I turned on my car in Pembroke yesterday and all that came out of my radio – which I’d left on SiriusXM the night before – was a voice trying to sell me on a subscription.
Good-bye, SiriusXM
Odd, I thought to myself, that my trial subscription with my new Subaru would be five months. Not three months. Not six months. Five months. Maybe it was three months and they forgot to turn it off at the end of May.
I appreciated the music in the many dead zones between Pembroke and Toronto. I came to appreciate the access to NPR and CBC Radio One. When I couldn’t listen to another Alice in Chains song on Lithium I could switch on Here & Now or The Current and get caught up on the world.
Over the last year or so I’ve heard lots of friends talk about podcasts they listen to. Listening to a podcast didn’t work so well for me at first. I didn’t have a subway commute anymore on which to kill time. I run without headphones for safety reasons. And when I work from home (which is 95% of my work life), I can’t listen to someone talking to me and concentrate on my work.
Hello, Podcasts
Now that I’ve gone through nearly three terms of teaching at Algonquin College I want to use my 9+ hours in the car a little differently. As luck would have it, I happened to figure out how to download podcasts to my iPad on Moday. (I still haven’t found the best way to do that on my Android phone.) Turn on the Bluetooth, pair it with my car’s stereo system and voilà! Podcast after podcast plays through my car’s speakers. Hey, it’s the little things that get me excited even if I’m waaaaaaaaay late to the game.
I’ve added the podcasts of Problogger, MarieTV, and NPR’s TED Radio Hour to my iPad. I’ll add The Current as well.
Here’s where I need your help: what’s your favorite podcast? I’m looking for any genres. Let me know down in the comments below or over on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you in advance for your suggestions!
P.S. The cover photo might be a little misleading. I don’t know that I have enough to say to podcast myself. I’m really enjoying listening to what other people have to say!
Photo credit: Max Pixel
Kate Monahan Outdoors 