I used to know the call letters of almost every station I could receive from my home in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I knew when my favorite shows were on, which D.J.s played the music I wanted to hear generally when I wanted to hear it. I was nearly as knowledgeable about local radio when I lived in the suburbs of Washington during the Regan years. Now, however, I know nothing of local (Albany) stations. I know which station plays Yankees games and where the NPR station is, generally, but nothing else. I haven't listened to the radio a quarter as much as I used to. Instead, I'll listen to the AOL "Radio", where I can choose the genre, or mess around on radio station sites, like the BBC, which lets me listen to specific movements of pieces by Musorgsky if I want to. Jazz, pop, classical, celtic, j-pop, canto-pop, you name it, you can find a place on the internet where you can listen to it for free, no commercials, most of the time without even the annoyingly chatty D.J.. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. However, I still wish I had some use for my radio other than listening to Sterling and Steiner wax pontifical on the Yankees.
