Wednesday, November 14, 2012

TuneIn - a Lifeline

How easy it has become to stay in touch with the events back home!

The folks at TuneIn offer music and radio from around the little blue planet.

In German class, the teacher tells the students to listen to German radio and watch German TV to learn the language faster.

Despite having done this for other languages in the past, a short test with German radio did not go well. This was puzzling and will deserve some contemplation and analysis because the Germans have this vast public radio and TV system, and you'd expect variety and depth.

Which we did not find. We'll try again later.

We have been having such fun with TuneIn. Australian morning news can be cool, and the now defunct Dutch show we loved, will be missed.

We have a number of favorite NPR shows, like Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Car Talk, Prairie Home Companion, to enjoy either live or via podcast.

But the near light speed communication of our times is perhaps best illustrated by the streamed radio communications of public agencies. When first exploring TuneIn, we listened to a New York police dispatcher, a mid-West Sheriff's dispatch (nothing going on, just static, as in real life?), and the train operators of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART).

We greeted the description of a car floating in the Hudson River with appropriate apprehension and worry over the fate of the driver. We chuckled at the BART train arriving at San Francisco's Embarcadero station.

In real time from an armchair in Europe.

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