Radio Free Europe

You probably gathered by now that I like R.E.M.  I do, but do you know what I really like?  Listening to the radio, and finding new music -music that I have to listen to again.  I hate the radio stations here in Tulsa.  Tulsa is supposed to be a kind of hotbed for music.  No hotbed here that I can see, unless you count that we do get some big headliners: Lady Gaga.  If you have tickets to that (and you spent your own money) you can stop reading now, this will be of no interest to you.

I really think there is one person that programs every station in Tulsa.  We did get a "Retro" station a year ago and it was cool, until all the other stations changed their programming to suit, the songs were new -for awhile.  Crap, now even their playslists are played.  This brings us to the point where I bash and rehash my disdain for Tulsa radio.  Ok, I'll be positive, too much negativity in this already, no need to add more.

I went on a road trip to Texas and New Mexico between Christmas and New Years.  I loaded up the Sony Walkman MP3 player set it on shuffle and let digital magic happen.  Oh boy, did it happen, it was like listening to a radio station programed by me (kinda was), but there is a little bit of chance and randomness involved. 

I used technology all the way to the Texas State line and then turned the AUX off and the radio on.  89.9 FM 90, Amarillo's Cutting Edge.  Who would have thought?  My favorite radio station was still playing songs I wanted to listen to, and new songs that I had not heard -but wanted to listen to.  College radio in the middle of a truck-stop-town nowhere, that destroys any and all radio in Tulsa.

I grew up listening to 89.9 and I turned out alright, didn't I?  That's not the point, what is the point is the ability of a station to be everything for all of these years.  Tuning in two weeks ago was like reconnecting with a long lost friend.  We've both grown up (kind of), but we are still the same even after all of these years and the time away from each other.  At least one of us should have changed for better or worse, right?  What are the chances that we grew old together with time being the only void that needed spanning?