Radio Radio

Alan Chartock and Ray Graf at the WAMC fund drive.

I’ve been listening to WAMC, our local public radio station, since 1985. That’s longer than I’ve been married. I recently volunteered to answer phones during their fund drive, which to a public radio geek, qualifies as a bucket list item.

My fellow volunteers were pretty much who you’d expect, earnest folks who read of books and have bumper stickers on their Prii. That’s plurul for “Prius”. The whole room seemed to be pitched slightly to the left, and that’s OK. I’m not saying that these are better people than those who cling to every bit of ridiculous garbage on the local right wing talk radio station, but they do seem a lot smarter.

If forced to choose, I’d give up TV for radio. Radio has been more important to me, and whether at home in the kitchen, in the car, or working in the yard, it’s always there. I could get by without Storage Wars, but NPR? Absolutely not.

Lately while working at my desk I like listening to music on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, the Irish language service of Ireland’s national public radio. I first heard the station when I was there in September; I turned on the radio in our room on Inis Meáin and traditional music filled the air. It was somehow magical and it moved in a way that turning on the boob tube never could.

Inis Meáin - September 2011

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