When I was in high school I used to listen to broadcast radio all the time. I loved it. I got to listen to all the great pop songs like Mmm...Bop and No Diggity. There was always something good on. Well, at least, there was always something on. Except commercials. A LOT of commercials. Oh, and what's that, more of the same four songs. Great, I only heard Love Shack six times today, I really do need to hear that again. (Granted, there is not a lot of diversity on the radio in Colorado. I have spent some time in San Diego and Maui, and they both have some pretty great radio stations).
Boy, I was delusional in high school. Well, who wasn't? Anyway, by senior year, I was fed up. I started to buy and/or burn Cd's to listen to in the car. Granted, a lot of the music I listened to was generic pop music that I could hear on the radio, but it was the pop music I liked and there were no commercials. Things were getting better.
I was lucky enough to hit college right as Napster became big, but before it was illegal! It was great. I started downloading everything. I left my computer on all the time and filled the hard drive with all kinds of different music. Rap, punk, R&B, metal, alternative, "international," oldies, classical, and, of course, pop music. I started to appreciate different kinds of music (although still not country, that would happen much later). This lasted until my computer died a horrible, albeit quick, death late in the last semester of my Freshman year. I lost over 50 gigabytes of music, having never listened to much of it.
After that I went back to buying and burning until I met the future Mrs Titan. We met in college, and summer break rolled around after a few months of dating. She went home. It was an 8 hour drive away!! I stocked up on Cd's for my visit and ended up listening to them over and over and over, as much of the drive gets even fewer stations than we do at home. I knew something would have to change if we were to stay together, so about a year later, she bought me an XM Radio receiver for my car (although, the service was not part of the gift, sneaky girl).
I got it hooked up right away and I think I have only turned it off twice in the three years I have had it. I have grown to love indie rock, as well as some alternative and classic rock. For those in the know, channels 43 (XMU) and 47 (Ethel) are my favorites. I have heard and loved so many bands from these channels that I would have never heard on broadcast radio. If I ever want to hear the same crappy pop music that I liked to listen to in high school I can turn back to the '90s channel, or listen to the crap they listen to nowadays on the Top 20 station (channel 20, natch). They also have four comedy channels so you can always switch to someone better when a terrible comedian comes on.
On top of all this, no commercials. I never have to listen to the same terrible commercials over and over again. I haven't heard a radio commercial in 3 years. I get to listen to the kind of music I want to whenever I want to. True, it is between $10 and $13 a month, but it's worth it. You can also check it out online and listen there for only $3 a month before deciding to buy a receiver.
Wow, it sounds like I work for XM, I don't, I promise, I just really really hate broadcast radio. Check out XM, and enjoy.
I'm off to watch Lost, catch you all on Moday. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the blog so far!
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