The PRI app, for embracing your inner NPR nerd
I am a public radio junkie. Always have been. My friend Max and I were speaking recently about how Ira Glass’s voice makes me swoon (I think he professed similar, yet manlier feelings on the matter), and how I like to fantasize that I’m Sarah Vowel when awkwardly recounting a good story. It’s dorky, but something about the conversational reflection of a well-executed anecdote makes me weak in the knees. It’s like comfort food, for the stomach of my ears.
Some of my girlfriends listen to super-fast and loud music to get their peps on when they’re doing errands or (whoopie) cleaning. But not me. If I’m going to drive, windows down, hair blowing in the air, blasting the radio, I prefer to own my dorkiness, with the sciency babble of Radiolab. The Moth is my faithful companion when I walk my dogs. And there is a Car Talk shaped hole in my heart now that Click and Clack have retired. ((sniff!))
Oh, and if I can’t fall asleep at night, (this is really embarrassing, but) a soothing episode of Fresh Air with Terry Gross will usually do the trick.
In order to keep up with the programs I so heartily and nerdily dig, the PRI mobile app is really all I need. Really. It’s one of the few apps that I can truly say that I truly love. I can’t live without its elegant simplicity, no frills, and nice simple range of choices, which are refreshed and renewed as new episodes of each program are released. I must tell you, however, that it is very slow to load sometimes, and stops at other times for no apparent reason. And then I have to restart it. Oh well.
I searched the longest time for another, less buggy podcast app that would let me listen to NPR, but honestly, they were all so annoyingly complicated. And, boyish. Flashy. Too many frills. With the PRI app, I can browse stories, by program, or features, or just listen to the live stream if I don’t want to choose. I’ve deleted all of those other fancypants podcast apps, because in order to get my Public Radio fix, the PRI app is really all this Cowgirl needs, flaws and all.
Devices: iOS, Android
Cost: Free
PRI – Public Radio International on the App Store
PRI – Public Radio International on Google Play
