Into the third month now of my trial subscription of Sirius XM radio and I’m gaining a greater appreciation for the varied programming offered on CBC Radio One.  The closest thing we have in the States is National Public Radio.   However, my sense is that a richer variety  of offerings is to be found on CBC Radio.  Not sure if that’s because of the limited funding that NPR receives here or the different traditions out of which these two public radio services developed, but there’s certainly a notable difference.

This weekend I came across another cool find:  “WireTap”, a weekly program featuring the humorist Jonathan Goldstein’s wry observations about the mundane details of his life.  Done partly in the form of a rambling monologue by Goldstein, the show includes provocative dialogue with a regular cast of the narrator’s friends.  “WireTap” has aspects that are akin to a radio version “Seinfeld”, the popular American television show.

In the episode that first caught my attention (Season 6, Episode 8), Goldstein obsesses over the time that he believes he wastes and therefore sets about trying to work through his feelings on this matter.  He eventually obtains some degree of solace through conversation with one of his previously time-compulsive friends and by retaining the services of Rap Master Maurice, an actual “revenge rapper” from Cleveland.  I missed part of the program during my drive so later located the CBC site for the show , where I was able to learn and explore more about “WireTap” and Goldstein.  You can access sound clips of past shows on the CBC site and also download shows from iTunes.  Highly recommended.