Confessions of a NPR junkie

I first started listening to NPR by accident in 2000. I was driving long distance and was fiddling with the radio dial in my car when I hit upon some program about world news.
Since coming to US, I realized that most of the news I could get was local. Growing up in India, it is the exact opposite. Local news occupy the bottom of the ladder(buried inside the paper). International news(like American elections or british royalty) end up on prime real estate. It took some time to get used to the local news after coming here but the repetitive drone was uninspiring which might be why indian newspapers dont cover local news that much. I would try to get my hands on international news publications as much as possible which, with internet, was easy. However, I still couldnt get news or analysis on radio when I was driving somewhere. I ended up listening to the music stations blaring songs which I couldnt understand and music I could care less.After I found it, I would listen to NPR for some time till the danger of sleeping at the wheel became too dangerous to ignore. I would then switch to a music station at random to save other drivers. The amount of listening steadily increased and by end of 2000, I was listening to NPR everywhere I drove(with merciful breaks for Ravens games on radio during NFL season). At home, I resolutely stuck to my collection of tamil music and local television news. As someone who likes driving a lot, I listened to NPR much more than any other program.
I dont know when the switch happened but slowly, NPR took over the home front as well. I was getting tired of listening to tamil songs at home and TV news was as bland as ever. Initially, I set it as the wake up station and very soon, it was blaring in every room.
I get up with BBC World Service and when I leave for office, I am in the middle of Morning edition. For good measure, I curse the local public radio station anchor for coming up with a category 'local news'. I already get enough of it from the commercial stations and I dont see why public radio stations have to follow the same route. If it is the fund raising period, I make sure I have my iPod ready as I stop listening to NPR for the entire period. I understand the financial needs for public radio stations and why they do the fundraising. I am a member of WAMU and have volunteered in fund raising drives in years past. But, the repeated requests and updates about fundraising dims my attraction for NPR and I treat it as time off. I dont get to listen to NPR after I reach office and when I drive back, it is again BBC World Service followed by All things Considered. Once I reach home, I switch NPR on at home and there it remains, till around 10 when I decide enough is enough and turn the radio off. There was a time, this past year, when the two public radio stations I get, WETA and WAMU, both broadcast similar programs on the same day which didnt make any financial sense. Thankfully, they realized it and WAMU now broadcasts news and analysis while WETA sticks to classical music(which I dont listen to, anyway).
I love most of the programs on NPR except for Speaking on Faith and some music programs they run during off peak hours. Speaking of faith, for me, is too cloying and I dont like programs extolling the minimal virtues of religion anyway. The dislike of music programs is primarily due to my lack of appreciation for different forms of music. If NPR came up with a music program on tamil gaana, I would tune in every time.
My favourite programs on NPR are:
Car Talk - I am not good at fixing cars(or even maintaining one) but that hasnt stopped me from listening to this gem of a show. A radio call in show conducted by brothers Tom and Ray Magliozi about cars and car repair, most of the time it is about life and how not to live it. They dont take themselves seriously in the show and hence, their gags are funnier. NPR being the bastion of serious programming, Car Talk is one of the few that relieves the tension of listening to serious news and analysis all week.
Wait Wait Dont tell me - A news quiz show that makes it worthwhile to follow the sad and boring news of the week. It is a pleasure to listen to Peter Sagal or Roxanne Roberts come up with a funny turn of the phrase. The questions in the quiz show are very basic but it is the clever use of phrases in framing the news that makes this show very good.
Prairie Home companion - This is a variety show that takes place in a fictional town of Lake Woebegone on the prairie and comes with lots of midwestern and lutheran references. It maybe the humorous way in which lutheran aspects are referenced but I dont hold that against it as much as Speaking of Faith. It might also be that Prairie home talks about the behaviour of lutherans and not about their faith per se.

Then there are the usual suspects of news and talk programs including the Kojo Nnamdi show, On point, Fresh Air and Diane Rehm show . I sometimes get turned off by the last 2 shows about some topics because of the way they handle it but for the most part, they are good.

Growing up in tirunelveli, I was always around the radio, listening to news or movie songs or cricket commentary. Some of my favourite recollections include the afternoon news broadcasts from Saroj Narayansamy as I ate my lunch before hurrying back to school or listening to tamil songs as I cleared up the weeds around my house or listening to absolutely awful cricket commentary of india getting beat in yet another series. Once I went to college and started working, the link to radio was lost, replaced by ever present TV. I have now reconnected with radio after a long time.