College News at StudentStuff.com

Public Radio Isn’t Just For Your Parents

Perhaps this is so 1990, but I love listening to National Public Radio. You know, the type of programming that Summer on The OC once described as shows where “hipster know-it-alls talk about how fascinating ordinary people are.” And Summer isn’t entirely wrong. The program on every afternoon is called All Things Considered, and it’s two hours of reporters considering all things. From President Obama’s State of the Union address to an in-depth interview with Ke$ha to a story from a child about how their parents are getting divorced, the show really does span all things.

Lately though, college has been a hot-talk topic on NPR. Both The Story (from American Public Media) and This American Life have featured stories that relate to university students. So while you may think the radio is a place the older folks gather to chew wheat in their overalls and be frightened away by War of the Worlds, you may want to think again.

Bringing the world of college football and the news together, Scot Brantley was recently interviewed on The Story about what suffering from multiple concussions on the football field at University of Florida has meant for the rest of his life – two strokes before the age of 50. His story coincides with the recent news that Congress is attempting to pass stricter regulations to protect student athletes who suffer head injuries on the football field. The Story is a program in which Dick Gordon interviews one person with the mission of finding people whose lives are intersecting with significant issues in the news and give them the opportunity to tell their story.

And This American Life just aired an entire hour about the number one party school in the country, Penn State. Seriously, it is one hour of hearing about the parties students attend and throw, tailgates by alumni, and the how the surrounding community and the college staff feel about the partying issues. Listening to drunk students brush their teeth with a bottle of jack is both hilarious and disturbing, but well worth the listening effort. This American Life is a program in which there’s a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It’s mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always.

So perk up your listening ears and forget everything you remember about talk radio from your childhood days, when your dad made you listen to Moneytalk and your mom always had on Dr. Laura (or was that just me?). Public radio has a lot to say that appeals to university students, and getting to use your imagination as you hear the stories told really is as fun as it was when you were little and you got to pretend your old cardboard refrigerator box was a rocket-ship (or was that just me?)!