Yum! Economist podcast and Irish radio

Glad to have discovered the Economist’s weekly “The week ahead” podcast, a civilized way to get your news. They also offer a series of “Tea with The Economist” videos, in which they very literally have tea and a chat with interesting and relevant people.

Also, I am in love with Galwaybayfm.ie, where you can listen live to a popular radio station from the lovely university town of Galway on the west coast of Ireland. Sports, news, commentary and music all jumbled together, with a real feeling of community and of course absolutely great accents. At last I know how to pronounce Taoiseach.

My husband and I were tickled once to hear the hosts of a travel talk show discussing how to get the most authentic experience of the American West. A caller asked them which city she should spend the most time visiting and got the answer, “Well, how long is a piece of string?” — appearing to mean, “It all depends.”

During the daylight hours they seem to spin a lot of American pop and country from randomly shuffled decades, as if it all sounds the same to them, which it well might. At night there is dance/Britpop and other cutting-edge music for the younguns, complete with dedications (“Best of luck to Daragh and Sheila on their engagement!”)

Just now they were interviewing the winning candidates in Friday’s Galway County Council elections as the final returns came in. Then they went to the “Air Guitar Song of the Week,” Meatloaf’s “Dead Ringer for Love.”

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