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Listening To On Point in South Korea
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

On Point reaches listeners in many countries around the world. And we love to hear from them. We received this charming note today from an American ex-pat listening to the show on her iPod a long way from home:

Dear Mr. Ashbrook and staff,

I started listening to On Point in 2009 around the same time that I started running.  I got an iPod for my birthday and found that I enjoyed listening to talk radio rather than music a lot of the time.  Shortly after I started running, and listening to your show, I moved to South Korea where I worked as an English teacher.  I ran through the mountains, and among the rice paddies, past farmers and old women working in the fields…all the while Mr. Ashbrook kept me entertained and informed about what was going on back home in Boston, in the U.S. and across the world…the miles passed by easily as I listened every morning to your shows.  It helped me feel less homesick…eventually I started running more and training for more than 7 half marathons over the past year and a half… your show kept my mind off the long miles, the pains in my shins, the soreness in my knees, etc… I’ve listened to your shows during all the races I’ve done.  Some of my all time favorites are Emotions and the Human-Dog Connection, The Science of Willpower and A History of Caroling.  I also like your repeat guests, like Hiawatha Bray from the Globe, the show you did on Siri was great!

I am back in Korea teaching until August and I know On Point will be with me through all the miles I’ll log in Busan and beyond.  So I just wanted to thank you, Mr. Ashbrook, and all your hardworking staff for the thoughtful interviews, interesting and educational shows, and for always keeping me company no matter where in the world I am.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Busan, Korea

 
  • Skaylully

    -Well I gladly second this note from Sarah. I live in Switzerland and have been a faithful listener of On Point for nearly ten years now. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gratefully listened to a program on my MP3 player, which is always near my pillow, at 3 or 4 in the morning when I cannot sleep, and after the program is over I can happily go back to sleep. Last night I listened with keen interest to the program about early puberty in girls, and in fact I was just going to send the link to my daughter to listen to when I spotted Sarah’s note.
    Tom, you never cease to amaze me with your breadth of knowledge and how you handle the most awkward situations with the utmost aplomb. Plus you have a wonderful voice. Many many thanks from another American expatriate.
    With very best regards,
    Susan Stuber
    Lully (VD) Switzerland

  • Young Im

    As a Korean living in South Korea I really enjoy On Point.  I am kind of a nonfiction addict. Listening to On Point helps me find both entertaining and informative books and great writers that are not always easy to come across where I live.Â
    I`d like to ask a little favor, which is if a full transcript is available for non-English speaking listeners, the program would reach beyond the Pacific a lot more avid listeners like me. 

  • Hjacobs222

    The On Point broadcast about the crisis in leadership in China popped up by accident on my NPR player. Amazed (because I had not chosen On Point for a couple of weeks) and then amazed again when I realized the topic, and I waited for it to be cut off, as the censors in China (where I live) block almost everything that mentions this topic about Bo Silai and power struggle. Now I know where to go when I want to hear the news outside the Great Firewall of China.

  • Tanya

    I am also in South Korea (near Daegu) and thankful for all of the WBUR and NPR programming available to me here. Like Sarah, it keeps me in fine and fascinating company on around the countryside, particularly on my long walks home from work. Thanks.

  • Joe Gibson

    Hear hear, from another American ex-pat in Korea who listens to On Point on my phone several times a week.  Now if only I could find sneakers that fit I might try running to it . . . 

  • kaltighanna

    I’m not an American, but I lived there for a few years while going to college in Massachusetts. Now that I’m back home in Brazil, one of the things that I love the most is listening to On Point and being transported right back to the times when I listened to the show while driving, walking, running, and -gasp- even working! Lucky for me, I worked at a very small, liberal company doing long hours of painstaking database work, and listening to On Point always helped me focus more on my job and less on the long hours ahead. I keep listening to you here in Brazil for a taste of Boston, which I miss dearly.

  • Pam in China

    I live in China and have for seven years, the first three in a village although now I am in Guangzhou, a modern mega city of about 13 million.   On Point has been a great way to keep up to speed on how things are going in America, what is on people’s minds and in their hearts.  Can’t express enough how much the program has meant to me.  There is little to do here in the way of entertainment unless one wants to fall into the expat nightlife and radio as regenerated as a life line for me!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mac-Quaes/100003272965822 Mac Quaes
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