PrairieHomeCompanion
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Public Radio Player app redesigned in latest update
Some of my favorite radio programs are from National Public Radio here in the States, including Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Car Talk and A Prairie Home Companion. Fortunately, most of those shows are now available in podcast form, so that's primarily how I listen to them. And of course NPR stations broadcast terrestrially around the country, so if you want to listen to them the old-fashioned way, you can do that. But occasionally I need even more NPR. Sometimes I want to listen to classic stations in Boston or Chicago, or I just can't be bothered to scan around the dial and find my show. For those instances, the Public Radio Player app comes in very handy. It's just been updated with a brand-new design, and it allows you to tune in to more than 500 different NPR stations from around the US, wherever you happen to be. You can now also download your favorite shows (including some of those mentioned above), view news headlines from NPR, even follow stations on Twitter or donate directly to your favorite stations from within the app itself. It's a very impressive update to a really comprehensive app, and of course it's completely free. NPR consistently presents some of the best radio programming out there, and the new version of this app provides another great way to listen in.
Prairie Home Companion introduces 'iGod'
It's an interesting coincidence (or... is it?) that on the same week New York magazine goes with a cover slug of 'iGod' for its Steve Jobs/iPhone article, Garrison Keillor (that handsome devil on the right) and the gang of upstanding citizens behind public radio favorite A Prairie Home Companion do a joke with an similar punchline. On the June 16th program, during the Guy Noir (PHC's resident detective) sketch, one of the characters suggests a perfect gift for Father's Day:Tim Russel: Well, I read about this new iGod they're putting out. Garrison Keillor: iGod? TR: The people who put out the iPod. It plays sermons and you just delete the parts you don't like.Hmm, sermon editing on the fly, very nice. Since my wife is going to be a rabbi, and my father-in-law was just elected bishop of his Lutheran synod, this audio player would really come in handy for me. Too bad I didn't get it for Father's Day this year!You can read the script of the Guy Noir sketch here, or listen to it here (starts at 19:45 in).Thanks Heidi!
