I’ve come to realize that public radio is such
an important part of my life. I am up earlier than the rest of my family and
most days the hosts on “Morning Edition” are the first voices that I hear each
day. Jim and Margery from “Boston Public Radio” keep me company as I do short
training rides on my lunch break and I look forward to my drive home with Kara
Miller from “Innovation Hub” when I work late on Thursdays. Weekends wouldn’t
be complete without laughing with the folks from “The Best of Car Talk” and
“Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.”
Because we are all such obsessive NPR
listeners, I bought tickets for my husband, sister, and me to go see “Live from
Here” at Tanglewood in a few days. I am looking forward to the performance, but
I wonder how different it will be to add a visual experience to something that
is usually just auditory. With that in mind, I did a little research to so if
there were other non-radio ways that I could get my NPR fix. As it turns out,
there are many!
While I expected to find cookbooks from Milk
Street Radio’s Christopher Kimball, I did not expect to find “All Cakes
Considered: a year’s worth of weekly recipes tested, tasted, and approved by
the staff of NPR’s All Things Considered” by Melissa Gray. This delightful book
gives some insight into the favorite confections of NPR staff and one highly
recommended recipe for Sweet Potato Pound Cake (among many others). I just
can’t wait until the sweet potatoes in my garden are ready to pick so I can
give it a whirl.
In poking around the internet in search of
books by NPR authors, I realized that I completely forgot about my favorite
political commentator, Cokie Roberts. She has written a whole slew of titles,
most notably “Founding Mothers,” “Capitol Dames,” and “Ladies of Liberty.” All
of these books center around the women that have shaped our nation. “Founding
Mothers” is nothing short of inspiring and is an informative, but genuinely
interesting read- perfect for the upcoming Independence Day holiday.
When I really thought about it, there are
many, many opportunities to enjoy great radio content outside of the airwaves.
Sure, I love listening to “Travel with Rick Steves,” but I haven’t left for a
big trip in the last decade without consulting one of his travel guides.
Similarly, Will Shortz might be the “Weekend Edition” puzzle master, but the
crosswords he writes or edits appear in the New York times each day.
Once in a while, I find myself having one of
those “driveway moments,” where I have arrived at my destination, but need to
finish listening to the story before turning off the car. Now that I know there
are so many other ways to hear more from these fantastic journalists, I might
spend less time sitting alone in the car with my hand hovering over the
ignition and more time curled up on the couch with a book.
