Driving home from work today, I realized that the CD I was listening to had looped about three times, and the fact that it included alternate cuts of a couple of songs on it, I had metaphorically eaten a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yes, Dave Brubeck’s Time Further Out is brilliant, but now it was stuck to the roof of my mouth.
I hit eject and tuned in to the standard rush-hour slot that typically features news of the day, traffic updates, and, as it was today, and interview with a local politician. The topic was a pretty controversial one, and the interviewee was on the opposite side of my opinion. I thought: good ol’ NPR. I know they’re legit when I don’t agree with everything they report on and everyone they talk to. It shows they are unbiased, as they should be.
But then suddenly my house was uprooted and I was no longer in Midwestern farm country. I heard the interviewer start to express an opinion. He abandoned any perceived objectivity and rallied with the interviewee. He even pointed listeners to a place where they could retrieve canned statements that they could send to their representatives in objection to the abomination that was in current discussion.
I know I said What the Fuck? aloud and also may have hit the brakes. This slowed me down enough to look at the channel and realize that I was no longer on NPR station 91.7, which is a mid-Michigan public radio feed that we had tuned into yesterday while road-tripping. Instead I had harnessed the batshit craziness known as 91.3, Grand Rapids. It’s actually a bit of a wonder that my car didn’t veer off the road from the misalignment or explode on the moment that such a message hit my nihilistic ears.
I am reminded that I need to send Michigan Radio my yearly contribution. With a thank you note. For asking me to listen to what I’ve heard and think; not take orders and get in line.
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