So, I was just driving to the store. Punched on the radio, hit the preset for the local NPR outlet, and caught the tail end of a show that sounded like it might have been playing good music. You know how sometimes, you can just tell?
I was trying to catch some kind of ident, and I could not understand, for the life of me, the web address for the show. It was clearly some kind of syndicated deal. The DJ repeated the URL several times. Nope.
Now, I think it was a British accent that I was listening to. And I am one of many Americans who love that sound. I told my dinner hosts, on a recent trip to London, that I think a British accent makes the speaker sound smarter, and that many of us unwashed colonials suffer from the same prejudice. She had recently moved to the UK from France, and he from Iran, so they didn't so much understand, much less believe.
Anyway, back to the radio: Just before the closing number came on, the DJ gave the name of the show. And it almost sounded familiar. He said it again. I cranked the volume. Thankfully, he said it yet once more.
Back in my L.A. days, I used to listen to KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic and Evening Becomes Eclectic, so I was able to conjecture that the show has since become homogenized into Sounds Become Eclectic.
But it really sounded like "sands."
Stupid nasal limeys.
3 comments:
Now, before you fire up your PC engine, let me say this. You're right. That wasn't Politically Correct. I shouldn't have said any of that.
The DJ was probably Australian.
It should be noted that KCRW caved in to pressure from the Religious Right (via their muscle, the FCC) and fired Sandra Tsing Loh, resulting in an abrupt switch by me (and my donations) from KCRW to KPCC.
What better use of donors' money than to trigger a Supreme Court challenge over this grotesque overreach of the Bush Administration? The free publicity alone would have done more to advance conversation on the First Amendment than all of KCRW's preaching to the choir in public-radio-land. Or did Ruth Seymore nee Hirschberg forget that promoting (fomenting even) such a debate is the very reason she has the job in the first place?
I can do without "Morning/Evening Becomes Epileptic". Sandra Tsing Loh's outstanding short and witty commentaries on scientific factoids (courtesy of CalTech) new available daily on KPCC more than compensate.
Long live the Constitution!
I remember that Sandra Tsing Loh nonsense, Dan. Good on you for dumping Ruth. Yet another example of the courageous media holding the government's feet to the fire on a case important both in its own right and as a symbol, wasn't it?
Back when I was in LA, I mostly gave to KPCC, because they seemed like they needed the money more. I got a little annoyed with them when they dumped a lot of their out-of-the-mainstream music shows, and started going all talk.
The irritation of hearing Ray Suarez proclaiming "I'm. Ray. Suarez. (read: "and you're not, beeyotch!)" caused me to fret about who would get the next check.
So I moved back east.
Unfortunately, WFCR next lost me as a member through no fault of their own. I got mad at NPR's overall crappiness a couple of years ago: the messiness with Bob Edwards, the lapdog coverage of Bush, the kowtowing to any Christianist blowhard who wanted some air time, the consistently icky "This I Believe" thing, and on and on.
I have continued to catch my favorite shows, mostly via podcast these days. I have just started, occasionally, tentatively, to turn on All Things Considered again.
That "This I Believe" crap is still on.
So much for giving this year.
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