I am a talk radio junkie. I have been for much longer than it’s been popular. I started listening to talk radio around 1984. It started with Larry King. Before he was ever on television he was an overnight talk show host. I know this because I used to hear him while driving across the country during one of my many moves.
Back in the days before satellite radio, the only stations you could get out in the middle of nowhere were A.M. stations. And unless you wanted to listen to country music or religious radio, your only option was Larry King. They didn’t even have sports talk radio then.
Once I started listening I was always looking for more. Here I was in my mid 20’s and when a friend would get in the car with me and the radio would come on, I’d take all kinds of crap because the radio would be on and tuned to an A.M. station.
When I lived in Las Vegas from late ’84 till fall of ’87 I would have Larry talk me to sleep each night. I didn’t even have a bed. There I’d be, laying on the floor of my bedroom listening to “The Larry King Show”. If I happened to still be awake when the show ended there was an F.M. all news station that I could flip to.
I don’t even remember when I would listen to music but it seems I did. I remember getting into bands like REM and The B-52’s during that time but I didn’t have a car while in Vegas so I didn’t listen to music there. I even remember the call letters of the news station there, it was knew fm.
When I moved back to California in ’87 I found the all news station in Los Angeles and would listen to that all the time. I remember at some point they started broadcasting “60 Minutes” every Sunday night. That was pretty cool. I used to love listening to the network news at the top of the hour. The only time I’d find myself leaving the local talk stations was when there was a baseball game on another station.
After I got married in 1990 I still would try to listen to talk radio but it was pretty difficult with Shelly and the kids. Totally understandable how a four and eight year old kid didn’t care about the news or financial info. I would still get to listen when I was alone and after I got a job at the help desk for the company I was working for I could listen to my hearts content. It was 110 miles each way and I’d get in a good four hours round trip each day.
Another thing I started listening to in the 90’s was NPR. I could usually keep myself occupied for hours with the stories I’d hear on it. One of the programs I really like and still listen to is called “This American Life”. It’s kind of like a news magazine and it’s pretty cool.
One thing that’s great about having my IPOD is the Itunes that comes with it. If you go to the Itunes store you can download what they call podcasts for free. One of the free ones available is “This American Life” I’ve joined a gym recently and I love listening to the many talk programs I get from the itunes store. I know, I know, everybody else is listening to music to help pump them up and do their workout but I’m a talk radio freak. I can set myself on the treadmill for upwards of an hour and listen to an entire episode of “This American Life” before I’m done. I then switch to music and hit a few machines.
I find that I get bored with the music and invariably switch back to some talk program I’ve downloaded. I’m such a nerd.
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