From 2005:

In a very bad sign for public radio (Minnesota Public Radio, in particular), I’m finding myself listening to non-podcast, non-musical content less and less. I used to be an NPR junkie (you know, the kind of guy who actually listened to the pledge drives). But lately, roughly coinciding to a month or so before iTunes integrated podcasts into the Music Store, I find the only time I listen to the radio any more is the 10 or so minutes every couple of days I find myself in the shower (yes, it’s true, I don’t shower every single day!).

This, I think, is more of a Bad Thing for public radio than for other forms of talk radio mostly because of the demographics. Now, mind you, I don’t know what Rush Limbaugh’s demos are, but I’m assuming that the average income level of NPR listeners is higher than Rush’s (or Al Franken’s, for that matter). If so, then I again assume that more public radio peeps have iPods or other digital media players than AM radio-lovin’ truckers. If so, then it’s entirely possible more and more people like me will find themselves listening to the radio less and less. For a medium that depends on convincing people like me to send them cash once a year to stay in business, this is not good.

Anyway, I find myself with WAY too many podcast options. The ones I find myself listening to regularly are This Week in Tech (TWiT), Diggnation, On the Media, and the Slate’s daily podcast. I’ve also just discovered the MINI-centric WhiteRoofRadio, the Potter-centric Mugglecast, and the airline-insider-centric Fly With Me (one guess what their theme song is) which only add to my podcast burden. Add to that Christopher Lydon’s Open Source, the iLounge and Engadget podcasts, and the occasional music I might want to listen to, and you see my predicament.

When am I supposed to listen to all this stuff!?! I can’t walk around all day with my headphones on and I’m only in the car for so long (in fact, I find myself looking forward to long drives just so I can make a dent in the list of unlistened to ‘casts). I have kids who feel all media was invented to entertain them, so I can’t listen around the house (god forbid we stop listening to Kidz Bop). Basically, I’m screwed. And so’s public radio. It’s only a matter of time.