Setting the Radio Stations in the Car
We did not choose Florida. Nor did Florida choose us. We landed here because of the vagaries of corporate capitalism: where does it make sense to local employees in a global economy? Though we had some input into whee we might build a life and have jobs, the arrival to Florida feels more random, accidental, even happenstance.
Do not get me wrong, I embrace Florida. I was thrilled to have postcards made for moving and new business cards made to facilitate mail correspondence. In spite of these actions, I think that I have been a bit in denial about Florida. Here? For the foreseeable future? Even forever? If feels odd.
Yet, here we are. Seeking and finding dog sitters and doctors and places to repair the broken lamp switch. There are a million things to do after a move and a million and one things necessary to feel acclimated. I cannot even count the things necessary to feeel at home. That transformation will happen in our future; when is unknown.
Setting permanent radio stations in my car has not been a necessity. Until last night. Generally, my driving trips are short: the post office, the dry cleaner, the grocery, small errands. I listen mainly to NPR. I’ll be honest; NPR accounts for ninety percent of my radio listening. So setting radio stations was not a priority. Last night however driving home from the Ferron concert in Gulfport, it was jazz night on NPR and I am not a jazz fan, especially not driving at night after a Ferron concert. And the challenge in Florida with just hitting scan on the radio is after NPR and the classical station, you fall into an abyss of a million and one religious stations. I am not exaggerating. Hence the station presets feel important. They save me from the religion scan that can last for five minutes.
But there are a lot of stations and it takes some time to find the right one for each of the nine presets. Slot one is for NPR and slot nine is for the classical station. I want one top 40s station and one classic rock. There are at least five of each of these; how do I find the best one? I want one country station without the religious inflection or the right wing politics; that will take some more hours of listening to find. I want one hip hop station. The beloved likes a weather and traffic station; when I find one that may get a preset. I would love to find a great folk station and some type of alternative station as well. While it is easy to program the station, the labor of listening and selecting, of sampling and curating is the challenge. I programmed six stations driving home last night. I have three more slots to fill. I am not sure I have the right country or hip hop station; I even wonder if I have the best top 40s station, but for now, I have stations to flip through in my car for my next long drive. So it is not quite home yet but the soundtrack of our lives is starting to sing from the dashboard.
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