NPR's Morning Edition just ran a minutes-long piece on American Idol. Thank God!

[Orrex]

For a minute there, I thought that I'd have to go to HuffPo for my dose of irrelevant entertainment news.


Whew!

[spanone]

npr = now promoting republicans

use to be a faithful listener.....no more

[NashVegas]

20. NPR Has Been Remaking Itself To Appeal to Dumbed Down, Yet Well-Educated Masses

Now that mainstream media culture has become an utter failure and stopped serving people with college educations.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I just renewed my subscription to the local NPR station. Unfortunately,...

I forgot to mention they should pass along the requirement that you approve of the relevance of all their stories.

[Orrex]

4. Yawn.

You can hear frequent commercials for American Idol on every station on the dial and every channel on tv, not to mention over most of the internet. If NPR wants to follow the dim-witted pack, then you're welcome to keep funding them.

I would prefer to have NPR report news stories that are overlooked by other media, rather than simply doing what everybody else does.

[CreekDog]

2. The great thing about NPR is that they can cover some really fun stuff

and make it boring. :boring:

:hide:



(i like Car Talk...)

[bullwinkle428]

3. I guess they could have run another piece illustrating how the tea-baggers

are an example of democracy at its finest!! :rofl:

[peekaloo]

5. They are SO out of touch

it's Dancing With The Stars season!

[Orrex]

6. DWTS was mentioned as well

Got to appease both camps, after all.

[lapislzi]

7. Bread and circuses

Right for Rome, right for America.

[saltpoint]

8. I'm not exactly hogwild about the watering-down that's

gone on at NPR.

On the other hand, commercial radio is a tawdry racket.

I do really enjoy WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME as a spirit-lifter.

I think it would be great if someone as perceptive as Amy Goodman for instance would set up radio programming by subscription only for progressive interviews and analysis. I'd expect it to have maybe a little more subscribers than THE NATION, so it would becomparatively small but very welcome.

[Orrex]

9. Amy Goodman is a rare point of light on the bleak landscape of radio

I've never heard Democracy Now run a puff-piece or filler spot.

[saltpoint]

11. Hi, Orrex. Yep. She does some mighty fine stuff over

the public airwaves.

I could sure use more of it, too.

[Orrex]

19. Locally I can only find one station that carries her

And it's not even really "local." When I used to commute to Pittsburgh, I managed to catch about 15 minutes of her show in the morning, and that's all.

[JPZenger]

10. They spent a large pt. of AM and PM on Norris's book

They spent a large part of both the AM and PM shows a couple days ago publicizing anchorwoman Michele Norris's new book. She is now away on a book tour.

[spanone]

13. we live in an era where the messenger is the star

what happened to journalists who report the news?

[Lifelong Protester]

12. Luckily Minnesota Public Radio is mostly classical music

so we don't get a lot of talk (unless you go to their all news station, KNOW).

It is a matter of complete indifference to me who is on Dancing With the Stars, or what happens on Idol. I just assumed it was another indication that I was out of touch, finding it all irrelevant.

Am I not the only one, then, who finds it ridiculous that these shows are now "news"?

[exboyfil]

14. Never watched a minute of

American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, or Survivor. I continue to preserve my brain cells.

[ThatsMyBarack]

15. What about GLEE?

I'm the only one I know who just doesn't care for that show. I liked it better in the 80s when it was called FAME, and everybody on it had real talent!

[hatrack]

16. Not nearly as good as their Happy-Happy Joy-Joy Post BP Gulf Spill coverage last week

Because, you see, since none of the most dire predictions on ecological outcomes came true, everything's fine, just fine.

All the oil just went away, and there were really not that many dead birds or turtles, and the marsh grass was hardly even touched by that disappearing oil, you silly whacko tree-huggers, you! Silly, silly, silly!

It was a :puke: inducing new low in "reporting".

[Tsiyu]

17. NPR is almost useless as a new source

Now, I love the NPR station out of Huntsville Alabama - WLRH I think - because they run a great variety of shows and music and they have female DJs in Prime slots!

But my shortwave is having issues so I'm forced to listen to WUTC for NPR (when I can stand it.) I had to turn it off last week when they quoted ODonell as some expert. "Well, Christine O'Donnell says..." as if the whole fucking world should drop what they're doing and give two shits what that irrelevant idiot has to say. NPR?????

And WUTC is a Sausage Fest. All male, all day, and they play the MOST depressing, preachy, misogynistic songs - that is, when those Dudes can stop flapping their lips - trying to prove how hip they are - long enough to put in a CD. Even when a host is sick, they put another male in as replacement. I call it Testosterone Radio. I used to send them money but no more.

I guess I have to fix the shortwave and get my news from outside of the US since US radio is completely in the shitter these days.

And now I'm off to work - with some CDs for the car stereo!

[Supersedeas]

18. in an effort to sound "fair and balanced" -- instead of report hard political facts, art news is

become a fall back for them.

Those who listen have probably seen that NPR leans heavily on the arts, entertainment, and personal interest stories ever sense the Dubya threated to remove their funding and complained about their so-called liberal bias. In response, NPR both moved right and shifted emphasis.