Sunday, 3. February 2008, 09:11:54
I was never much into radio. My parents always listened to the Oldies (104.3 in Detroit) and the most popular station for my demographic is 89X, a Canadian modern alternative station. Why people my age feel the need to promote 89X, I don't know, but they do. Anyway, I never was into radio until the summer of 2005. I work at a park in the summertime and I mow grass a lot on a riding mower. I purchased some earmuff headphones which came with a radio.
I listened to 89X to begin with but since I was working in the morning (I started work at 6:00 AM), the programming was less than ideal. I stuck with it and I ended the year still listening to it though I didn't like it that much. I also listened to 89.7, CBC2, which played classical a lot which was somewhat nice while turning in circles cutting grass. I ended the season stuck in between stations.
I started back up in 2006 and I started listening to talk radio on 97.1 (WKRK). I really liked it because the morning drive program (Rover's Morning Glory) started at 6:00 and ran until 11:00 which meant that I could hear the whole show. I did like the show though it was a bit too wacky and some of the bits were unbelievable (not "unbelievable", more like "wow, this is lame"), even though I'm quite naïve. I definitely got into it though and they had a bit at the end of the show where they ask a question about something that happened that show and I got it right every time. It was just a simple thing like that that I enjoyed and made me a listener. Plus, “Dare Dieter” was awesome.
Apparently, Rover's Morning Glory didn't do that well in the ratings...in just about any market they were syndicated in and they eventually got taken off the market in Detroit. They were replaced with “Opie and Anthony” but luckily, that occurred after I stopped working so I found out about it through the internet. I was pissed and I didn’t really give Opie and Anthony a break. I’ve heard of them previously to this, mainly due to their run-ins with St. Pats and what not, but I honestly never listened to them. I turned in one day while driving to school and my mind was already made up. It seemed like there were 10 people talking all at the same time and Jim Norton, to be honest, annoyed me. He just seemed really crude and white trashy, for lack of a better term. I turned it off.
I gave it another whirl. The day was 26th, October, 2006, a day that will live in infamy in the Opie and Anthony universe. They were talking to a homeless man who tried to give them cake and Opie proceeded to stomp it. I will never forget that moment because even now, I can remember Jimmy talking about the cake stomping incident the next day and how he knew what Opie was going to do and in fact, in the
video, you can hear him say “no” right before it happens. On that day, I gave Opie and Anthony a chance.
I listened on and off until a fateful day in December when the day after “
baby bird incident” incident occurred. They were talking about it and I was in my car so I obviously couldn’t watch it but I watched it later that day. It was amazing. I was an O & A listener.
I went to school in the morning only 3 days a week so I was sans O & A on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I “may have” took to what any other tech savvy kid does, The Pirate Bay. I “may have” downloaded Opie and Anthony episodes from there and “maybe” I could listen to the XM portion of the show which was somewhat different from the CBS FM portion. More laid back, less commercial breaks, and they could talk more in depth about anything they wanted. Plus, they could swear and they certainly did.
I listened to O & A every day in the summer of 2007 and I loved it and I tried to promote it to my co-workers who listened to the radio from 6:00 – 9:00. I don’t think they listened to me but whatever, I did my part spreading the virus. But all good things must come to an end and eventually, my favorite radio station, WKRK flipped into an all sports talk channel and my show was gone from Detroit. Or was it?
I’ve been interested in satellite radio for some time. I liked the concept and considering my parents spend ~85 bucks a month on cable television which amounts to the same thing, I bit the bullet and spent $180 dollars on a Pioneer Inno from Wal-Mart (I got a 10% discount because if not, I wouldn’t go there ever). I activated it and tried to listen to it but it didn’t come in that good. I was in denial over everything and just assumed that was how it was supposed to sound, with drop outs every couple of a seconds.
Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and bought a car kit for it. Sweet relief, it sounded immensely better but there were still a few drop outs every once in a while. After closer reading of the instructions, you have to mount the antenna outside the car. I previously had it sitting near the back window. I had some reservations over the wire being visible outside the car and the fact that the antenna is only attached with a small piece of Velcro but I went for it and it worked. I haven’t had a drop out since.
So I am a subscriber to XM satellite radio which is somewhat weird because I come from a Ford family (both my parents worked/are working at Ford and all of our cars are Ford) and they have an exclusive agreement with Sirius. But pretty much the only reason I got XM was because of Opie and Anthony. Howard Stern may have the name recognition but honestly, I never listened to him and I only know of him through his television shows on the E! channel. Anyway, the channels I listen to on XM are The Virus – 202 (the channel Opie and Anthony are on, as well as Ron and Fez who I recently started listening to which are good as well), XMU – 43 which plays indie music, and Ethel – 47 which plays modern alternative rock.
Not all is peachy keen though. I think some of the channels are sort of dumb, mainly the channels XM is forced to carry to be broadcast in Canada, and the channels XM is forced to carry due to an old agreement with Clear Channel. The audio quality is not that great but I find it acceptable, HE-AAC does sound the least objectionable and for most music, it does fine. If someone is not familiar with the artifacts (for me, the high frequency clipping sound, sort of like cymbals) inherent with HE-AAC, you are lucky. I won’t make an outrageous claim and say it sounds better than CD quality and stupid subjective claims like that. I don’t have golden ears and I can hear the difference but I think it sounds as good, if not better than FM. Besides, “CD quality” is sort of losing its meaning when CDs are getting more and more compressed and louder and louder as time goes on.
Anyway, you want a channel idea? OK!! I know this won’t happen for some time, considering the merger and what not, but I think a tech channel would be great. I read about this idea on a message board (OrbitCast I think? I don’t know) but I think it has potential. How about simulcasts of “Attack of the Show” and “X-Play”, rebroadcasts of popular tech podcasts like “DiggNation”, “Epileptic Gaming”, “DL.tv”, and “TWiT”, and a show that showcases popular Youtube videos with an easy-to-get-to site that links to them? Plus, having live coverage of keynotes (CES, MacWorld, etc) would be simply awesome. Another idea is for a show that talks about popular tech news of the day, perhaps a partnership with Engadget? How about a show that covers the automobile news of the day (perhaps plays The Truth about Cars daily podcast?)? Plus, there has to be an obligatory tech help call-in show.
I personally think that sounds really cool but to be honest, I probably wouldn’t even listen to it so this is all for nothing. What I like so much about “The Virus” is that I can tune in at any time and be entertained; I don’t like being forced to listen at a certain time to hear a show. Of course, My Pioneer Inno has the ability to record audio on a schedule but I’m too lazy to set it…
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