Since my college days as a student radio host, I’ve been a sucker for good radio and it’s inherent portability, particularly public radio, like National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Here’s a weekly recap of my favorite bits from the wireless over the past week. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Here’s The Thing – Lorne Michaels (preview)
January 23, 2012 – In this short preview of the next episode of Here’s the Thing, Alec goes to Rockefeller Center to visit Lorne Michaels in his office – the same office Michaels has had since 1975, when he created Saturday Night Live and from which he has launched the careers of some of the biggest names in comedy.
In the preview, Lorne talks about what it’s like to produce Saturday Night Live in six days, week after week. Listen below or download here.
0:43
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Studio 360
January 27, 2012 – This week on Studio 360 was a re-airing of a show from 2008: The astounding mad scientist life of Nikola Tesla. Just who was this pioneer of radio, radar, and wireless communication? We discover his legacy in the work of today’s scientists and artists. Samantha Hunt’s novel The Invention of Everything Else is a fictional portrait of Tesla. Monologist Mike Daisey tells us how Tesla X-rayed Mark Twain’s head. And across the country, garage inventors toil in obscurity at the next breakthrough that will change the world. Listen below or download here.
52:41
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On The Media
January 27, 2012 – This week on OTM: The strange tradition of Supreme Court Justices attending Presidential State of the Union Addresses, the future of warantless GPS tracking, and exploring the question of internet as a human right. Listen below or download here.
51:59
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All Songs Considered: Blistering Punk, Campy Rap And Some Great Unknowns
January 24, 2012 – Bob Boilen drops a party-rap track direct from Canada; Robin Hilton explains what he loves so much about Thomas Patrick Maguire, the songwriter he recently named his favorite new artist; and a surprise guest busts up the proceedings with some good old-fashioned California punk. Plus: pulsing, atmospheric tracks from Young Magic and Lucius, and the original voices of Liz Green and Sea of Bees. Listen below or download here.
34:33
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NPR Music First Listen: Leonard Cohen, ‘Old Ideas’
January 22, 2012 – In a recent public conversation with fellow rock bard Jarvis Cocker about the new recording Old Ideas, Leonard Cohen answered the younger man’s suggestion that his songs are “penitential hymns” (a phrase Cohen himself employs in his new song “Come Healing”) with jocular humility. “I’m not sure what that means, to be honest,” Cohen reportedly replied. He continued, “Who’s to blame in this catastrophe? I never figured that out.” Read more and listen to the album here.
Fresh Air: Long Live The Smiths’ “Complete Works”
January 25, 2012 – With the release of The Smiths’ complete works, rock historian Ed Ward looks back and tries to figure out what made the group so important. The English band didn’t have many big hits, but it helped define the music of its generation. Listen below or download here.
8:35
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