J G Miller wrote:

You could try listening to some for about 5 minutes -- you may feel
yourself unable to listen for any longer than that for some of them
in England.

There are, of course, broad ranges of non-comm stations in the U.S. Many
cater to very specific slices of audience.

Here in the Bay Area, KPFA caters to political activists (or people who think
they are political activists). KCSM-FM caters to jazz listeners. KPOO is
into mostly blues and affairs affecting black people.

KUSF is a training ground for new student DJs and musically caters to them,
plus there are blocks of programming catering to Catholicism (KUSF is owned by
USF, a Catholic university).

KQED-FM appeals to news/info hounds, carrying nearly all the NPR and PRI news
and talk programming available. KALW, an equal member of NPR carries a lot of
the rest, along with BBC, CBC, and other news/info programming.

KCEA caters to people who prefer to listen to big bands music of the 1930s and
40s. KVHS, also owned by a high school, reaches out toward teens.

KFJC, KSJS, KSMC, and KZSU do the same thing for college-age audiences.