The Mac starts up at a set time in the morning and runs the script at startup. The script loads the morning news program (Morning Edition or Weekend Edition), as well as the All Things Considered page, then proceeds to load the morning program in RealOne Player and pause it. With a KeySpan USB remote control on the kitchen counter, one hit of the play button starts up the morning's news, regardless of the actual time of day (which is kind of odd if it's 5pm!).
To make the script, I borrowed some AppleScript code from dasboy in this hint, as well as jspivack in this hint. Compile it in Script Editor and set it as a startup item; have the news waiting for you as you sip your coffee.
[robg adds: I haven't tested the script...]

