YOUR FAVORITE AUDIO PODCASTS?

Some of mine:

• Rachel Maddow & Keth Oblermann (scroll past the video to the audio, lower on the page)
• Thom Hartman
• Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
• This America Life
• Radio Lab
• Don Carlin’s Hardcore History
• All Sides with Ann Fisher (local public radio, here in Columbus)
• Stephanie Miller you have to pay to download...but she is worth it!

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE:

I finally figured it out.

1. First, download and install iTunes. (You can use another podcatcher, but this one is ubiquitous....and you do NOT have to have an iPod to use it. BTW I have a Walkman, which is much cheaper.)
2. Open the iTunes App.
3. Click "iTunes Store" on left side. (Don’t worry, most podcasts are free.)
4. Click "Podcasts" on top margin.
5. Click "Audio Podcasts" on right column.
6. Click "See All" on the "Podcasts" bar, on right, to see top 100 podcasts. Or use the Search box to find more.
7. Podcasts are listed like album covers. Click each one’s "subscribe" button to subscribe. This adds them to your "Podcast" page and downloads the latest program (which takes a bit).
8. Remember to start up your iTunes app (or leave it up) to download new subscribed podcasts as they become available. (Note: Another way to subscribe: On a program's web page, click the subscribe button, if one is offered.)
9. To download a podcast, open the iTunes app and click "Podcasts" in the left margin. Your subscriptions are listed like album covers. A circled number on the top right corner of each album tells you how many downloads you have. Click the cover to enter its list. Drag and drop from the list to your MP3. Remember to delete from the list once downloaded--podcasts eat up much memory.

U.S. RADIO (AKA CLEAR CHANNEL MONOPOLY) SUCKS

Twice in the same day, while podcasting BBC programs, I heard the hosts express surprise that a listener was calling all the way from America. Both callers had the same explanation. American radio sucks (actually I don’t recall how one put it, but the other said "is rubbish," which I gather, is British for "sucks").

I got a more detailed explanation while listening to a podcast from comedian David Feldman. When asked why anyone would listen to his podcast, Feldman said, "Because they are desperate for entertainment. Clear Channel bought up all the radio stations..."

Want supporting evidence? After you install iTunes, look its audio podcast page. This changes all the time, but as I write this:

• 16 of the top 50 podcasts are NPR or public radio related (PRI, Prairie Home Companion, etc.).
• Most of the rest are BBC, or non radio (NYT, MSNBC, Scientific American).
• Despite the fact the Clear Channel rules the waves, and I can listen to their right-wingery on at least five different stations here in Columbus (and ALL the commercial talk stations in Ohio--except sports), I see few of their programs here in the top 100...and only two of their right-wing pundits.  (I won’t honor them with a mention.) (Maybe some of these are on Clear Channel...but I don't recognize them from what we are being bombarded with here.)
• Not to mention, Clear Channel's financials have gone into the basement and, stay there.

It's like America is an occupied territory. The majority of us voted for Obama, but turn on your radio, and it's Tokyo Rush and Lord Ha Ha Hannity. In radio land, Obama is a Communist Nazi Muslim, global warming is a hoax, health care will kill us, up is down, black is white, death is life, and the main-stream meat-puppetry sings the chorus. And we huddle at our PCs like Eastern Europeans in the Soviet era listening to Radio Free Europe.

Ownership matters, and the FCC will look at ownership again in 2010. And discussion has already started.

Let the FCC know, AMERICAN RADIO SUCKS!  AND WE ARE BORED TO TEARS!

Meanwhile, podcast--and encourage others to do the same. (Maybe show grandma how it's done?  Maybe set up her PC with podcatching subscriptions over the holidays? She can listen desktop, even without an MP3 player.)

The truth is out there...if you subscribe to it.