Who Here Listens to Early Morning Radio Shows?

[iNow]

Okay, so I was riding into town with my girlfriend this morning before sunrise. We were out at her parents house for the weekend having the holiday dinner and whatnot.

 

Anyway, on the ride in, she's listening to one of those early morning radio shows... You know, with the uber-hip pop culture connect social butterfly tweaters. They had all kinds of jocular banter, some sound effects, a few canned jokes... You know the type.

 

Honestly... I think it may have been the longest 2 hours of my life. I swear, I think I lost several IQ points just on that short drive. It was challenging for me.

 

So, I asked her if she'd mind if I changed the station to NPR so I could listen to the news, and I got "the look." Yes, gentlemen... Any of you who have ever been in a relationship know what I'm talking about when I say "the look." It was like I tried to take a fresh kill out of a lions mouth, I kid you not. Apparently, that specific show is part of her morning ritual or something.

 

 

Anyway, that got me thinking. I'm often a bit of an odd-ball with stuff like this, so I figured I'd run a poll past the crew.

 

What do you listen to during your primary morning drive/commute?

I know many will switch radio stations, but please pick the most common from the list above that you tend toward, and feel free to discuss your experiences with the partner, or even why you listen to what you do. Cheers.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Back when I lived in Michigan and rode the bus to school I listened to rap and prank phone calls, since that was what the bus radio was tuned to. That helps to explain why I find it so easy to tune out music now...

 

Now I mostly just take a nap or sit in quiet contemplation. When I want to listen to the radio, I'll fire up my shortwave receiver and listen to a Radio Netherlands broadcast, though those are only on late at night. (There used to be BBC World Service broadcasts but they stopped broadcasting to the US. Darn.) It's much more interesting to get your news from a different country - you get a totally different perspective. They have cool accents too.

[insane_alien]

i listen to rock radio at whatever time it is. its mostly just classic rock but theres usually some jokes and banter thrown in every now and then.

[CaptainPanic]

I sit in the bus with friends. So we talk.

 

That means I listen to:

- Morning show with humorous small talk and pop culture goings-on

- News (sometimes "News only").

 

But I don't listen to the radio - it's all live and personalized.

I voted the bottom option, because in the end the question seems irrelevant.

[the tree]

My bus ride is less than ten minutes actually on the bus, and rarely comes to more than 20 minutes when waiting around wondering when the hell the bus is coming. So no need for radio.

 

I quite often listen to the radio so late that it's early morning though it turns out that Radio 4 stops broadcasting at 1 in the morning and then switches to the world service after a final flurry of the shipping forecast and national anthem.

[DrP]

I listen to The Chris Moyles Show on the way to work. I think it's funny. However, as much as I like the guy and his team and they make me laugh, I think he is a dunce. I think the show is written and performed by idiots for idiots.

 

I watched his TV show the other day - again - I think it is very patronising that he either dumbs down for his audience, OR he really IS that stupid. He had a woman on who knew the answer to one of his exreamly easy maths questions which he couldn't get. She explained to him how it was worked out and he just went onto the next guest explaining how the answer was still inconclusive and that he'd take a guess. When it was revealled that she was right all along he gobsmacked and was like 'OMG, would you have belived it'? Dolt! (the question was something like - work out the square root of 9 - or something - I can't remember) Either way he still makes me laugh. Entertainment doesn't need to be highbrow to be enjoyable in my book.

[CaptainPanic]

My bus ride is less than ten minutes actually on the bus, and rarely comes to more than 20 minutes when waiting around wondering when the hell the bus is coming. So no need for radio.

 

I quite often listen to the radio so late that it's early morning though it turns out that Radio 4 stops broadcasting at 1 in the morning and then switches to the world service after a final flurry of the shipping forecast and national anthem.

 

I run the risk of hijacking the thread, but you get your national anthem on the radio??? Just like that, without reason?

 

We (Dutch) just hear our national anthem if some sporter won a big race/match... or when there's some special national day. Other than that, never.

[Lan(r)12]

iNow, why isnt there an option for listening to both music and news?

 

I wait to hear the morning news, and then I listen to my iPod. I bought a cool little FM transmitter, so I dont have to listen to Britnety Spears or Lady Gaga 100 times in my 30 min commute...that is ALL my one *decent* radio station plays...Id MUCH rather listen to Linkin Park or Augustana.

 

But yeah...NEVER question your girlfriends preferences...and there is NO right answer to "Notice anything different about me"...trust me...

[ParanoiA]

Anyway' date=' on the ride in, she's listening to one of those early morning radio shows... You know, with the uber-hip pop culture connect social butterfly tweaters. They had all kinds of jocular banter, some sound effects, a few canned jokes... You know the type.

 

Honestly... I think it may have been the longest 2 hours of my life. I swear, I think I lost several IQ points just on that short drive. It was challenging for me. [/quote']

 

Oh man, I know exactly how you feel. I just hate that shit. That's pretty much my impression of all FM radio. Even during the day, it's just too damn much dumbed down commercialized plastic everything - personalities, music, slogan, the FX - it's just one long, never ending advertisement for everything meaningless and the DJ's just sound pathetic as they pretentiously try to be "young and hip" in their 30's.

 

So, I asked her if she'd mind if I changed the station to NPR so I could listen to the news, and I got "the look." Yes, gentlemen... Any of you who have ever been in a relationship know what I'm talking about when I say "the look." It was like I tried to take a fresh kill out of a lions mouth, I kid you not. Apparently, that specific show is part of her morning ritual or something.

 

Haha, yeah that's the look I get when I playfully demand my wife change from "Ghost Hunters" to "Hitler's Henchmen" or "The Tanks of WWI". She hates it, which is, of course, why I bring it up. I swear, women have no appreciation for tanks, man...

 

 

So yeah, I listen to nothing in the morning. Just silence. It's peaceful. I'm drinking Quiktrip coffee and thinking about music, writing, politics, family...no chaos and screaming in my ear. My drive is about 45 minutes to an hour. It's been nice.

[iNow]

as much as I like the guy and his team and they make me laugh, I think he is a dunce. I think the show is written and performed by idiots for idiots.

 

<...>

 

I think it is very patronising that he either dumbs down for his audience, OR he really IS that stupid.

Yeah, that's pretty much the issue I had with it. I think there are kids in middle school/junior high that talk about more serious stuff than they were.

 

On top of that, they DID bring up the Obama's new dog... and continued to lambaste him for not getting one out of the pound. All I could think to myself is, "Hey moron, you forgot to mention how his daughter is completely allergic to dogs, and it's not exactly easy to find a hypoallergenic dog at a pound... Not to mention that they did spend like 4 months looking for one at pounds before determining that simply wasn't an option for them... why do you think it took them as long as it did to find a dog in the first place, dumb ass? Also, they made a pretty sizable donation to the Humane Society to try to help make up for it." I sure didn't hear these radio monkeys mentioning any of that supplemental information, though, probably because they had absolutely no clue themselves. Maybe my problem is that I do listen to the news (as well as post here with you guys in an academic setting), so I tend to have the actual information available to me... I dunno. I just don't like feeling like I'm losing IQ points passively like that.

 

That Obama dog thin was just one part that rubbed me wrong. Their 20 minute conversation about who had more subscribers to their twitter accounts also made me want to put a bullet in my skull. It's definitely done by idiots for idiots, and I think that's part of what had me so frustrated... My girlfriend actually enjoys this garbage, and listens to it every day! Arrrggg!!!

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Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

iNow, why isnt there an option for listening to both music and news?

 

I knew that was going to be a challenge for a lot of folks, but I wanted to make this a forced choice. Try to figure out which you listen to "primarily." That could be as simple as "51% of the time I listen to news, and 49% of the time I listen to music, so I'll choose the news option since I listen to that slightly more."

Edited April 14, 2009 by iNow
Consecutive posts merged.

[Sisyphus]

My girlfriend likes Grey's Anatomy. In her defense, she knows exactly how ridiculous it is and makes fun of it the whole time. Still won't miss an episode, though...

[swansont]

Less talk. More synthehol music.

 

I use my iPod, connected though the car stereo.

[Pangloss]

I know "the look"!

 

I usually listen to my own toons or Pandora internet radio through my iPhone. I have XM but the audio quality isn't high enough so I'm letting it expire. FM isn't allowed to soil my audio system except for the occasional bit of All Things Re-Considered.

[ecoli]

only news for me.

[nitric]

i dont comunicate so the question is inrelivent to me

[iNow]

I'm somewhat surprised to see the relatively even distribution across the poll responses. Interesting that ecoli and I are the only news junkies here. (everyone else is lame, ecoli... with their "music" and their "silence" and their "I don't communte." ... bunch of posers.)