What would I do without the Radio?

Back in the olden days, before the internet was born, I had very limited means to introduce me to new music. Basically, I had the radio.

My first foray into the music world was the influence of my best friend’s older brother, who introduced me to “Glass Houses”. We also had neighbours who would blast their music and a few of my friends had older siblings.

When I was nine, my grandfather passed away and I inherited his clock radio. It had a sleep function (and an analog, not digital clock), so I would fall asleep listening to CKLG. I loved listening to the radio and dreamed of being a radio personality one day.

When I got older, I started going to church dances and was introduced to alternative music. What a golden time for me! I learned all about The Smiths, The Cure, The The, etc. It was so wonderful and I will be forever grateful to Hanu, Don, Mark, Taylor, Bryce, Kate, Ted and a bunch of others for bringing this genre of music into my life.

Once I was introduced to alternative music, I had to learn about more bands, so I started reading music magazines like Smash Hits and Spin. I also read The Georgia Strait which is a local music newspaper in Vancouver. Sometimes when I’m homesick I’ll check it out online.

I could never afford to buy much music as a youth, so I did a lot of research before investing in an album. One of the ways I would know if the album was good was if 3 or more songs were played on the radio. Unfortunately, Vancouver didn’t have an alternative radio station until I was in my very late teens and early twenties. I did listen to CFRO – and independent station, and CITR, the station at UBC, but their signal was very weak in Langley/Cloverdale and you had to listen at the right time, and I had a lot of things pulling for my free time. (boys, school, parties, babysitting, boys, the mall).

We used to love it when we could take a trip down to Seattle and listen to 107.7 the End and actually hear good music on the radio.

The early nineties was a beautiful time for radio in Vancouver. We finally got an alternative station! I actually had all my presets on my radio set to good stations! It was wonderful.

Now I have my best friend, Sirius XM. I occasionally listen to 101.9 the End, a local alternative station, but ADS. I hate ‘em. I want to hear good music. Plus, overplay. I want to listen to a huge variety of good music! I listen to 80’s on 8, First Wave, Lithium, XMU, and Alt Nation channels on Sirius. (and sometimes Disney Channel, shhh – don’t tell) Sirius’ rates have gone up considerably, from $7.00 a month to $30.00, so DH has cancelled our subscription. He is convinced that they will come back with a better offer so that we don’t have to cancel, but I just don’t know what I’m going to do if I can’t listen to the radio!