Living in Trump’s dystopian nation (if you haven’t ingested the Kool-Aid), sometimes you can forget that this American life sometimes delivers treats, too.
Last week, it was #InternationalClashDay. This afternoon, while listening to Maine Calling, hosted by Maine media vet, Jennifer Rooks, I found out it’s #WorldRadioDay. Hot damn! I love radio, so why not celebrate the hell out of the day? The verdict of Rooks and her guests was that radio’s still going strong and will continue to survive.
I grew up when you could still hear rock and roll on the AM dial. Now it’s the domain of conservative talk dirges and hosts positing an alternative version of America vastly different than the one I grew up in. Wanna’ make America great again? Flush Rush from the airwaves and play some music!
Happy families listen to the radio.
When I’m home and working, I stream music via several dial-based stations that I can’t pick up in Maine. This is one of the wonders of the internet and technology in my opinion. Here are my top four.
- KEXP (Seattle, Washington)
- WMFU (East Orange, New Jersey)
- WMBR (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
- WMPG (Portland, ME)
I can pull in WMPG’s signal on my stereo receiver and of course, in my car. I am a fan of their weekday afternoon “rock blocks,” especially Wednesday’s Radio Junk Drawer, with David Pence. More and more, I’m apt to be streaming KEXP most afternoons that aren’t Wednesday.
Both WMBR and WFMU archive all their shows (as does WMPG), and I have certain shows on their program schedule that I’ll seek out and listen after they’ve been broadcast.
One of Rooks’ guests (I think it was Paul Jacobs) called radio, a “cock roach media.” I loved this descriptor.
If you know anything about cockroaches, you know that they’re damned hard to exterminate. There’s a long-running meme that cock roaches would be able to withstand a nuclear blast. I guess that makes them the ideal mascot for our age, especially given our “supreme leader’s” itchy trigger finger.
I found a couple of articles online referencing “cock roach media,” here and here.
One of the points made towards the end of the show cited a study that apparently indicates that radio listeners are happier with radio than they are with Zuckerberg’s invention. I can see why that would be. Radio is easy, and if you avoid Rush Limbaugh, most broadcast radio brings enjoyment. If it doesn’t, you can simply visit another spot on the dial. The study I found, done in the UK, is somewhat dated. I’m guessing the results wouldn’t be much different if done today, in the U.S. But I might be wrong.
I’ll just keep on listening to the radio,radio.