News on the air

I like to listen to news on the radio.

Yes, yes, I'm a newspaper guy. The papers are still my No. 1 news source. (Especially the print editions. Call me a dinosaur. I don't care.)

But give me a choice between watching news on the tube or listening to it on the radio, I'll pick the latter. Every time. (Although I did hear a radio commentator refer to Pat Summitt as UT's women's basketball coach "Emer-i-TEE-tus." I kid you not.)

I'm listening to National Public Radio as I type. Sometimes, when I have trouble sleeping (i.e. every night), I listen to the BBC World Service before drifting off to dream. Half the time, though, I get interested in the discussion and stay up deep into the dark.

I use modern technology to my advantage. Between the Internet and Sirius/XM, I can listen to all kinds of stations. My Twitter feed includes links to hourly updates from CBS Radio News.

I can indulge my news nostalgia by listening to classic broadcasts on old time radio websites. Ed Murrow. John Cameron Swayze. Bob Trout.

Even Walter Cronkite -- the TV news anchor the way Irene Adler is the woman to Sherlock Holmes -- got his start on radio.

Baseball, that great game, is even better on radio than it is on television, IF you are listening to a great play-by-play announcer. Those are few and far between now.

I was born in the wrong era. I don't care.

Pardon me while I turn up the dial...