Michigan Radio 91.7 FM is my preferred stop for news and information. Located out of Ann Arbor on…read morethe University of Michigan campus, the signal is not always great. For some reason there is a big hole in the middle of Oak Park. However, I can usually get it throughout Southeast and Mid-Michigan. The programming is excellent. Generally the format is Morning Edition, BBC NewsHour, Diane Rheme for 2 hours, Fresh Air, Here & Now, 2 hours of Talk of the Nation then All Things Considered. All of the shows are excellent and interesting. I think the radio hosts are also excellent. I think they do a very good job of having local programming and reporting on local issues.

This is the main station on my radio dial in my car. I will occasionally listen to WEMU, but WUOM…read morehas more of the programs I like. They play very little classical music or jazz and concentrate on news and talk programs. They offer the ubiquitous "Prairie Home Companion" and "This American Life" along with some other lesser known programs. I love "Car Talk" and "The Splendid Table" as well. WUOM does a lot of things right. I like them well enough that I've volunteered to answer phones for their fund drives on two separate occasions. Not only do they offer the programs I prefer, but they do nice things for their members. They usually have an annual picnic where they offer free picnic food and some recreation opportunities to members. One year, two friends and I went to Kensington Metropark near Brighton for the station's annual picnic. Michigan Radio offered supporters free hot dogs and hamburgers and other side dishes, as well as free passes to recreational opportunities at the park. You could pick two out of three: a horse and carriage ride, paddle boat rental, or entry into their "Farm Learning Center" (cute goats!). They really make an effort to give back to the members who donate their bucks during those bi-annual fund drives. And, finally, they have a really good Web presence as well. The website for Michigan Radio looks nice and is easy to navigate.

WCBN is the University of Michigan's non-commercial freeform radio station that's run by students…read more What they focus on is bringing things on the radio that you normally wouldn't hear on other stations. My favorite night is late Saturday nights, they usually play some excellent hip hop if you catch it at the right time. By "nomally wouldn't hear", I'm not talking about an obscure noise/basement medley/karaoke cover/whatever-else-obscure 24/7 (though maybe sometimes) fest. For instance, just giving it a listen randomly, they were going over some local events (big kid kickball!) inbetween Kraftwerk and Jean Grae. Currently, my good friend Dustin does Freeform on Thursday nights. He knows a lot about music and is a local musician. I've learned a lot about local music and much more through him, and thanks to him I've opened my scope to being more than a hip hop head. Once, he created an entire playlist for me on my birthday -- one of the coolest birthday gifts, ever. I've also taken a walk through the station itself. It's a great place adorned with decades of history on the walls -- Post-Its, scribbin', photos -- along with a well-loved couch and tech stuff like turntables, cassette decks, reel to reels, amps. Those walls are totally made to house sound. If you're curious about a certain DJ, they playlists are posted online. You can also connect through their website -- no need to sit in the car with the top down and an Icee.

Yes, Mae is right. Pick up a copy of the Observer and you will quickly learn the "Ann Arbor state…read moreof mind"- what the community's all about. Plus, all the local businesses you may ever need or want. And yes, the articles are well-informed and touch on important issues.

The Ann Arbor Observer -- along with its website arborweb.com -- is the definitive source of…read moreinformation for all things in this town. This monthly journal maintains remarkable quality throughout its in-depth stories about people, restaurants, business openings and closings, and local institutions. Such an incredible contrast to the pathetic Ann Arbor News!!

Classical days and jazzy nights. Not my favorite radio station but it's good enough to be in those…read moretop 6 presets and it's important that the area gets exposure to these two cultured genres. *pushes glasses up nose I can't stand opera and WRCJ does play a fair amount of that but I do like me some classical, an appreciation encouraged by my late, great friend Chris Warren and you're not gonna find much on the radio in the Detroit vicinity beyond a solid 14 hours a day on 90.9 FM. (Just a late morning/early afternoon block on the great CBC and maybe a bit here and there on the Metro area's other public radio station, WDET which has gotten entirely too talky.) Classical isn't my favorite but it does seem to help activate the old brain waves, especially in the morning. And how can you not like a radio show with a name like Dr. Dave's Drive-time Elixir?? The ten hours of jazzy night often stick to more staid, middle of the road sounds than I would prefer but sometimes they do stop my channel flipping dead in its tracks. And again, nobody in the transmission range is playing this genre consistently beyond smooth jazz V98.7 which is HD and not available on my Jeep's radio. And I'm not listening to that Kenny G shit anyway. As with classical, WRCJ's only contemporaries are WDET with some regularly scheduled jazz shows that come nowhere near to ten hours every night and CBE FM, CBC's Windsor station who might play a bit of jazz here and there but are too busy playing all kinds of adventurous music to bother much with it. So WRCJ it is if you're stuck with a regular old school radio driving around like me. Too much mellow, loungy stuff heavy on the vocals for my tastes but it counts as jazz all right . And I can listen over my phone, too, even as I type this Yelp review. Whatever they're playing now is pretty good. Hey, if ya got money to spare maybe donate public radio like this some and get a tote bag or a coffee mug for yourself. Me, the best I can do right now is to give 'em a fairly positive Yelp review.

I have to admit one thing that might make me unpopular. I have Mozart on my Ipod…read more My mother is to blame, if you're gonna place blame somewhere. She was a world class concert pianist, and she played Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, and the rest of the gang so much that I got to be on a first name basis with them. The 3 little words that everyone knows was not, I love you, but Get Your Culture. I had no idea what that meant until a few years ago. When CKLW died, I was lost for a good radio station to listen to, and since I was wholly unpopular with the females of my demographic, I began listening to WQRS, which at the time was the lone out post of classical in Detroit. Then a few years ago while searching for something good to listen to, I came across WRCJ, a new station that happily is a Public Radio station. Public Radio used to be a choice between WGTE in Toledo, WUOM in Ann Arbor and WDET in Detroit. GTE is the only one that still plays classical, but its a tad hard to drag in when you live in Motown. The one thing I love about WRCJ is that they do not play the same things over and over again. They mix it up and make it cool to listen to, and when the sun goes down, the format changes from Classical to Jazz, and it's decent as well. Many is the night when I would listen to WRCJ in the cab, and the passengers would comment and give me good tips for playing decent music. The morning guy, Dave Wagner is both funny and talented. They don't play the news over and over, but they do keep you informed. It's OK to listen during the morning drive and still keep an eye on the inbound Southfield or 696 when it's backed up like a drain with too much hair in it. As for missing WQRS, I do, but not so much. I like this station and as long as they stay on the air, I'm gonna listen. Oh BTW, if you have a few loose bucks send them a few. Public radio needs every dollar they can get.

I'm glad I ran across the previous reviews…read more What a hoot! Bookmark the website and visit it whenever you need a good laugh. They also sell their magazines, so you can experience the fun in book form.

With the Find of the Day, this may be my new second-favorite website (move over, Go Fug Yourself)…read more This folks behind this magazine and website collect "found" stuff---scraps of papers, notes, photos, receipts, cards, and such on the streets that provide fabulous little peeks into the lives of the people around us. I love overhearing random funny bits of conversation on the street, so this is great for the nosy, people-watcher in me. You can listen to an interview the founder of Found on KQED: www.kqed.org/epArchive/R606211000

Great Magazine with lots of informative information as well as a great place to advertise…read more Carole Grace

I'm probably a little biased because I went to high school with one of the DJs, but I like this…read morestation. They play a mix of classic stuff from the 1970s and 1980s along with some more recent stuff. The last time I was listening to it in the car, they played Sting, Dave Matthews, and a new song by Donovan. Their website says they're currently playing Talking Heads and Alanis Morissette. The other reason I like them is that they're so active in the community, sponsoring special events. On a recent summer day, I was wandering around downtown Ann Arbor window shopping and deciding where to have lunch, and I heard live music coming from Liberty Square. 107one was sponsoring "Sonic Lunch" in downtown Ann Arbor. A live cover band was playing blues-rock, and people on their lunch break were sitting on benches eating sandwiches and drinking soda pop and listening. It's just one of those little things that makes Ann Arbor the thriving artsy-cultural mecca that it is. The website for the station is really cool, too, with news about upcoming musical events, photos and contact emails for the staff, and a photo gallery of past events (including Sonic Lunch) they've sponsored.

Good station for contemporary music that's not too racous but yet lively and modern. I gave them…read moreonly 3 stars because of the ads. I have to change channels some of them are so bad, then I forget to tune back in. Their MacDonald's commercial does right in the mic what we where always told NOT to do, slurp. What a turn off. Oh and don't get me started on "Nancy Knows".

Love this publication. We always pick it up! Happenings, food, short articles on the arts. And it's…read morefree! What more could a body want? And their annual writing contest is the best. (This from someone who has placed or won several years.)

I can't believe I'm the first to review Current! This mag is THE source for what to do, where to…read moreeat, and where to catch local bands in Washtenaw County, and it's widely available for free in libraries, coffee shops and other local businesses. One highlight is their annual "best of" issue, where they let readers nominate best restaurants, arts and entertainment venues and more. Each section is broken down further into a variety of categories. For instance, you can make nominations for "Best Cheap Eats" or "Best Middle Eastern Restaurant" for the "Food and Drink" section. They also put out an exhaustive local music directory each November in addition to their brief monthly listings. The magazine carries a mix of eclectic local columns about books, music and culture each month as well as calendars of things to do in the area for that month. I also have a soft spot in my heart for Current because of their annual Fiction and Poetry contest, showcasing local writing talent. Full disclosure, I won a third prize in the fiction category one year and first place in poetry another year. They have a nice ceremony with food and door prizes for the winners and their friends and family, too.