When people have asked me what I’ll most miss–friend and family aside–when I move to the USA later this year, my usual response has been the news media. One of the things I most notice is the absence of local shops carrying newspapers with an international scope. Thankfully, it seems that Schulers Books and Music pick up The Observer each Sunday, so between that weekly pilgrimage and plenty of time online, I should just about be covered.
But in contemplating the transition I have found myself listening more and more to Michigan Public Radio, the local National Public Radio outlet, and beginning to appreciate their output. Not for NPR the selective and highly biased output of News Corp, or the corporate-driven market watching of CNN. Instead there’s a remarkably outward looking range of coverage and a cocktail of human interest stories, and current affairs coverage which makes for compelling listening.
No NPR listening experience would be complete without some time spent in the company of ‘Minnesota Zen Master’ ( The Guardian) Garrison Keillor and his Prairie Home Companion. I must confess it took me a while to “get” Keillor. I wasn’t entirely sure whether his tribute to mid-western rural life was naive or incisive. Thankfully it turned out to be the latter, and at times satirical. I suspect it was the degree of respect Keillor bears for the places he parodies which threw me, used as I am to comedy which lambasts at will.
The show with Gillian Welch is a good starting point.
I’m still imagining that I’ll spend many a good day coaxing Real Player to bring the BBC to me, and you can be sure that the first Sunday tradition I’ll establish is that trip to Schuler’s (it helps that they provide such fine catering), but you’ll also be able to catch me enjoying a little of the more local radio output.
On a rather different note, I was rather taken aback to find a CD by Sufjan Stevens on the playlist for Junction11 a couple of weeks back. Seems he’s on the verge of making a splash over here, and even Observer Music Monthly are getting in on the act. This all made me dig out my copy of his “Michigan” and remember how grateful I was to Denison for the copy. Well worth exploring.