To get through the day at work I’ve turned to my headphones. I’ve jumped back into the world of streaming audio. Previously at IBM, when I was allowed in my cube where I had a Windows machine (AIX is not an ideal multimedia OS), I would listen to Al Franken and Idobi Radio. Now I’ve got the whole day to fill, here is what I’ve found so far.
The mornings I started out with Mike & Mike in the Morning. Its on ESPNRadio, which is free at espnradio.com. They are on from 6-10am. They are pretty funny and have decent guests. The biggest problem is with ESPNRadio in general is that there are a ton of commercials. Then every 20 minutes they have a SportsCenter update, which barely changes in the morning. What it comes down to is about 12 minutes of the show and then 8 minutes of commercials.
Also on ESPNRadio is Colin Cowherd and then Dan Patrick. Cowherd likes to talk, I’ll likely check in with his opening since that’s when he gets all his ranting out of the way. Patrick I have liked mored that I thought I would. Between 2-3 Keith Olbermann joins him and that’s can’t miss everyday.
If you have ESPN Insider then you have some additional options. The shows are posted for streaming or download a few hours after the show ends. They have no commercials and you can listen to each segment individually. I’m thinking Mike & Mike will be moved to afternoon listening and each morning I will listen to Dan Patrick from the day before. The problem with the sports shows is that its very relative to that day so we’ll see how it works out.
You might be asking, why no Stern in the morning? He isn’t currently streamed online yet, its supposed to happen eventually though. Then everything will change again. I don’t listen to him in the car either. That is more because I want music on the ride to work. Something to keep me awake. Singing along to The Pulse is a good way to do that.
Preston & Steve on WMMR is another quality morning show. I listened to them for a while summer at GSK. The coolest thing about their show is they post a commercial-free podcast version on their site everyday around lunch. The end of this week they were really hilarious, I think they’ve earned a spot in the rotation.
One show I’m trying to work in more often is The Jay Thomas Show on Sirius. It starts at 2. He has been really funny from what I’ve listened to and while there are commercials its a SIrius produced show so there aren’t many and they aren’t very long.
WIP gets some playtime, usually if there is some even (Wing Bowl) or if Ahad emails me to let me know that a show is particularly good one day.
I listened to Tony Kornheiser one day but there were so many commercials I didn’t enjoy it all that much. I might try it again one of these days since I enjoy him so much.
To fill in the gaps there are always music stations. All the Sirius stations are streamed. There is also Idobi Radio, which seems to be almost exactly the same as my playlist at home and on my iPod.
This is an evolving process. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated. The fact that I might have a real job in two weeks could change the lineup a bit. Hopefully my work won’t get in the way of my listening too much.
If you have any suggestions I’m ready to check them out. I’d like to find some more talk shows, they pass the time nicely and I’m pretty set when it comes to music.