Radio Free Asia
Over the next week or so I'm going to point out a few resources for those studying Chinese whether on their own or at a school. They're things I use to supplement my studies at Shi Da, and should be useful to just about anyone trying to learn Chinese.
The first is arguably my most used resource: Radio Free Asia. While it isn't strictly a resource for learning Chinese, it does offer huge amounts of Chinese (and other language) programming on a daily basis. One of the strong points is the archiving of the material. Programs are available for direct download for a few days after their original broadcast, or one can subscribe to an RSS feed.
The programs themselves are often quite interesting, and expose one to a wide array of spoken Chinese. Shows like 老百姓的声音 (lao bai xing de sheng yin: voice of the people) gets Chinese speakers from around the world talking about issues of import to them. RFA definitely has a political slant to its programming. As an organization with the majority if not all of its funding from the United States Government, the reportage must be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless I find most of the coverage enjoyable. I especially like the program where a deep voiced, slow speaking Chinese man recites the names, birth dates, and a short anecdote about people who were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.
I just wish the PRC had a similar English language service to broadcast across North America and Europe. That would be entertaining.