How I Learned to Love Satellite Radio

How I Learned to Love Satellite Radio
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gail_Pruszkowski]Gail Pruszkowski

My new car came with a three month trial subscription for XM. I never thought about satellite radio before and I was sure I'd never use it. Why should I pay for something I can get for free? So what if I have to listen to a few commercials in between the good stuff. Besides the car also came with a six CD changer and a jack for my iPod, so who needs radio? But this wasn't costing me anything and I had a three hour drive to the beach ahead of me so why not give it a try.
Being a fan of reggae I went to channel 86 first. Gregory Issacs was singing "Night Nurse." Wow. I was impressed. When my favorite reggae station went off the air I really missed it. That show got me through umpteen Saturday mornings of overtime at the day job.

I started surfing through the other music channels - rock, the decades, country, show tunes, jazz, alternative, blues, world music, classical and on and on. This was all good but I like a little talk radio once in a while. News, Sports, Right America, Left America, Middle America, Oprah, Book Radio... What? Book Radio? That's for me! I listened to a story about pirates for a few minutes. This was sounding better and better.

I moved on to Radio Classics. A familiar drawl caught my ear. Westerns are not my thing but this guy was playing a darn convincing cowboy. I listened to the whole thing. Turns out it was Jimmy Stewart playing Britt Ponset in "The Six Shooter." The episode, "Cora Plummer Quincy," originally aired in 1953. It seems that Cora Plummer remarried soon after her husband died and her son was convinced the man was after the family ranch and money. He tries to get rid of him, but Britt steps in and saves the day.

It sure brought back memories. I was reminded of the days I'd come home from school and listen to stuff like this on the radio. My drive went by in a flash. Am I a convert? You bet. Could I get all this on CD or iPod? Maybe. Would I have bought "Six Shooter." No. So there it is - my number one reason to subscribe to satellite radio - the magic of discovery. The fun of coming across something entertaining that I wouldn't have found otherwise.

I tried channel 86 again. Yep. It was no fluke. This time Yellowman was singing "Disco Reggae." If only I had a convertible I could tan in my car and listen to classic reggae all day.

Gail Pruszkowski reviews for "Romantic Times BOOKreviews" magazine and her work has been published in the "Cup of Comfort" Anthologies. http://mysite.verizon.net/bookworm.gp/ http://write-juncture.blogspot.com/

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