etc.) and here on the radio. He even has a new CD coming out entitled “Dropping Anchors” which includes skits where he deftly adopts the voice of various network news anchors, present and past.
Another fine program is “Left, Right and Center” which is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The show includes pundits Tony Blankey, representing the right, Robert Scheer, representing the left, and host Matthew Miller, representing the center. Arianna Huffington also contributes. She originally represented the right when the show began, but over the years has become more progressive.
The mix is fun and informative. It is at its best when the four let loose, which they do more than the Sunday morning roundtable “experts”. They are obviously good friends who know how to disagree and walk away without scars.
Finally, my third favorite is Michael Silverblatt’s “Bookworm”. This program is a slim thirty minutes long and even though it sports strange opening and closing music (Jimmy Dodd as Jiminy Crickett introducing the ‘Book of the Mouse Club’), it includes very insightful commentary from authors and poets about their writing. This is very much for the avid reader and/or writer.
Another program I have enjoyed, but have had to set aside for now, is an excellent daily news program entitled “To The Point”. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time in my week for this excellent program, but I hope to return to it sometime in the months to come.
In the Fridays to come, I’ll be sharing other podcast websites where you can find multiple programs or single efforts. Feel free to leave your comments about podcasts you find interesting or entertaining. I would love to take a listen!
By that I mean that I left work on 12/23 and didn’t return until 1/3. I don’t remember doing that since high school.
During that time my daughter, for whom we purchased an I-Pod the holiday prior, informed me that I could download “podcasts” to my Palm Tungsten E that I purchased the holiday prior.
I had heard about “podcasts” but didn’t think much about them. I gave them the same amount of thought as I did “blogs”.
Anyway, I started looking into this mysterious new idea. I began to find a whole new world. There were actually things available in this “podcast” format in which an old guy like me might be interested.
There were jazz music programs and humor programs. There were political programs and writing programs. There were audio rebroadcasts of television shows I’ll never have time to watch and radio shows where I’ll never be around the radio to hear.
Just like when I go to be great restaurant, my eyes became too big for my stomach, or in this case my ears. I began to download everything in site.
Now, it has been a few months and I’ve calmed down. I’ve tossed things that I really was not that interested in and others that I was, but realized that I could live without or come back to another time.
Each Friday, for awhile anyway, I will add a podcast link to this blog. These will include favorites and new discoveries.
KCRW of Santa Monica, California is the first podcast website I will showcase here. I love it because it has so many things to offer for so many tastes. I haven’t listened to every program, but I have listened to a half-dozen or so.
The programs I continue to enjoy include Harry Shearer’s “Le Show”. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a wonderful satire of what’s going on in today’s news. Shearer truly is one of America’s fine talents who does not get enough visibility or praise.
He has been successful in nearly every medium including television (“The Simpsons”, SNL, etc.), movies (A Mighty Wind, etc.) and here on the radio. He even has a new CD coming out entitled “Dropping Anchors” which includes skits where he deftly adopts the voice of various network news anchors, present and past.
Another fine program is “Left, Right and Center” which is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The show includes pundits Tony Blankey, representing the right, Robert Scheer, representing the left, and host Matthew Miller, representing the center. Arianna Huffington also contributes. She originally represented the right when the show began, but over the years has become more progressive.
The mix is fun and informative. It is at its best when the four let loose, which they do more than the Sunday morning roundtable “experts”. They are obviously good friends who know how to disagree and walk away without scars.
Finally, my third favorite is Michael Silverblatt’s “Bookworm”. This program is a slim thirty minutes long and even though it sports strange opening and closing music (Jimmy Dodd as Jiminy Crickett introducing the ‘Book of the Mouse Club’), it includes very insightful commentary from authors and poets about their writing. This is very much for the avid reader and/or writer.
Another program I have enjoyed, but have had to set aside for now, is an excellent daily news program entitled “To The Point”. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time in my week for this excellent program, but I hope to return to it sometime in the months to come.
In the Fridays to come, I’ll be sharing other podcast websites where you can find multiple programs or single efforts. Feel free to leave your comments about podcasts you find interesting or entertaining. I would love to take a listen!
Labels: Podcasts
posted by Alexander Dimm | 9:13 PM
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