You might want to access the webpage for your local radio station that has NPR and see if they have a link to their stream. I do that with radio stations that are here in Miami. Most of the time they have a stream that's accessible either through RealPlayer, QT, iTunes, Windows Media Player, or a podcast.
Incidentally, NPR has a bunch of podcasts if you check in the Podcast Directory from within iTunes in the iTunes Music Store.