a.m. radio

so, i need some calmness in my morning to help me deal with the fact that it\’s, well, morning. i have friends who listen to loud, up-tempo music to help them wake up, but that would never work for me. i need something softer– your james taylor, your ben folds, your pre-1996 counting crows. alternatively, i\’ve often tuned into talk radio in the morning: it\’s pretty undemanding, and not very noisy or annoying. it helps me ease into my day.

this morning, i realized that talk radio really has little to offer in this market, which is a bummer. i went through the following selections on the drive in:

+ 91.1 KNOW (MPR) – this used to be a staple for my morning commute. unfortunately, any news story related to a) our president, b) republicans, c) iraq, or d) christian conservatives make me so ill i nearly need to pull of to the side of 494 and throw up. not an option.

+ 830 WCCO– i act like it sometimes, but i\’m really not old enough to listen to the good neighbor. i think the median age of their audience is 83. pat summerall does commercials for beds in the morning. they guess how old celebrities are. they talk about the weather an awful, awful lot. stress the word \”awful.\”

+ 1130 KFAN– this may be the biggest disappointment of all. while not thrilled about the commute when starting at united last november, i was okay with the idea of getting some sports news in the morning. unfortunately, The Power Trip (featuring former long-snapper mike morris) is completely unlistenable. here\’s a typical bit:

hawkey: wow, look at this
morris: i can\’t believe that
sludge: (laughing)

greeeat radio. if i want my intelligence insulted, i\’d turn to…

+ 92.5 KQRS– i was a daily KQ morning show listener back in 1998-99. then i realized mornings were bad enough intrinsically; i didn\’t need crabby tom barnard b!tching about minorities and democrats and how bad the world is. however, lately, my dial has been tuned to KQ.

i\’m really embarrassed to admit that. however, i\’m more embarrassed that a bunch of xenophobe suburbanites on a classic rock station is the best our market has to offer by way of a.m. radio.


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5 responses to “a.m. radio”

  1. alex Avatar

    When I was commuting to Northfield I went through a phase where I listened to 830 just because it would literally numb me to the point where time flew by. I could tell you all about the Kinetico drinking water flitration system…

  2. Brian Scott Avatar

    I have one or two words for you: pod-casts. It’s the only way to go.

  3. alex Avatar

    Pod-casts? On which radio frequency do they broadcast? 🙂
    I only have a ten minute drive at the moment, a podcast would be way too much planning for me for that…

  4. anderswa Avatar

    i recently borrowed the FIL’s ipod transmitter, and it didn’t work so well– 88.3 seemed to be a blank frequency, but there was a loud clicking sound whenever i played anything. annoying, although it wasn’t really any worse than dave lee and mike lynch talking about the current temperature outside the amber flow bar in biwabik, minnesota.

  5. wadE Avatar

    a.m. radio is pretty god awful around here… actually, radio in general pretty much sucks.
    I listen to KFAN pretty much exclusively in the morning. While “the powertrip” is as you describe, they aren’t MPR, CCO, nor KQ.
    Does 690 (the score) have a morning show? If you are looking for sports they might have something for you.

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