Generally, I prefer my iPod to the radio, inundated as it is with commercials, witless DJs, and crappy music. I like to listen to NPR’s Morning Edition pretty often on my drive to work. But I’m fairly inundated with news, so I try not to indulge in it every day.
Music, for me, trumps any kind of talk radio. The few podcasts I’ve tried have been, really, just asynchronous versions of the same fare I can just as easily find on the FM or AM dial. But I was happy recently to discover Philosophy Bites, which is put together by philosopher Nigel Warburton. I own three of Warburton’s books (Philosophy: The Basics, Philosophy: The Classics, and Thinking from A to Z), but I didn’t know about his significant online role as an educator. Philosophy is, far too often, either dry or daunting or both, but it needn’t be. Warburton is a great teacher, who makes his content relevant, breaks it into manageable chunks, and explains it clearly and concisely. The “Bites” series, in which Warburton and his co-host, David Edmond, invite contemporary philosophers to discuss significant contributors to discuss their more famous progenitors, is a treat, and a good way to start off the day. You can subscribe via iTunes or RSS.
I’ll be adding his blog to my feed reader, too.