Listening Pleasure

One of the things about living so far away from Europe and the United States is that one can easily feel cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes, this is not such a bad thing. However, this weekend, while I was puttering around the house (one of my favourite activities) and listening to one of my many radio programmes, it occurred to me that though I had listed books I had been reading, I hadn't yet mentioned what we listen to. Thanks to the Internet and a few great little sites, we have a nice range of books, music and programmes that we listen to:

• War News Radio - reporting en direct from Iraq. This fabulous project from Swarthmore College does weekly shows on life in Iraq - from the perspective of local Iraqis. There is also a great little section called "Iraq 101" which I am looking forward to exploring.
• FIP - great jazz and other genres from Paris. After 16 years in Paris, one does miss FIP from this far away. The day a good friend of mind suggested I stream it, my life changed.
• BBC Radio 2 - for excellent programming from London: for news, talk shows, and good music! I'm a regular "Melodies for You" and yes, "Sunday Love Songs" listener.
• Audible.com - books, books, books, and radio programmes like "Car Talk" and a weekly show I try not to miss: "Marketplace Money" (a financial planning programme out of Los Angeles). Audible is a paying subscription service, but thanks to audible I've been able to listen to great books while working out - or puttering around.

Thanks to these, and a couple more sites/stations, we feel pretty connected. There aren't any jazz or classical stations on the island - so we're always looking for good jazz and classical programming. If you have sites/stations you like in particular (no matter where you are in the world), send them along!