On the good old radio and choice

FM radios used to be a big feature of my life. Now that I'm thinking about them, I count 6 in my house and one in both of our cars. One used to be next to my bed. I faithfully listened to KVOD's classical music every night as I went to bed. Many nights I would put in earphones so as not to waken my wife and listen well into the wee hours. Sometimes my wife would shoo me into a guest room where I could listen and read. There's a nice Bose stereo system in the family room next to the kitchen where I used to listen to choral music every Sunday morning on KVOD. It's funny that so little choral music was broadcast at other times. There was a portable radio in my basement work room next to an exercise bike and a stereo system in my office. While driving KVOD was always tuned in. Now with KVOD's switch to all-talk, all-opinions, all-noise, all-the-time it all gone.

Actually KVOD can still be heard on a different frequency. It is still broadcasting classical music, just on a very very very week transmitter, probably an old tube model they dug out of some one's attic. It reminds me of my college days when I had a classical music program every Sunday night on the school station. I remember it was a 10 watt transmitter that served the local 10 or 20 blocks surrounding campus. KVOD's transmitter is probably in the same range, it seems.

In talking with other classical fans like myself, the complaint is the same. No KVOD and hence no classical music. No Metropolitan opera. There's plenty of talk, though. The station management knows the market well and acts always in the listener's best interest. Public radio needs to be competitive, so KVOD has given us a competitive choice with two public radio stations broadcasting over FM so we fortunate Coloradans can hear "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition" and the news and news and news. Two stations offering us talk and talk and talk. Isn't it wonderful. I now have a choice of two stations broadcasting public radio and, after a tumultuous few months, just two major investment banks. Such are the virtues of capitalism.