Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Satellite radio - awesome!

Last few months I have been desperately trying to find good radio programming in Delhi. There is only so much Radio Mirchi and Radio One a person can put up with (i.e. 15 minutes). All India Radio (AIR) of course has never been particularly enticing with back to back news broadcasts in Hindi, English, Punjabi and some sitar/santoor recitals (btw, now that I am in India I have confirmed my hunch that no one I know really listens to sitar or drinks mango lassi in India - the two symbols of India that you always find at ANY Indian restaurant you visit in the US). Anyway, in my moments of desperation I was downloading podcasts from National Public Radio site: npr.org (in mp3), burning them to a CD and listening to them in my car. Nothing beats Fresh Air with Teri Gross when your stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on National Highway-8. And then one day, I discovered and installed Worldspace! Guys, this is the best thing to happen in India after Internet Radio :-) The selection of channels is incredible - 40 commercial free stations (NPR, Art of Living Radio, Comedy, College Rock, Rock, 80s Music, Indian and Western Classical, Bollywood, Old-era Bollywood to name a few), the sound quality is phenomenal, the programming amazing - superb content selection. Now I am getting my daily dose of NPR, Bollywood music without the annoying DJs and 80s rock, bhajans and above all satsang with Sri Sri Ravishankar.
Listening to it right now at 3:15 am and the room is rocking. Two thumbs way way up for Worldspace! If you love music, live in India - you HAVE to get thing.

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