Never Might I Ever?

A thought popped into my head, and because I had set up to write, I decided to make use of the thought instead of letting it float away. This is the benefit of getting going while you still have the energy to be remotely ambitious. The thought pertained to the perhaps not entirely uncommon aspiration of having my own radio show. This is not an impossible feat if I accept that a podcast is equally acceptable, but I doubt it will happen.

To begin with, I think I have a fine voice for radio. I have been advised of my suitability for such things by people whom I hold in high regard, anyway, and who knows better what one is capable of than others? Whether or not I have a face destined for more than radio I will not venture to guess, although I will assert that I have pretty good days as far as that goes. Maybe I would be the rare radio personality whose visage fails to disappoint.

Getting Sappy

I've written about the radio before. You may recall my excitement over buying a radio at a thrift store and wondered why even after reading what I had to say. Well, I don't suppose readers already acquainted with the radio wondered, given that some probably are better acquainted than I. Well, the radio does fall short of its online competitors in many respects these days, but it can never be beaten in other ways.

If at night I turn on the radio, turn off the lights and draw open the blinds, the wonder of the radio becomes evident. The radio doesn't speed through a lot of cables, but rather flies through the sky where one's radio may yank it down to the level of mere humans. It's better even than a wifi signal which is confined the immediate area of buildings, and which is a lot of indeterminate data anyway. They're allowed to boost signal strength at night, extending the reach of far-flung stations.

Don't Be Funny: The Music Is Money

The radio station that I used to listen to when I was younger (back in Phoenix) was an album rock station. They really played good music, but I didn't especially appreciate it then. I tolerated their music mainly because I liked the other things that they did, and chief among them was the comedy stuff they put on. I used to think their morning DJs were really funny, but looking back I can't say that I would think the same thing today.

Some of their best bits were things like a parody of the Lone Ranger wherein the titular character was flamboyantly gay, and they would do clumsy parody songs of local current events. They had a dynamite bit where they would report and comment on some stupid criminal story, and this would be capped off with a censored version of a line from "Blazing Saddles". I really did think all that stuff was awfully funny, and wished I could listen to all the three or four hours of their show every day.

Radio Baseball

Baseball season has come around again, and while your lofty-minded pop philosopher will talk of renewal and fresh starts in life, for me it stays a thing of baseball. I do mean to start afresh, but strictly within that realm. I used to watch a lot of games, but then that was largely because I was going to most of the home games. I would miss a lot of the road games on television, but you can only take so much. I took more than most.

These days I catch almost no games. I was at one last year, which is quite a drop from seventy or eighty in a season. This year will probably be like last year. I don't catch many more games at home, either. I don't get the channel that most of the games are on, so I can only see the ones on free television. That leaves the radio broadcasts, which mostly are heard by those who are driving while the games are on, or by the truly irredeemable, inveterate fans who tote radios at the games.

Song Box

Something I do sometimes these days is listen to the radio while I shower. I refrain from doing so when I'm getting up early out of consideration for my roommate, or at least I should do so. I'll listen to news radio, or NPR if I'm confident that they're not conducting a pledge drive. I couldn't bear to hear repeated, desperate pleas for my money while I'm in the shower. Sometimes I listen to music, of course, and that may be of any genre.

Lately what I've been going with is classic rock (which is the oldest music still on the radio outside of classical these days). That's typically reliable enough, although any commercial radio can be a bad pick for the shower depending on how the commercials and 'talk time' coincide with things on my end. A commercial break or prolonged instance of chatter from the DJ is apt to knock out much of my morning routine time.

Frosted Glass, Broadcast

I have some of my best ideas when I'm in the shower. I can't tell you how many speeches for Toastmasters have been conceived and polished at the last minute in that shower stall on the day of the delivery. The reason is that there alone can I really focus. I can't get distracted by something online or by the sudden need to clean my room from top to bottom. I can only clean myself and think. Obviously I have to find distraction in there.

I bought a radio a while ago. I had meant to use it in my bedroom, mainly for talk and new radio while on my computer. I have used it for that purpose little, and so it has mainly sat idle. I decided that it might be of use in the bathroom, as I was tired of grappling with my thoughts. I imagined it would be easier to listen to the radio, and perhaps this would be the time when I could actually get all of that radio listening done that I meant to.

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.

The Radio

I like listening to the radio. Most people listen in the car, which I have done, but I often keep it quiet in the car to focus on the road. Thusly, much of my radio listening happens at home and in other places. I don't listen to too much music on the radio. I did kind of like indie 103.1 here in LA, but they're just online now. I like very particular music. It tends to be older stuff, so most of the stations wouldn't think of playing it. The oldies stations could play it, but seem to prefer playing Roy Orbison and such too much to consider a broader range of classics.

Therefore, I generally listen to talk and news radio, putting me at odds with my father. I enjoy NPR, whether it's the weekday soft-spoken news and analysis, or the more entertainment-centric weekend fare such as Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, Prairie Home Companion, and This American Life. I don't just listen to NPR, though (indeed, I can't bear to listen to them during pledge drives). If I'm inclined, I'll listen to Coast to Coast with George Noory. It would be quick to call it a UFOs and conspiracy theory program, but they have a pretty good variety of subjects. It's often not credible, but I try to be open, and it's always entertaining.