Radio

I was going to have a fancier, more humorous title, but I could not determine the inventor of radio from wikipedia.

Anyway, for those who want to know, I have not listened much to the radio since I lived back in New York and listened to EQX. There were some stations in Atlanta that I liked, but they eventually changed formats a few times. I found ones in LA I could tolerate, and one I could only get when I was in LA on the other side of the mountains. My main complaint with radio, besides all the advertisements, is that they overplay the same songs and don't play actual new music. For example, turn to your local alternative station. Have they played Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sublime, Everclear, 311, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, or any band from the mid nineties in the last hour? I'm not saying those bands are bad, but there is so much more music out there that they are ignoring. I do understand that the stations have rules and playlists that they have to follow, and these are all factors that drove me to listen to my mp3 player, or burn cds for my car. I even tried XM radio for 3 months when I bought my car, but I was overcome with an overabundance of choice that I couldn't pick one station to listen to. Not to mention annoying djs, and actual commercials on satellite radio.

So, I have now found myself in Seattle, and without my computer to burn new cds for my car. I have tried a fm transmitter with my ipod in the car, but we all know how well those work. Don't worry, this post isn't completely negative. I actually turned on the radio for the first time in almost 2 years. There are actually good stations here in Seattle that I am enjoying that do not play the same crap as most of the commercial radio stations. Now, keep in mind, no one gave me any suggestions for radio when I got here, and I never did a google search for radio stations until I started writing this post. I found these stations the old fashion way, by pressing the seek button on my radio while driving.

The first station I found and liked was 89.5 FM. They play dance music, like the type you would hear in the clubs. I know, an interesting choice for a radio station, but it is enjoyable on my commute, they are commercial free, and I think they even have an 80s show in the morning. Then today, I checked out their website and found out the station is run by high school students in the Seattle area as part of a class. That blew my mind.

The second station I found and liked was 107.7 FM. It's a pretty standard alternative station, but they claim to be "world famous" and play a lot of Death Cab for Cutie. The station seems to have been around since grunge started, so there is some history there. They do play new music, but suffer from the usual corporate radio station problems. I've been looking past that, because it provides a good change from dance music.

Then today, I landed on 90.3 FM, while driving home and hitting the seek button again. This station inspired me to write this post. The first song they played that I recognized was Are You Receiving Me? by XTC, mostly because that was the first song that Shazam on my iPhone could determine. They continued to play music I had never heard until the dj came on and mentioned My Bloody Valentine, who I swear I've heard heard before. Apparently the station is public or something. I will be listening more to this station.

The last thing is a interesting thing I mentioned to Rebecca a day or two ago. Driving to work in the morning, I was flipping radio stations again. I landed on a morning radio dj who I feel ended up spoiling the end of Battlestar Galactica for me. Just think about that for a minute and all that I could mean about the Seattle area.

I have more radio stations to find and listen to, and lots of music to discover. I'll also have to tell you later about the concert Rebecca and I went to last Sunday.

We've got to get moving now.