At 9pm each weekday, OPB radio breaks its format and all four public radio stations in Portland play music. For any non-commercial alternative, I've been forced to go online, and I thought I'd share this jewel of a program I've found from Public Radio International. It's Fair Game with Faith Salie. Hosted by a comedian and Rhode Scholar, the program is a light yet nerdy mix of news and funny, and was recently featured in the Sunday Times. Tonight's show features Portland's own Pink Martini.
The Best Public Radio You've Never Heard
Hey, if you have a halfway decent radio, you can always tune into 550 AM or stream it - the BBC continues on the AM side of OPB. They also do carry NPR's top of the hour updates at 9 pm and 10 pm (and KMHD does at 9).
In addition to the World Service live stream, there's the NPR live stream and even the BBC News 24 live video stream. CNN Pipeline (1, 2, 3, 4) and ABC News Now are free, too, though they'd prefer that you not know that.
OPB is gradually shedding its non-news/talk programming, bit by bit.
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Lynn Siprelle * Fairy Blogmother
OPB claimed that the rather-obnoxious-for-nighttime-but-probably-cheap-to-air music program UnderCurrents, which replaced the locally produced Beats & Pieces, would itself be replaced with yet another new local music show that's still in development. Have you heard otherwise?
I wouldn't mind replacing American Routes, Thistle & Shamrock, E-Town and Afropop Worldwide, either.
...is the best music show I've ever heard on the radio. In all the years I've been listening to it, I don't think there's been a single bad track.
Always hated E-Town, on the other hand, and T&S lost its charm for me in about 1988.
I should amend my statement: Move music to a music station. Maybe American Routes could move to KMHD? AR probably is the show that I mind the least, but I'd still rather have, I don't know, a rerun of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Why not play smooth jazz on an alternative rock station? Right-wing talk on a classical station? Format consistency serves listeners by allowing them to listen to what they want, when they want it. If I want classical music, I know where to turn to -- KBPS. If I want progressive talk, it's KPOJ. It's not about eliminating content, it's about providing it where it can be consumed by those who want it.
What happened to Here & Now? Did that go away already? Or is the top post incorrect?
Not that Here & Now is worth listening to. It's a cheap ripoff of Day-to-Day, but so east coast-centric there's no point in broadcasting it in this time zone. Apparently PRI gives it away for free, which is why OPB picked it up.
How is Here and Now even comparable to Day to Day? The only people I hear make that comparison have usual only heard about 5-10 mins of Here and Now, once or twice.
Here and Now is an interview show that sometimes touches on newsmagazine type stories. Sometimes the interviews (usually on the phone) last 10-15 mins. You will never hear that on Day to Day, which is a continual series of newsmagazine stories. The 2 shows are not even that similar and I wonder how this conception even started.
Here and Now is still on OPB Radio weekday mornings at 9am.
Also, there are some exciting LOCAL music programs on the way.
Very soon.
Raoul at OPB
I'm sure he served a fine purpose, a few of them, actually-- among which was to make those who actually listened feel superior for doing so. Archaic and obscure for the sake of being such, mostly.
I actually prefer the music at 9 since I can't get any work done with talk radio chattering in the background.
Another great show, and OPB only plays it on am, is Le Show with Harry Sheerer. You can podcast download from his website
John Bell
Manager of Membership Initiatives OPB
True, sometimes talk can distract from work, but we have the luxury of dedicated public radio music stations. I guess you're referring to 9AM and the shift of Performance Today to KBPS? Of course, it's pretty easy to dial down 1.6MHz.
And Le Show is a good one, I remember when it was on FM. I had just scanned the program lists at NPR, APM and PRI to find shows, and I guess Shearer isn't involved with any of those.
Every time OPB talks about why I need to send them money (which I do every year via automatic deduction from my checking accoung), I switch to KPBS for a week.
Every time OPB talks about why I need to send them money (which I do every year via automatic deduction from my checking accoung), I switch to KPBS for a week.
LOL! I can't say I blame you. At least you contribute. I "love" hearing from the folks who say they don't contribute "because of pledge." I won't eat at your restaurant because you expect me to pay for the food!
Re. turning at 9am - I do. I'm fond of kmhd (and am a member) but actually listen to KUT out of austin tx (and am a member there too).
So I'm a sucker for pledge drives. Shoot me.
John
No, it is not obvious. If you meant KBPS, you should have typed that. KPBS is a valid station that some in PDX do listen to. Has nothing to do with spelling Nazi.
If you turn on your monitor before you begin typing, you will avoid these misunderstandings. Remember also to look at your monitor occasionally.
That's why anchors get the big bucks. They have to read copy that is written by druids and try to make it sound sensable on the air.
http://www.allclassical.org/index.php5
All Classical 89.9 KBPS is Portland, Oregon's only all-classical radio station
It's the #4 full-time jazz/blues station in the COUNTRY! Only NYC, LA and SF top it. There's a fairly new show on at 10pm on Saturday nights that more than fills the void left by Cantor's departure.
I love KMHD and think Portlanders are fortunate to have it. I just want to be able to have an alternative when I switch over to OPB.
By "New York," do you mean WBGO, Newark Public Radio? I think they have the biggest audience in the country. Streaming veterans, too.
And WWOZ may be the most listened-to traditional jazz station in the world. They have listeners (and contributors) all over the world via the Internet.
It's pretty obvious that a lot of folks who post their assumptions about how "the biz" works have absolutely NO clue.
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Why must all four of our public radio stations play music at the same time?