The Radio I’ve Been Waiting For:

Smokler on March 2, 2005

I love radio. Crazy wack funky love it. I probably listen to 4-5 hours of radio a day just by having it on while I work or when I’m driving. When I’m traveling, few things make me happier than flipping the dial and seeing what color the locals have painted the ether.

Yet most of the time I’m simply too busy to schedule planting myself in front of a radio for 2 hours. Many shows like “This American Life” archive all their shows online but that’s not much of an improvement. It’s an hour spent in front of the computer instead of the radio when I remember to check their website for new episodes. Which I don’t.

The phrase “TiVo for Radio” has been getting a lot of play lately thanks to the coming of Podcasting. But podcasting doesn’t quite solve my problem because I’m not looking to carry Adam Curry’s musings around on my iPod. I’m looking for the radio I already listen to, packaged and portable for when I want to listen to it.

Enter Radio Time. I read about it in Wired whose cover story this month is titled “The End of Radio.” Radio Time is a subscription service which, for $50 a year, will let you browse pretty much every radio station in the country, pick the programs you like and record them in MP3 format. It uses the station’s own live stream for recording and iTunes for pickup so you have to have a DSL line and a computer you leave on.

I’ve loaded up my grocery list of favorite programs. Also nothing has recorded yet and hence, I’m waiting to make a fanfare-cornonation-“Today is a New Day” announcement, Radio Time looks mighty promising. It could be exactly the radio I’ve been hoping for.

Air(head) America:

Smokler on November 18, 2004

So I’m listening to Air America Radio on the way home from the gym where the Al Franken Show is broadcasting live from the dedication of the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. Katherine Lanpher, Franken’s co-host annnounces that Bono will be speaking. Except she keeps pronouncing it “Bone-o” as if U2 is headed up by a cocker spaniel. Hey Katherine, it’s pronounced “Bon-o.” He’s only the most famous singer in the world. If you can’t remember that, just call him Paul. That’s his real name. But christ, man, isn’t there anyone under 50 in the Air America control room who tell Lanpher that she sounds like an idiot?

Politic Off:

Smokler on November 4, 2004

I’ve been thinking nothing but politics for the better part of a month. Now it’s time to stop. I handed my book in on Monday, putting to a relative end two years of work. I’ve seen the cover. It’s going to look great.

Bush won. There’s nothing I can do about that. I will be ready to hold his feet to the fire, to question him at every turn, and to rejoin to regain Congress in 2006. In the meantime, I’m thinking I’m going to write Terry McAuliffe a letter saying what I think is wrong with the Democratic party and how it can change. It’ll probably do nothing. But it will make me feel good.

Life will go on, here in San Francisco, in the rest of the nation and here, next to my fireplace with Suzan and Faygo. I’ve been neglecting many of the things I love about this life to focus my energies on the election. Now that it’s over, it’s time to bring them home.

So more art, more culture, more books and music around these parts for the forseeable future. I’m scaling back on work this month to give myself a much needed break. But I’ll still be blogging because I love writing and I love talking to all of you.

“Our Fight Does Not End Here…”

Smokler on November 3, 2004

I just watched John Kerry’s concession speech. While I understand that he and his staff determined that they could not win Ohio and therefore not win the election, I still think all the voters in Ohio, in Iowa and in New Mexico deserved to have their votes counted. It couldn’t have hurt for Senator Kerry to say “It’s important for every vote to be counted no matter how long it takes. I accept the results and the verdict of the American people but each of them needs to be heard.” The people who have worked their hearts out for Mr. Kerry. They deserve better than to have their votes rendered meaningless because of some vague idea about “healing the nation.”

As sympathic as I am for John Kerry, what we just saw was everything that is wrong with the Democratic party. Namely, that it’s more important to be gracious in defeat than to represent the will of the people. Al Gore did it in 2000. Have we not learned?

Our good manners will not save us. Our conviction, understanding, empathy and reason will. John Kerry is a good man who had the chance to be a great one. By conceeding early, he disrespected his supporters when he needed them most.

A Change is Gonna Come:

Smokler on October 13, 2004

I caught the Vote For Change Tour on the Sundance Channel (since the tour is not wasting its time coming through California) and it’s inspiring as all hell. I defy you to watch 15 artists and a sold-out crowd seeing Patti Smith’s “People Have the Power” in unison and not be moved. And then to watch James Taylor hugging Charlie Tuna from Jurassic 5 in solidarity. I started to cry.

If I were the Bush Administration, I would be very worried.

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