Airwaves

Much as I loathe them, public radio fundraisers like the one going on now are good for me. They force me to change my habits and explore the dial, which I need to do since I recently started writing an irregularly scheduled radio column for Isthmus.

Fortuitously, I just bought a terrific radio for browsing the spectrum, the GE Superadio III, an inexpensive but powerful and great-sounding device that's very good at picking up weak signals. I'm a giant fan of the "Grand Ole Opry," and after dark this radio pulls it in on Nashville's WSM (650 KHz on your AM dial) like nobody's business. (The "Opry" also is broadcast on the Internet, but it sounds better on the radio.) I also can pick up 105.9 FM out of Janesville, a great hip-hop station that also is the area's sole outlet for the fabulous sex-advice show "Loveline," of which I also am a giant fan.

The thing is, although my column is about Madison radio, when I'm not tuned to public radio I most enjoy listening to big AM powerhouses out of Chicago, especially WGN-AM at 720 KHz. WGN is an example of the venerable "full-service" format and has lots of breezy, nonpolitical talk, as well as shows about current events, dining, travel, film, music and sports, including Cubs baseball games. I'm a big fan of WGN from way back.

But when WGN isn't working for me, I tune into a station only a Chicagoan or former Chicagoan could love: WBBM Newsradio 780, from which I learn all I need to know about the Windy City's latest scuttlebutt. I relish having this radio connection to my former hometown, 150 miles distant.

And even though they have no direct bearing on my life now, I retain a nostalgic fondness for the traffic reports WBBM delivers every ten minutes. Back in the day it was point of pride when I was finally able to decipher these, which every Chicago station provides. Radio reporters, all of them affiliated with a mysterious entity called Shadow Traffic, deliver these updates at methamphetamine tempo, and they are filled with arcane roadway lingo that's meaningless to the uninitiated.

So say it with me, everybody: inboundedenstwentyfivelakecooktothejunction.