Hey, Auntie: advance Australia, please!

A bouquet to Auntie: ABC Radio National is simply fantastic on Saturdays. I stick with it from early morning till about the time John Carga's opera show comes on at 4pm -- but I don't even hate that and usually have it on in the background. I admit that by 5pm and Into the Music, my interest is waning, but I much prefer talk to music shows. Especially those weird, quiet, repetitive and mechanical ones that seem to dominate weekend late nights. Yawn! Then I go dial surfing for some American evangelist -- anything, anything at all to stop the programming of 50 minutes of dripping taps or singing bridges.

Some of today's shows were spectacular, rolling one after the other:

What’s in a Selfish Gene?

Whatever happened to Helen Demidenko?

To Solaris and beyond

Painting the weather

Apart from that, all I have to say today about ABC-RN is that I wonder why they call coffins 'caskets'? This grating, unnecessary Americanism has been used many, many times this week in stories about the death of Private Kovco. Hey, Auntie: advance Australia, please!

Tagged: scose, abc, australia, australian, english, language, radio, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, journalism, radio+national

Squidoo bedoobydoo

Hey mate! Will you please rate my Squidoo?

Tagged: squidoo

Radio National underselling podcast service

The ABC Radio National podcast service is the best I've found of any broadcaster in the world. Even the BBC has a far smaller number of podcasts available, and they are available on a one-week trial only -- I don't know what happens after the week, maybe you have to pay.

I listen to ABC podcasts on my computer, with its dial-up connection. That's why I find it odd that the promo ABC-RN is running for its service states that you need a broadband connection. I wrote to ABC-RN to point out that they're doing themselves out of approximately half their audience, but the ads are still running.

It's been my experience over the years that although ABC radio actively solicits emails and letters, they reply to them once in a blue moon, so I can't tell you what their attitude is to my suggestion. In the unlikely event that I should hear from them, I'll let readers know their response. Meanwhile, don't believe their ads: dial-up is slow, but adequate for receiving ABC's excellent mp3s. I highly recommend these podcasts, so dip in regardless of your connection.

Update: The the Editor of Presentation and Production at ABC Radio National has commented on this post (click the Comments link). Thank you, Tim.