Radio Daze

I found myself listening to the radio far more than usual yesterday. Lisa got me into the habit of putting on oldies or classic rock stations, but this time it was a bit different. I switched to WFMU, and began listening to the “Inner Ear Detour” – what ended up being the last regularly scheduled broadcast, also. What a great selection of classic punk from a time when it truly meant something. The host seemed to revel in the concept of playing anti-Reagan samples as a rather pointed way to leave. On top of that, their archive page allows me to stream the show at a later date, so I can write down the names of the songs I want to seek out. Now, this isn’t exaclty new to me, or anyone else, but I rarely get the opportunity to take advantage of such simple resources as this.

At lunch time I was listening to NPR when I realized that I had never actually bothered to listen to it before. I’m so used to focusing on music on the radio, but it’s also a wonderful way to hear some real political debate and educational discourse, too. There was an interesting discussion with some teachers about how they are dealing with the reality of Reagan’s administration versus the media mythos currently being built when talking with their classrooms. Later on was a reading from what I believe was a Civil War soldier’s diary discribing the brutal treatment of people at a prison. Most telling, however, was during the news update when they broke the tragic news that Ray Charles had passed away. After the announcer finished his statement, the opening of “Georgia on My Mind” came over the airwaves. It was a beautiful tribute to a beautiful musician.

The most unusual show was during my drive home. As I started the car after leaving Target, there was a man on the air who was, as far as I could tell, reading a book. After a short listen I was mesmerized by his powerful descriptions of a pseudo-spiritual journey. He spoke about himself meeting a woman claiming to be Jesus Christ in a bar. The conversation that ensued grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go. There was subtle, yet engaging, music filling in the ambience as his calmly determined voice drove through the absurd episode. I almost didn’t want to leave the car, but I was certain that this was a book reading and would pick up the book as soon as I could find it. WMFU listed the show as being Joe Frank, but offers no archive of it – Damn! After a bit of Googling today I found out some more information about that particular episode and eventually came across his rather obvious official web site. Looks like I’ll be investigatin him a little bit more this weekend.