Italian Radio as a learning tool

Max2013

Even if Italian radio journalists tend to speak very very fast, listening to the radio is very good. For advanced students, it helps to improve listening and comprehension skills. For beginner, even if they may only get 2%, it is still good because the very listening makes them more and more familiar with the sound of the language. (For beginners, do not listen more than 5 mins a day.)  

Finally, the fact that a student does not have any vision-related clue, makes her/him actually focus on the comprehension only.  

Radio 24 is a good Italian radio, mostly about current news and analysis -- one of the few Italian radios where you are not constantly bugged by some song (usually of bad quality). A very popular radio is Radio DJ -- mostly mainstream/commercial music. For a more formal and mostly correct Italian, you can listen to Radio Radicale, which is a sort of C-Span of Italy.

JasonR

Thanks! I've been trying that since day one, but these three are all great. Radio DJ played all US music while I was listening, so it was a nice mix from the total Italian of the all-talk stations.

Max2013

Yes, Radio DJ is the most "Americanized" radio in Italy. I am glad you are using radio stations to improve your Italian. 

Max2013

If you want to hear an overall pretty "correct" Italian, Radio Parlamento is a good station. It is the RAI station embedded with the Italian Parliament. I would say that half of members of the Parliament are lawyers, so they tend to speak a good (albeit "official") Italian. 

Max2013

An update: for the American students, or those interested in the USA, Radio 24 has a daily 15 mins program on the US called "America 24" by Mario Platero. Highly recommended because Platero speaks a very correct and clear Italian.  

Max2013

Italian politics has been in the news for a few months...so why not listening to some Radio Parlamento? It may be boring, but most politicians can actually speak a relatively good an sometimes excellent Italian.

Max2013

For those of you who are more advanced, I would try "Zanzara" a Radio24 program. Heavy use of idiomatic expressions there.