As it happens -- on the CBC

Last semester I taught an evening class in Manchester NH which had me on the road home during the 9PM hour. As usual (when I have run out of podcasts to listen to) I tune into the local NPR. In Massachusetts this tends to be either WBUR or WGBH, but when I cross over to New Hampshire I listen to the statewide New Hampshire Public Radio. At 9PM weekdays, NHPR broadcasts a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio One daily show called "As It Happens", and it got to the point that I looked forward to the commute in order to take in a few segments of that show. It is a show that has been around for 35 years or so, and it is filled with extended phone interview segments (usually ten minutes) that are interesting and quite lively, all related to some news item of the day. There is an informality to the co-hosts that is refreshing to US ears, and choice of stories that range from the important (from a Canadian perspective, of course) to the bizarre (interviews with people at the center of strange stories you might find headlined in the National Inquirer next week). I bring this up because there is now a weekly podcast of the Best of As It Happens, and (as it happens) it is a pretty good selection of three segments from the show that are worth listening to. I get the impression that the CBC has finally crossed over to the podcast world and issued a "Best of" from one of its major Radio One shows each day. I will give all a listen, but I can already strongly recommend the As It Happens download.... Tags: NPR, CBC, WBUR, WGBH, NHPR, As It Happens (CBC), podcasting, accountabilitybloke, Mel Dubnick