New Radio

You will recall that I enjoy listening to the radio. I had been using a radio purchased while I was a student in Chicago. It had AM, FM, weather and television bands. I liked it a lot, although it had an analog tuner. With you wind up with a lot of guesswork and experimentation when trying to find a particular station. I can't stand that, but it was the best radio I was able to get at the time, and I'm not in the habit of replacing such a thing if I can possibly help it.

Unfortunately, the time came when I no longer could help it. The antenna went and broke. I held off as long as I could on the vague hope that I could replace the antenna alone, perhaps from the supplies on hand at Radio Shack or another place like that. That never came to pass, and in the meantime I missed a lot of radio. I had formed some habits of listening, but they were hopelessly broken. When I wanted to listen to a ballgame that I couldn't get on television, I was out of luck. It was not pleasant.

All this time, I was keeping an eye on what was available in the way of new and used radios at stores. I never was satisfied with the new radios (that I was prepared to pay for), and never could seem to find the right radio in good working order at a thrift store. Finally I saw one that looked pretty good. It was a clock radio, which I was not wild about, but it was otherwise serviceable. Importantly, it had that digital dial, so I was sold upon testing it.

I was legitimately excited, and thrilled to its sounds after bringing it home. It seemed to have no flaws, and I enjoyed learning how to set favorite stations, the time, the alarm and the rest. I was happy. It was then that the worst happened. A tragic malfunction surfaced a day or so later. The digital readout began to falter in such a way that it became difficult to tell what numbers were what. What good is a trusty, accurate digital tuner if I can't tell what station it's showing? What good is a clock radio if I can't tell what time it's telling me? I was crushed. As I said though, I am loathe to make a change if I can get by, and I can get by. I have other clocks, and I seldom listen to more than a couple stations. I'll get by.