Yet! But I have time! But no space for more classes.

Indistinguishable from the crap you get fed on CNN, MSNBC and the various networks.

And if they try to tailor their message to the old farts, they'll just scare off whatever younger listeners they still have.


If it disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't miss it. In fact I'd never know, the last time I listened to it was back before I got a car with satellite radio, maybe 8 years ago. It was shitty then and it appears its just gotten worse.

BTW, I'm 74 years old.

I used to love listening to Bob Edwards.

Morning Edition has never recovered from losing him. (Or should I say jettisoning him?)

For several years, he did a show of interviews... sometimes, one full hour and sometimes two 1/2 hour interviews. They were excellent. As good as and sometimes better than Terry.

XM switched to a new format on that channel and it is useless shit.

The best thing XM could do is not renew the contract for Howard Stern and use the money for better public interest programing.

I do have to credit XM for their pedophile channel. They have "The Catholic Guy" and sometimes Cardinal Dolan and they did give full coverage to Frank when he left the Vatican to visit us.

lost on the likes of me.

I knew they were done in October of 2004 when they were spending large amounts of "Morning Edition" air interviewing voters undecided (!) between Kerry and Little Bush. Any program that gives that much time to morons is in trouble.

fall in line with the corporate-Republican Lite agenda. I haven't listened in ages.

He works for APM (American Public Media.)

Podcasts and satellite radio seem to rule here.

Nearly every show is podcasted.

I get the podcasts for Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, NPR Politics, Invisibilia and StoryCorps as well as the three All Songs Considered podcasts. I used to get the weekend version of All Things Considered but it was discontinued.

And I also listen to Science Friday, TEDTalks (the individual episodes) the Moth, Left Right & Center, This American Life, Radiolab, and Serial which are all related to NPR in one sense or another.

Yeah, I listen to way too many podcasts. But I'm rarely near a radio, so I like that I can download so many shows for my commute or at work where my desk job lets me listen to headphones.

I think it is great to stimulate ones mind and most of the shows you mention do just that.

Even the 60-something Republican guy at work doesn't listen to Limbaugh during lunch at his desk anymore.

Listening to news and politics all the time is just plain depressing anyway. I switched over to podcasts, I like WTF and Doug Loves Movies.

That's the problem:



A blink of an eye.

NPR wants a younger audience, do real news, not propaganda.

I think some of the hosts and reporters get lazy over time, or start cashing it in somewhere else and phoning it in to NPR, or hoping to make a mint selling books or something.

Agree with other posters - do real news and do it well. There's your audience. How hard can this be? The field is basically wide open.

They phone it in that's for sure, it's formulaic and smug radio.

I bought a new car that didn't have the radio antenna hooked up. I didn't notice, my dad had to point it out to me.

One of my friends is a big shit in the radio industry and every piece of market research that crosses his desk basically says nobody under fifty who makes more than $30,000 a year is interested in anything they're offering. When they want to try something different they get shot down because advertisers aren't willing to try anything new.

Who also worked as a big shit for a major researcher in media. 93% of the 12+ population still tunes into radio every week. YEs some of the younger demos are delivery methods different than over the air. Many stream our stations on mobile apps and computer apps. Many listen to podcasts of our shows. But radio isn't dead. Yes the "connected cars" are more complex with choices. The good news is 89% of people buying cars still say they want and AM/FM radio as a feature.

And for the record...Pandora reaches 9% of the population weekly and Spotify reaches 2%. Podcasts make up about 3% of all audio lustening. Source: Share of the Ear Study Q2 Edison Media Research.

But it's importance is drastically reduced to not insignificant numbers of people who are also aggressively targeted by advertisers. . The guy in question I am quoting is stuck with AM stations with a geriatric audience and FM stations with low-income audiences.

and continual fundraisers featuring doo-wop groups from the fifties, those that can still stand, and from the 60s, their favorite demographic.

and ancient British sitcoms.

NPR looks youthful by comparison.

But i see your point.

Here are a few cases that describe the problem.

Case 1: Morning Edition's firing of Bob Edwards after he annoyed Little Bush administration people with real questions. Then they turned the entire program over to the silly "two hosts bantering" format, which scuttles it as a news reporting venue. The permanent host, Steve Inskeep, revealed his stooge status right away with his agreement to "embed" with the Iraqi invasion force. To this day, Morning Edition continues to be a reliable propaganda outlet for the MIC and the GOP. (Their brief adoption of martial music after the invasion of Iraq was especially telling. There was such an uproar that they changed it back after two days.)

Case 2: Many of the news segments on these news blocks, especially on the weekends like Weekend Edition, are nothing but advertising -- segments that have authors/actors/musicians come on to plug their latest product.

Case 3: Static programming. Many of the programs on NPR have been playing unchanged for decades. It's hard to think of any new programming they've introduced. "Car Talk," for example, still plays reruns today -- 3 years after they stopped producing new shows and a year after the death of co-host Tom Magliozzi.

Case 4: Time scheduling. They have altered their timing to add more advertising. Morning Edition, for example, contains 12 segments over 2 hours. Local stations usually repeat it at least once to fill at least 4 hours of air time. It used to be that they would have news at :01 and :30, followed by advertising. Now they have news at :01, :20 and :40, each followed by advertising. That, alone, is a 50% increase in ad time. Local stations have done the same thing, adding even more ad time. This has happened to all of their news shows, including All Things Considered and Weekend Edition.

Case 5: A show on NPR is usually a lifetime gig. Almost nothing ever goes away, even after it's obvious that the host is just doing anything to fill the time slot with "something" or, as with "Car Talk," the host has shed his mortal coil!

Went through that a couple of times.

I will never forgive WETS for getting rid of Democracy Now. The rightwing takeover has killed NPR for me.

They are far more damaging than Fox because they have a lot of people fooled into thinking they are liberal or at least neutral, neither of which are true. I stopped listening back when they were beating Dubya's drums of war for Iraq, now I don't even own a radio except for one in a drawer for emergencies.

The fellating of Dubya and the cheerleading for his war was obvious, ridiculous, and embarrassing. I then found out that the head of NPR was the former head of that propaganda service that broadcasts stuff to Cuba (the name of which escapes me now), and it all became clear. I haven't listened to that crap ever since.

which broadcasts to Cuba from the US.

Thanks for that.

Then off and on through the years. I stopped when they were no more insightful and no less sensational, than CNN. The last broadcast I listened to was during the W administration.

First, there is the Internet. WAMU in DC runs BBC from midnight to 5 am, but it's quicker to find the breaking news, features, etc. om the Internet.

Second, WTOP (and WNEW after 5 am) run traffic and weather at least every 10 minutes, on a schedule. With the "need" to decide what to wear for the day, get to work early to avoid traffic jams, etc., guess which Baltowash station(s) many tune into?

Third, there may be physical and/or social restrictions about listening to the radio at work. Again, it can be easier to switch on the Internet.

This may be why NPR's format may appeal more to retirees (some of whom are NOT computerized) than working people. Outside the big cities, there may also be a "need" for a radio "news" alternative to the talk radio stations, the religious stations, the "golden oldie" stations, and the country-western stations. NPR is the best of the bunch there, but that's not saying much.

many have already mentioned in this thread. I was a listener from the beginning of their news programming in the early 80s but when they ditched Bob Edwards that was when I noticed the decline that ultimately led to me no longer turning on my radio at all. I used to check in now and then to see if they have gotten any better but no, Koch-y Roberts and Mara LIE-asson are still on - at least the last time I checked which has now been several months.

They sent me a survey a couple of months ago and I roasted them. That got all of the vitriol out of my system. The divorce is now final and I have moved on.

To try to appeal to young people, it is not necessary to dumb everything down to a 5th grade level. That has happened with some "Project Money" episodes on NPR that were aimed at younger persons.l

But we're both 70+

I never, ever listen to commercial radio. Now, it's WTMD (listener supported station in Towson, all music) or I stream the Current (from Minnesota) or Radio Paradise (online-only). I do listen to NPR podcasts, but never the news.

but then Seattle decided it just HAD to have a fourth sports station and our progressive station was no more. I tried to listen to our local NPR but it was too bland after a diet of the progressive station. So, other than listening to a local station that plays old radio dramas at 8:00 for an hour, I listen to the radio very little.

And then, a week or so ago, the TV in my room quit. So, while I used to fall asleep with the TV on (timer shut it off), I now have the local NPR on -- by the time I go to bed, they are broadcasting BBC so it is more informative and entertaining.

Demographic: I'll be 70 in another couple of weeks.