I'm experiencing an interesting change of opinion about a great many things over the past few years. Fart jokes became lazy and unfunny, the non-fiction section became compelling, The Bay is a store I frequent and radio became a form of media I enjoy.
For most of my life the radio was that thing you listened to exclusively in the car. It was there, and you listened to it to get your fill of crappy pop music because that was just the only option available. Then I discovered CBC radio two. It provided me interesting, atypical music with a maple leaf emblazonned on every possivle surface. What I had not expected, however, was that RadioTwo is the gateway drug to RadioOne.
Let's examine the audacity of RadioOne for a moment. Commercial free, relatively unbiased talk radio, dealing almost exclusively in issues of national interest, supplemented by region specific content in two languages. That is a ridiculous thing to exist, and I love that it does. Jian Ghomeshi is the first hit RadioOne gives you, promising that the first one is free. Then you wake up in a cold sweat, queuing up missed episodes of Alberta at Noon while listening to Blue Sky, and you realize you're just another canadian content junkie. If CBC would just release a RadioOne app for Android I would rarely not be listening to something not-CBC.
Sadly the rabbit hole goes deeper. First I found NPR. This was my gateway to podcasts, and there was no going back. Podcasts, man. Podcasts are the hardcore variety of talk radio, the bath salts if you will. Currently I'm mainlining Freakonomics, with Jay&Dan waiting in the wings.
Was radio always this good and I'm only now growing up? Or are we experiencing a radio revival, an air wave rennaisance? More importantly, do I care and where can I find a podcast discussing that very subject?
