radio

I like the radio. I am more apt to turn on a radio or a stereo than a television. This hasn't always been true, I admit, but the days when television was my companion have long since gone.

I worried for awhile that radio, good radio, was a dying medium. Perhaps I worried needlessly, as I realize now that so many people commute and often turn to radio for news and entertainment during their morning/evening drives.

At its best, radio evokes a sense of nostalgia for me. I have such fond memories of rainy nights in a cabin on a lake in late August, just before the start of a new school year. The scratchy sounds of a mystery (often The Shadow) on an AM station providing the story for nature's punctuation.

Then later in life were those late afternoons/early evenings hanging out with friends and calling in to chat with the DJ and make requests. My friend Kootch and I would often have a friendly contest to see which of us could "win" by being the certain numbered caller or correctly answering the most questions (I think Kootch won, but not by much).

A few years later and the radio was our companion as we "cruised" the town more nights than not. Driving just for the sake of getting out and hanging out.

I am glad to see that there is interest in the Pay-Per-Radio of the satellite radio stations. I won't go that route because I think it's laughable to pay for something that I can mostly find for free still, but if Big Business can make money in it, then it must still hold some popularity.

Even when I am at my computer I tend to listen to an on-line radio station. BBC 7 has some great entertainment programs (I've been enjoying the recreations of The Marx Brothers' FLYWHEEL, SHYSTER, AND FLYWHEEL series), and BBC 4 has such an incredible array of programming that it's hard to not find something to listen to (of course I particularly enjoy the plays in the afternoon). My other favorite, which is often playing even when I'm not sitting at the computer, is Live365.com. No matter what your taste in music or talk radio, you can find it at Live365.com. I've listened to it so much that I finally decided to become a paying member (high praise indeed from a tightwad such as myself).

I urge you to check them out. (No, I have no stake in their service what-so-ever.) It's easy. It's convenient. It's free.