I'm lucky. I get 2 public radio stations that broadcast a pretty fair variety. One starts with Morning Edition, followed by a local talk program, then Diane Reim (sic), and Talk of the Nation. Then All things considered, Marketplace, Fresh Air, and my personal favorite the CBC's As It Happens. Then its jazz the rest of the time. The weekends have a lot of the standard Public Syndicated showes (Car Talk, Whadd'ya Know, Riverwalk), and a local 3 hr blues show). The second station plays the standard PR news programs and the rest of the time its classical on the weekdays, On the weekends its a mix of classical during the day and folk at night ('cept for Garrison o' course). Add that to the three thriving local college stations with their usual cosmopolitan montage and I really don't lack for choice. Just lucky I guess.

One thing I will say about the second Public Station. Its affiliated with a college, and about 20 years ago it was a real college station that was just plugged in to the NPR catalog. Then it made a decision to transform itself into a genuine 'professional' public radio station. It hired full time professional DJ's (sure some started out as students. But its definitely more mainstream than it was. They got a honking big 50KW stick, 2 substations, and they're definitely not on the shoestring budgent any more. But they're not as accessible as they once were.