I used to have Sirius in the car, but stopped that. It came with the last four cars we bought. In the house, I listen to NPR for the news, and that's all. In the car and on my three-mile hike every day, I use Pandora or Spotify and pick the genre I want.

"I used to be an NPR junkie until 15 years ago when the content started going way downhill. Now it just makes me mad."

You know, I've re-examined my NPR listening habits recently. I've been noticing feeling much more anxious and upset during the workweek (which is when most of my driving and hence NPR listening occurs, or quick morning check of NPR website). I've attributed it to the constant left-leaning hand-wringing over things on shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered, I do think there is a definite bias there and unfortunately my mind gets caught up in it. So I've not been tuning in nearly as much recently, unless it's during a time when I know Fresh Air is on, or the weekend shows like Moth Radio and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. I also enjoy the state-focused programming (in Michigan, that would be Stateside). So yea, I've decreased my NPR listening of late...

I rarely listen to the radio. I have a couple of apps (Book Mower and Bookmobile) that I use to listen to audiobooks. At the moment, I have 189 books between them. And with the help of itunes, I've moved much of my favorite music from CDs to the apps as well.

I never listen to the radio in the house - or my yard. I rarely drive without it playing, have a subscription to Sirius. I just last month cancelled the Sirius subscription for DHs vehicle. He never plays music or listens to news while driving - after about 15 years of paying for something not being used, I cancelled his. Retired, he gets all his news from the television and is an admitted newspaper addict.

I took my car in for an oil change and tune up a few weeks ago and somehow the mechanic lost all my favorites - that I could reach with one tap on one button. I haven't taken the time to reset it yet.

@ morz8 - I think losing your personalized settings is likely because they need to power down the system to work on the car, and so the tuner resets. I've had that happen more times than I can count. Of course this happens if you're getting a new battery too - happens with my camera as well.

Often from simply disconnecting the battery. Coukd have been done for various reasons.

Im one of those people who like peace and quiet at home. No tv, no radio during the day. I listen to the radio when I first wake up to find out what awful things have befallen us overnight. I listen to PBS and my local news station, which I listen to in the car. I also listen to the sort-of oldies station in the car. Almost all my trips are short so thats all I need.

Every time I list to NPR I feel like I have gotten stupider. It didn't used to be like that.

NPR, like every other news outlet, used to have much more in-depth reporting. But now it seems like maybe 8 minutes of serious news on shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. And by 10 after the hour the have moved on to fluff.

Terry Gross used to be my idol. She dissected serious issues and provided historical context on international affairs, discussed the politics of medicine, and the like. She had arts and entertainment maybe one day a week at most. Now it is all coverage of what's on Netflix and HBO.

It seems to me we got Fresh Air on CDs at the library for a road trip. And we have a couple of collections called ”Driveway Moments”, described as those stories that you are listening to, and then you pull into your driveway, and you want to hear the end so you sit in the car and listen. We’d listen on those short drives to and from school or activites.

I still miss having a CD player. It was one-finger, no-eyes-needed operation, like the radio was.

When I was alone in the house I listened to the radio a lot, but with DH home it just seemed harder. I couldn’t crank it up to hear as I moved around and did stuff, or I’d get interrupted, etc.

". I couldn’t crank it up to hear as I moved around and did stuff, or I’d get interrupted, etc". I use earbuds to listen, as does DH. We don't have to hear what the other is listening to. It works even over vacuuming.

I live alone, and find I like to hear voices or music most of the time, with just some periods of silence occasionally. I discovered an oldies station nearby a couple years ago and love hearing familiar tunes from my youth/younger days, and crank it up at times. Unfortunately, the station plays other music during the weekend days, so if I'm in the car on the weekend I deal with silence unless I think to bring a cd, which I seldom remember to do. (No personal cell, just my work phone). At times if I'm not listening to the radio, I may leave the tv on, even if not watching, for background 'talking'.

I may have mentioned this before and was pelted with stones as a result. No matter, I have courage of my opinions.

I think Terry Gross is one of the most overrated, under-performing media person in the US and has been for years. It's clear she's read her own press clippings and similarly has embraced an overstated opinion of herself and the importance of her opinions. Both of which should be on the lower side of the mean but aren't.

NPR has had consistent and obvious biases in its reporting and programming for years. It's no wonder its funding, along with that of PBS, are now under attack. They all got so accustomed to hearing its own "party line" that they got tone-deaf. . The loss of independence and objectivity it should have had all along became too hard for the insiders to perceive.

I love public radio. It's brought me countless hours of pleasure, education and enlightenment for most of my life, still does too.

P.S. Not sure if everyone realizes that public radio stations across the country can have much different lineups of shows/programming. It's not all the same stuff everywhere, and it's not all NPR, there's APM and PRX as well.

In L.A. I had my alarm clock tuned to KXLU, a local Westchester station that broadcast from Loyola Marymount University, and it played very interesting alternative music on weekdays - weekends were Latin or something else. I heard lots of good new music on this station, but it was often difficult to find out what the music was, even though the

DJs were supposed to have their current playlists online. Often these lists were inaccurate, and some of the DJs were a bit ditzy, but still entertaining to listen to. Gail was one of my favorite DJs. Since the university is near the beach, a lot of the DJs sounded like surfers.

In San Francisco, I listed to KUSF.

I have come to appreciate pure silence and havent listened to radio on a regular basis in decades. I used to run the TV in the kitchen, but now that the state of things is as bad as it is I have tuned out almost all of the media to preserve my sanity. I never did care much for music, of any kind. I find background music annoying and just want it to stop.

I used to be a big fan of public radio and TV and I still do keep a membership but rarely ever watch or listen to any of it. I support it and I support the general world view that is presented, but I have lost interest in it. Please, no more British period dramas or country vets. I had hoped that public broadcasting would venture out from that and have some innovative and refreshing presentations. But I think that their support veers toward an older crowd and they seem to want to same thing over and over. I have had enough of that.

And I used to love NPR, too. I have explored the variety of public stations that are available on line and there are a few locally produced programs that are different and refreshing . But the offerings have become stale and old in my opinion. I love programs about history and science

The same in the car. I want nothing but silence.

I cant take all the daily onslaught of chaos and crisis and am purely sick of it all. I have had it with most media and am hiding from it. I dont want to hear what heinous thing HE did today. It is all bad and gets worse daily, as per updates from hubs who has an appetite for it. And I dont give a rats backend for any of it. it is like watching a slow moving train crash. I can only glance at it from between my fingers on my eyes. It is just too horrible. So I choose silence and solitude.

I have Sirius radio but mostly only listen to Michael Smerconish on there. I don't always agree with him-and especially not with most of the callers, but I think it's very idiotic to not listen to both sides. 2Way with Mark Halperin is another one I listen to-where you get both sides. The "All-In Podcast" is mostly weekly sometimes more, but I have learned so much about the tech world, AI and the economy from some the smartest guys-who actually talk over my head at times, but I want to learn from some of the best. Megyn Kelly sometimes too. For fun, I listen to Joe Rogan-only when he has people I'm interested in. I always listen to the POTUS press during the week. I listen to these while I'm in the car, walking the dog and doing things around the house. No TV is on during the day-only in the evenings.

I like total silence too in the house. Maybe I'll ask Google Home for the news on NPR, and when that's done, nothing else. I have never in my life had TV on during the day. Never watched Today , Good Morning America or any daytime show. Only if there's a horrible event will I turn it in to see what's happening. I, too am sick to my stomach about the current news from DC, and I dread looking at my phone in the morning to see what atrocity he did during the night.

I listen to NPR in the car as a default, if I’m not actively choosing a podcast (most often Pod Save America) or Sirius (GD Channel). Two good friends of mine have a weekly Sirius radio show that I listen to, but generally at home I prefer silence.

I am an author and was once a guest on Fresh Air. I remember sitting on a bench outside my local public radio station after the recording session. I was in a state of pure bliss. I had such respect for Terry Gross and how she asked questions. After it aired, an old college friend emailed me. He said he has a driveway moment in tears with Fresh Air and only at the end did he realize, hey I know this guest.

Fast forward to now. No more love and no more driveay moments for me. I stay on Fresh Air long enough to hear the topic of the day and once I find out I inevitably change the channel. I remember her interviews during the time of the Iraq war were quite incredible. I cannot imagine her broaching a serious issue now. What a loss.

Wait - Smerconish and Halperin are 'both sides'? Both sides of what exactly?

Lily, I used to enjoy the morning shows but it got to the point that they were talking to and over one another, and forgetting that they had an audience out here. It was just noise. I don’t miss them.

Kendrah, well now my curiosity is piqued.

I don’t keep track of when the radio shows are on, especially since I mainly listen in the car. When the kids had Saturday activities, it was fun to catch programs as I drove around. Wait Wait, Car Talk, The Moth, and I always enjoyed A Prairie Home Companion, and later Live From Here. When I lived in Dallas, Prairie Home was followed by a bluegrass program which I really enjoyed. There was a program out of Madison WI that I liked, and even went to once, but darned if I can remember the name.

I guess I could set myself alerts to find them online, but sometimes it’s the serendipity of turning on the radio and there it is.

Last week, I mentioned to my daughter I'd like to listen to podcasts when I hiked instead of music. She gave me suggestions and I listened to Pod Save America and a few others, and although I love the guys on "Save America"' and so totally agree with them in every aspect, I went back to my 60s and 70s music to re-live the days when life was better. The depression rates have risen dramatically in the last year, so now I limit myself to nothing except the real news, and not the insane political bickering from the lying WH.

No!

" Smerconish and Halperin are 'both sides'? Both sides of what exactly? "

I think the second is obviously to one extreme, the first can be unpredictable but more centrist. Not exactly on the other side.

I can't take the drivel on daytime tv, either. The times during the day or night that I'm having it on for background sound - if I'm not watching it - would be for shows like This Old House, Ask TOH, PBS nature, history, America's Test Kitchen, British building or decorating shows, Classic movies, etc.

On the radio I used to listen to classical music until discovery the oldies station.

I abhor the notion of "background sound". If I have something on, usually music, I listen to it attentively and at an adequate volume to really hear it (Hi Chisue!). Usually that's when no one else is present or if so, they're doing the same thing.

If I'm doing something that's more than repetitively mindless and requires some degree of focus or thinking, then I can't listen to music at the same time. When that happens, I turn if off or not turn it on to begin with.

I like background music when I’m housecleaning. Only certain CDs though: Boston, That Thing You Do, Footloose. They just get me moving! When I’m doing something that takes a bit of attention but not a lot, like making 25 of the same holiday ornament, sorting drawers and closets, I have to have on something that can keep ”the other side of my brain” busy. So movies I don’t have to actively watch or listen to, like favorite movies and ”Christmas Prince” or fish-out-of-water rom-commtype movies. Like the ones starting to stream now!

Life was better in the 60s and 70s? We had bomb drills in school (hiding under your desk protects you from nuclear fallout), actual riots in Chicago (I recall my father closing his office early when it got too close), wearing coats in school and waiting for the bus in the dark, friends’ brothers getting drafted and then… (my brother was 4F). But the MUSIC was good!

Hugh Masekela is the best house cleaning music ever! Particularly:

I used to pose this query to myself: would I rather be totally blind or profoundly deaf? For many years, my answer was to be deaf, as I am a very visual person. But gradually, I changed my mind -- to never hear the voices of my loved ones, birds singing in the spring, frogs croaking or trilling at night, ocean waves, or the majesty of classical music would be too terrible to me.

My radio at home is constantly tuned to my local classical music station (WCRB out of Boston) 7 days a week all year. Such a joy! Which reminds me that I need to donate to them due to the regime's slashing budgets...

" Hugh Masekela is the best house cleaning music ever! "

Another South African performer of the era that I liked was Miriam Makeba. If you're looking for rhythmical music, her song Pata Pata, sung in the click language, is lively.

I looked them up and was surprised to find that Masekela and Makeba had been married for a few years. I didn't know.

Other music of similar styles can be found especially by now sadly departed Johnny Clegg (called "The White Zulu", a Caucasian South African who wrote and spoke Zulu and performed original African music with songs protesting apartheid) and of course Paul Simon's Graceland.

This is a live performance. Studio recordings are clearer, sound wise. I was lucky to see him live several times. He put on very energetic and exciting shows.

Had never heard of Miriam Makeba and just listened. What a voice! So deep and smooth. Exiled from her country for 31 years. Jesus.

Did you hear the clicks?

Xhosa and Zulu and others.

Not so much anymore. Being a dj for so many years I got tired of listening. If I do turn radio on it is METV station

I listen to FM radio only when in the car, one station, and shut it off when out of range. I have a few USB thumb drives with favorite material. No radio in the house for years, Pandora streaming or occasionally the thumb drives.

I am probably the only person here that listens to sports talk radio when driving or with it on when working in my shop. I'll also listen to classic rock and country on occasion.

I like complete quiet if I am not actively listening or watching something. The radio locator site is a neat find, though, @carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10.

I do a lot of things that allow me to listen to music or podcasts: Cooking, cleaning, artwork, exercise, gardening, and so on.

Love Pata Pata 😀

(And Hugh Masekela)

FWIW, there's a concept called bundling, when it comes to tasks, where you combine something pleasurable with something that not so fun, and listening to podcasts/music has helped me get through a lot of tedium - and even made me look forward to it sometimes. When I was in commercial/graphic arts school, the radio was always on.

Not to beat a dead horse, but the click can be heard on the third beat of each new time the lyrics' first line is sung. That's vocal, not a percussion instrument. It's a sound in the So African languages not present in European or most Asian languages.

I rarely listen to radio much since Rush died. I listened to Rush for 25+ years, 5 days a week 3 hours a day with never a dull moment, and the top rated radio show host of all times. But when I do listen to something it sure isn't NPR.

" When I was in commercial/graphic arts school, the radio was always on. "

As an interesting aside, some authors like listening to music when they write but for many, it's strictly the kinds that have no singing.

Michael Connelly, author of LA based mysteries involving his characters Harry Bosch and/or The Lincoln Lawyer, has spoken of his habit frequently. He says music can cover distracting sounds (not unlike using white noise) but that he sticks exclusively to instrumental jazz. Music with singing of any kind can distract his thinking and concentration so strictly instrumental music fills the bill for him. With what you mention, I would have thought the same could be true for the kind of art work you describe. Was it instrumental music that was played?

kevin, I still miss Rush so much! I started listening to him back in the early 90's when I lived in California-of all places LOL He was the best.

I used to listen to music when I was designing furniture, and I was often alone in my office at work, and so that was easy. I had collections of music that I liked on USB drives, and I had brought in computer speakers so that I could listen to it through my computer. People who visited my office thought that I had very eclectic taste in music, and I often listened to songs that they had never heard before.

I also like to listen to music when I am home alone and doing housework, such as cleaning the kitchen, which seems to be an endless chore, since I spend so much time cooking. We listen to thumb drives in the car as well.

I have very bad tinnitus, and so I often like to have at least white noise to drown it out. I hate listening to any kind of news on the radio, no matter what it is.

Like Carol, we watch British design/real estate shows, plus at least one that is Australian (Renovate or Rebuild), but they did not make many episodes of that show. I also frequently watch America's Test Kitchen for cooking inspiration - I made their Chicken Piccata a couple of days ago and really liked it, and I plan to make their Popcorn Chicken this week and Shrimp Po'Boys. I also like their shrimpburger recipe and have made it a few times. I buy large amounts of frozen shrimp and keep it in the freezer, which allows me to make a lot of shrimp recipes on a whim.

Few devout Limbaugh followers, and they numbered in the millions, ever realized that his public persona and conduct were an act. A phony put-on. He found an audience, figured out how to stoke the fires, and went on to have a VERY successful career doing it. He took none of it seriously and most certainly was not a believer of what he espoused that people swallowed hook, line, and sinker.

He considered himself an entertainer, not a political commentator. Like a comedian, whatever would make the audience find him engaging, was what he wanted to do.

I suspect the Limbaugh followers who've commented about him here will dispute the underlying facts I've shared here (and know to be true) but that's fine.

"He considered himself an entertainer, not a political commentator."

EXACTLY! But there was nothing phony about him.

He always saw himself as an entertainer, not a political commentator, but did it better than any man alive. For three hours a day, I was entertained, time flew by like a hypersonic jet, each pass leaving me smiling as he soared over the world of daily politics.

What is phony, though, is that video you posted, Johnny Clegg, a poor imitation featuring someone pretending to be a new Zulu, and hope you didn't spend good money to see him. Listening to it was uncomfortable, even embarrassing, compared to the depth and authenticity of most Zulu musical styles I listen to.

When I’m working, I usually play a lot of modern Afrobeat and some South African syles, though I won't cross the line to Zulu hip hop (disgusting in any language). For me, it’s all about the rhythm and the beat (yeah, easy to dance to) and in my case work to. I don’t need to understand the lyrics or know the message in a song, I just want to be entertained, and with Rush I was never disappointed. But I was interested in the message at the time and see how his prophecies are becoming reality. Not his original prophecies but taken from examples of the past as a Futurist to clarify.

The rock and roll I grew up with wore out years ago, like the vinyl it was pressed on. boring with a nostalgia meaning little to me now . Right now, I’m, listening to a “Best of Kwaito mix", lively, smooth, and surprisingly relaxing, unlike Clegg doing a parody cover similar to weird al yankovic, but to each their own weirdness.

I do listen to the radio. I listen to KTRH, a news/talk AM station in Houston. I listen on the I-Heart app on my phone, because I am usually outside. I also sometimes listen to podcasts. In my car, I can't pick up that station, and I only listen at certain times to it anyway, and so if I don't listen to a CD, I listen to a classic country station out of Nacodoches. I also have very bad tinnitus, and it used to really bother me, but having something to drown out the "chirping crickets" helps. I have been a fan of talk radio since 1972. On Saturdays they have home improvement and gardening shows, and I sometimes listen to those also.

Did he change over time? I listened to him for a bit, but he started becoming a rant of insults, and mockery, and switching to a nasty voice sometimes, and it detracted from what he was saying. Eventually I stopped listening altogether.

Elmer, duh! Of course, he was an entertainer too! We were the ones laughing WITH Rush while he narrated your meltdown in real time. He had charisma on steroids with a side of self-awareness. That combo is something powerful your side still doesn’t come close to having-it's just not in your DNA, I guess. So for starters, Elmer, it might do you good to try not being so dang serious. Rush had that razor-sharp, red-blooded American sense of humor-I don’t doubt you’d ever understand it, since you don’t have one.

I can still hear Rush now: “Told ya they’d never get it, folks. Talent on loan from God… and the punchline’s still free.”

" while he narrated your meltdown in real time. "

I had no meltdowns and I doubt many did. I didn't care.

I somewhat felt sorry for his followers for their unwarranted sycophancy but I figured, they all got what they deserved. He advanced his own interests by making fools out of his listeners day after day. It was quite a spectacle, he was laughing AT you, not WITH you.

kevin, thanks for your honesty, I appreciate it. It wasn't necessary, it was very clear to me from your comments that you really didn't know what you were talking about. As is too often the case.