But that was yesterday
And yesterday’s gone, says Jeff Shaw:
We used to love listening to AM radio. Everybody I knew had a pocket radio powered by a 9 volt Ray-O-Vac battery that would go dead in about a day and a half.
I had one of those back around 1961: an actual Japanese Transistor Radio with, as the late Allan Sherman said, “a wire with a thing on one end that you could stick in your ear, and a thing on the other end that you can’t stick anywhere because it’s bent.” I still have a radio that runs on 9-volt batteries, but it’s a VHF weather-band unit. (If the Sherman reference seems familiar, you may have seen it here.)
Since my music tastes have evolved, I don’t listen to much radio anymore, so I’m not familiar with any top forty hits. Also, I got weary long ago of hearing the same song over and over, everyday. So much for programmed radio. If it’s Friday at 4:45 pm, I’ll bet you can turn on the radio to some local station get BTO’s “Taking Care of Business.” For the 4 millionth time. After I hear a song 500 times, I sort of lose interest.
I tend to duck stations playing current stuff. Yesterday, zipping down US 62, I caught these guys playing Herb Alpert’s “Rise,” followed by an edit of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again,” in which the infamous plastic organ competently fingered by Donald Fagen was excised.
On the other hand, I’ve already picked up a copy of “Meet Me on the Equinox,” a Death Cab for Cutie single from the New Moon soundtrack, released this past September. It will be a while, I suspect, before it gets its 500th playing.
Brian J. »
18 November 2009 · 7:51 am
I have an old Royal transistor running off of a nine volt battery. I use it when the power goes out since the other, larger radios run on a dozen D batteries at a time.
Jeff Shaw »
18 November 2009 · 4:08 pm
You heard “Rise?” On the Radio? That’s from like 1979 or 1980 or something like that! I have to admit I like Herb Alpert – But I like his 60′s whimsical stuff the best.
Steely Dan – Simply the best. Ever. Right up there with the Beatles and Miles Davis if you ask me.
Scooby214 »
18 November 2009 · 9:49 pm
KOCD is one of my favorite stations. If they came in better in the metro, I’d listen to them all the time.
I do have a couple of radios that will pick them up most of the day, though they fade out in the early to mid afternoon. Reception is improving now that winter is coming.
I wish 99.7 KZLS would put on a smooth jazz format, or even simulcast KOCD.
CGHill »
18 November 2009 · 10:26 pm
At the moment, I’d settle for a translator in the middle of town, say, about 101.1 or 101.3. Unfortunately for me, the ubiquitous Calvary Chapel has an application in for 250 watts on 101.1. (Doc Searls, I think it was, pointed out earlier that in terms of lower-powered broadcast stations, religious groups have seriously outplayed commercial and secular-nonprofit operations.)
Addendum: Yep. Searls said it.
Scooby214 »
20 November 2009 · 7:27 pm
On a loosely related note, The Spy is returning to rimshooter 105.3 on Monday, November 23. Ferris O’Brien has purchased it from Citadel, or Last Bastion trust, or whatever. While I’m not a huge fan of Indie rock/alternative music, I am excited to see an FM station become locally owned and operated. 105.3 is a very difficult signal to work with, but I hope it sees some success.
CGHill »
20 November 2009 · 10:54 pm
The biggest tragedy, I suppose, is that it won’t reach Norman.
(Actually, I’m on top of The Spy stuff, though I can see a different angle for something else in the offing.)