That’s “National Public Radio.”

It’s an American radio network that specialized in news, interviews, documentaries, and many other great kinds of content. This will be the first English-language resource to go in our links list!

Don’t listen to CNN!
I know many Koreans listen to CNN, but I actually think it’s not so great for English study. Why? First, news is the hardest kind of thing to understand, in ANY language. Why would you pick the hardest kind of content to study with? Second, CNN is slick, fast-talking, and very “over-produced.” It’s hard for me to understand, with the special effects, blaring music and taglines, and fast, stylized talking.

NPR is much, much better. Why?

1) They speak much more slowly and clearly.
We actually record 폭탄영어 in the “NPR style,” which is total silence in the background, slower talking, and very high-quality audio. NPR has a 5-minute “Hourly News Summary” that is much, much easier to understand than CNN’s. Even my ears get tired when listening to CNN. It simply is too loud and irritating.

2) NPR has many kinds of content.
If you go to their main news site, all their stories have a summary and then someone reading it from their news site. Since NPR is a radio network, they can do this. If you check the top of the site, there is a link for the “Hourly News Summary.” You can also click on any story on the site to listen on their player, and the player will automatically continue to other stories.

3) All their content is offered free on iTunes as podcasts.
This is probably the best English resource out there, and it’s totally free. NPR puts almost all of their programs out as podcasts, which you can subscribe to through iTunes. If you go to the iTunes music store, the NPR banner should be on the front page. Or you can just type “NPR” in the search part of iTunes. There are sooooo many shows there – interviews with stars, trends in American society, interesting topics ranging from science to fixing cars, and more. Also, NPR organizes several podcasts by topic, so they put together stories from many different shows into one show called “NPR: Pop Culture” or “NPR: Movies” or “NPR: Music” and such things. You couldn’t pay for more, better content.

4) NPR is smarter.
The stereotype of the “typical NPR listener” is liberal, highly-educated, intellectual, and curious about many things. For that reason, some people say NPR is “elitist” – I disagree. I think NPR is smart, and they are highly respected in the field of journalism and radio. They are also highly respected by everyone from movie stars to scientists – every star does an interview with Terri Gross on her show “Fresh Air” – and these interviews are in-depth, funny, and can last for 30 minutes! Their show “On the Media” criticized the mainstream media, as well as even NPR’s own shows. And although NPR is often accused of being “left”, unlike many “shock radio” shows on the “right”, NPR invites people of opposing political points-of-view and tries to get a real balance as much as possible.