My iPod is nearly six years old but only recently did I purchase a docking station for it. I’ve never really felt the need for one as I usually just listen on the computer or headphones but with the former on its last legs and the latter not being so good for ones ears I thought it would be nicer to be able to listen to all my podcasts (and some music too of course) in a more conventional way.

For twenty years now I’ve had a love for radio (more so than TV in some ways) and its a pretty much unknown fact that I listen to the Chris Moyles Show on Radio One on the BBC iPlayer every night when I get home (why would anyone know that?!). I love listening to it each night though I think if I was back in England listening live I’d prefer him to actually play some music and go to the news on time (and not ten or even twenty minutes late as can happen!). Anyway, I have been downloading his and fellow DJ Scott Mills’ podcasts (free downloads?) since I got my laptop at the same time over half a decade ago. The Matt Edmondson show on the same station is a funny recent addition to the networks podcasts.

I’ve never listened to BBC Radio 2 by choice but in the need to fill a gap in my life during the football-free Summer I decided to download podcasts from Chris Evans, Steve Wright and Simon Mayo who I enjoyed listening to on Radio 1 back in the 1990’s.

Despite all my film-related posts and expeditions I am far from being a film buff though I’d like to know a bit more so I started listening to Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review show on BBC 5 Live which has been going for over a decade and its 10th anniversary programmes a few months ago were very interesting. On the subject of films I have been listening to ‘The ForceCast’ Star Wars podcast each and every week for two or three years now and that has recently expanded with some spin-off podcasts which are not of such strong interest to me but as they are automatically download I feel the need to give them a listen. I’m just too nice! Actually, thats the reason I listen to the 5 Live Football Daily. I started downloading it in the World Cup when my mate Hugo was here so that we could wake up and listen to the reports and so on. After that had finished it continued to download and before I knew it it had become part of my daily routine. Weekly football podcasts from BBC Radio Leicester, Foxblogger and the Guardian’s Football Weekly were soon added to my playlist.

On the topic of sport I have been enjoying 5 Live’s ‘Fighting Talk’ for many, many years now and is perhaps still one of my favourites. Danny Baker has been part of my radio life for a long, long time now and listening to his Saturday morning radio show (albeit in pod format a few days later usually!) always provides interesting listening.

Unlike sport I don’t really keep up with the news back home too much so the ‘Daily Bacon’ 5 Live show helps fill that void a little although my inclination to listen usually depends on what celebrity is interviewed as they promote their latest book, film or whatever. My cousin Alex (of Motorhomo fame!) even got a mention from presenter Richard Bacon about a month ago which certainly took me by surprise although he thought Motorhomo was a type error!

I have no idea what frequency Radio 4 is even on but that is no reason to not download some of their content and some of their comedy shows have been a good way for keeping up with the world of political satire.

Since writing this entry in draft form Apple’s former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs has sadly passed away leaving a very strong legacy in his wake. The iPod was perhaps Apple’s greatest breakthrough as it changed the way we listen to music which in turn led to radio stations producing podcasts of their most popular shows in order to compete. The rise of the iPod meant there was a demand for other related products and it may have taken me a while but the addition of the docking station has been a very welcome one for me.