There’s something wonderful about listening to radio soaked in that soothing NPR gravy. The public radio powerhouse’s new NPR One app keeps a personalized stream of lovely stories pumping into your ears at all times. NPR One is a curated stream of local, and national news mixed in with other programming like segments from On the Media and Radiolab. It’s like a Pandora for public radio. Just hit play and you’ll hear stories. A bit like switching on the dial in your car and letting experienced producers take the reins.
Radio is an increasingly perplexing mode of content delivery as we gain access to more and better streaming services with on-demand programming. But the serendipity of radio is still appealing, the ability to turn on and tune in without having to monitor, tweak and pester. That’s why it’s great that NPR is looking to deliver its public programming in a way that combines the benefits of both streaming and traditional terrestrial radio via a new app called NPR One. The app is separate from their existing offerings for mobile, and available free on the App Store and on Google Play. It uses a combination of streams of NPR’s public news broadcasts, combined with stories that are curated for your specific tastes. You can get regionally relevant content by letting the device have access to your location settings, and you can also search for podcasts and other content to teach the app about what you want and get it instantly. Marking stories as interesting takes a single click, and that will help inform what kind of content appears in your feed in the future.