R is for Radio

I got a new car at work. Okay, no, it’s not new-new, just new-to-me-newish.

And it’s old.

See, like, it doesn’t have ANYTHING. Makes sense. Can’t have us dancing all around the world with county stickers emblazoned across the sides of the POS, eating french fries with wild abandon.

And it doesn’t have Bluetooth.

It does have a CD player.

Remember those?

It’s staring at me like an eight-track player.

What am I to do? (sidenote: I love the car, however. Nice engine, handles really well, otherwise!)

See, back in 2010, I left my ludicrous job and found another. And I turned 40. And I bought myself a massive gift. I wanted a fucking Satellite Radio, Sirius XM. People told me no, it was stupid, but I refused to listen. Even then, I was writing whenever possible and I knew they had an online presence.

Commercials have taught me to hate. I watch television through YouTube or Netflix, leaving the room or jotting down the name of every vendor that I’m forced to watch the commercial for, so I can tuna-laden hate mail whenever I can.

I HATE commercials. Even the Superbowl ones. There’s a reason I don’t watch television that much and that would be a large part.

ANd I don’t hate much, but advertisements are a symbol of corporate greed. I try to watch breaking news and to see a commercial makes me wonder, did they sponsor this part of the news? I doubt that they care that much of the weather. And what happens when a car kills someone….can’t report badly on them now, can we, since they were paying the bills.

Radio is just as bad. One morning, on my 20 minute drive to work in Colorado, I heard one song on the pop station. Twenty minutes and one song.

And it was fucking Bieber. Other then that, it was commercial, commercial, talk, commercial, and that was it.

I was born a Pisces. I love music too much to be subjected to that. NPR is nice, but then they have their weeks of begging and I can’t function that week.

I treated myself to Sirius XM. In fact, I was so addicted, that when we moved to Florida, I’d make us drive down to Disney World in my truck, rather than the gas saving car, because there was Sirius XM, bluetooth (I could listen to my podcasts!), and my Radio Disney.

And when we bought a new car? YES!

Guess what! Bluetooth galore!

It was like falling in love all over again. Here’s the thing, as well. I’m not particularly good with music. Not in any sense of the word. But, as much as I hate commercialism, I also hate when radio stations are paid to play one song over and over again. That forces you to go out and buy the album. Since then? Times have changed. There are no more B-sides to albums any more. With that, places like Sirius XM have their own stations with a style of music and private, small, personal radio shows for every flavor of the music palette. It exposes me, by far, to newer music and gives me the ability to newer artists in a genre that I have not even contemplated before.

I’ve learned, recently, that they are losing listeners, because, well, now you can make your own radio stations on several apps and with the ability to purchase singles, things have changed in the music industry. I get that, but I’m not about to run away.

And if I can’t listen to them? I’ve still got my NPR.