I'm a man without a radio station. Good radio is something that I've taken for granted for a long time. I'm no radio expert, but I know good radio when I hear it. I've established a very reliable rating system that, unfortunately, has not been put into practice by any publication that I know of. It's an easy formula: Rating = The amount of time, in seconds, that it takes me to move my hand from the steering wheel to the dial. For example,
Syndication of Rush Limbaugh's show: 0.02
Taiwanese (台語) old-school music: 0.03
Justin Timberlake's Sexyback, or any other track from Justin Timberlake: 0.04
Syndication of Bob Lonsberry's show: 0.9
Syndication of Glenn Beck's show: 1.5
Syndication of the Bill O'Reilly's show: 0.001
My formula has obvious problems. If I like what I'm listening to, I won't turn the dial. No rating given to good radio.
Anyway, the radio situation here in Taiwan isn't good. There is one main FM station (ICRT) dedicated to English speakers, and it's not the best. Their main demographic is people who like Justin Timberlake, which I fall outside of. There is basically no syndication; only a couple minutes a day of BBC world news. The morning news and on-the-hour news isn't what I'm used to. The guy who gave the World Series wrap said that 'The Red Sox pulled ahead in the fifth innings (in cricket, innings is always said in the plural form) on a big smack homa' (British accent) that gave them 2 points." I hope I don't sound intolerant, but who's letting British people talk about baseball?
Now, I do like the night program (hosted by Ron Stewart) on ICRT. I would be ungrateful if I didn't point out the fact that I won a call in show on his program, and he gave me a nice compilation of Green Day CD's and DVD's.
Overall, though, I miss NPR and KVNU (Logan, UT). I hold a heavy bias towards both, mainly because my dad has spent years as a morning host on both stations. I used-to-could pick both stations up in Salt Lake, but I'm a bit out of range here in Asia. The NPR-KUSU branch can easily be picked up online, but dad went ahead and retired from there recently. He now does his morning shows from KVNU, which doesn't broadcast online. I'm going to write an e-mail to the program director. Granted, KVNU does play a few of those crazy conservative shows mentioned above. I only like the morning show, though, and any other local programming. Maybe I'll include that in my e-mail to the program director. Out with Limbaugh!
So enjoy your X96 and Sports Radio while you can, folks. One day they might be gone, and you'll be left with Jackie Chan singing an accented rendition of 'In the Still of the Night'.
p.s. - Visit the below link if you want to hear Patton Oswalt poking a little fun. Dittoheads beware.
4 comments:
that's pretty darn funny right there. patton oswalt is easily one of the funniest comedians on the planet right now, in my opinion.
love the pat.
I'm surprised that Sexyback outlasted Rush. I think I would listen to Rush longer just to mock him.
Good thing you have the Internet, right Adam? I had to laugh out loud with these two comments:
"...who's letting British people talk about baseball?"
and
"...enjoy your X96 and Sports Radio while you can, folks. One day they might be gone, and you'll be left with Jackie Chan singing an accented rendition of 'In the Still of the Night'.
Funny stuff man! I'm glad we get to hear your opinions even though you're half a world away. I love being able to listen to 3 or 4 sports stations on the way to work!
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