Grumble

Isn't the point of an all-Christmas radio station to play Christmas music? Maybe it's me, but when I'm doing my normal morning drive, at this time of year, hearing any holiday music is enough to make the drive bearable. I can criticize the station playing the same song once an hour (so far, there have been no offenders, but in years past, I've had about enough of hearing Mariah Carey sing her "All I Want For Christmas Is You" song), and I can criticize the quality of the music, but for that to happen, the station needs to PLAY CHRISTMAS SONGS.

The Phoenix-area radio station in question is 99.9, and all I heard this morning was a lot of ads and, if I was very lucky, a streak of two whole songs played back-to-back. On the way home, I got seven songs in a row. Why can I not get that many songs in a row in the morning? I know that the morning crew, Beth and Friends, is very popular, or at least I assume that they are. I also appreciate that I'm not a normal listener, but seriously, I hate radio banter. I hate it in so many ways. Banter on local TV news is just as dumb, but it's even worse when all you're hearing are voices that, honestly, end up sounding a lot alike after a while.

Example: to potentially avoid some accident-related traffic on the freeway this morning, I took a few surface streets. On the one hand, 99.9 was very good about constantly updating its traffic reports (though part of that is because the station only plays two songs at a time). On the other hand, it was like pulling teeth to actually get the traffic guy to, you know, REPORT ON THE TRAFFIC. "Well, I was just on the phone with the Mesa Police Department." "Oh my goodness!" "And none of you are wanted, but they did have some questions about Dooley." "Oh, well, that's just Dooley for you." "Something about a statute of limitations..." "Oh my God, JUST TELL ME ABOUT THE TRAFFIC." Take your guess: which one of those is me?

I'm going to try listening to the station tomorrow morning, because hope springs eternal. I wish that they'll have at least three songs in a row, even if it means cutting into the frequent "Let's hear from the listeners requesting the music!" gibberish. One can only imagine what wonders are in store for me; how many other versions of "Winter Wonderland" are there?