Radio silence

In a protest against increased music royalty fees, a number of Internet radio broadcasts are observing a National Day of Silence by turning off their feeds today. A partial list of the participants is available at Kurt Hanson's Radio and Internet Newsletter site.

Radio, more than TV, newspapers, or other media, is about sounds from far away, often in the night. While listening to WKBW (Buffalo, New York) after dark in the wintertime in the 50s, I'd learn about lake-effect snow in towns such as Lackawanna, Cheektowaga, and North Tonawanda. For a while, I was more familiar with these names than with the names of Boston suburbs.

So, for several reasons, today would not be a good day to purchase a Tivoli Networks radio, either a table-top or portable that plays Internet broadcasts using a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.

• The aforementioned day of silence.
  
• The radio isn't for sale yet.
• We have too many radios already. We average slightly more than one radio per room at home, at the camp, and in our cars, not counting the shows and podcasts that I download to my iPod.
  

Of course, all of our radios are tuned to the left end of the FM band, 91.9 and lower, where the public, college, and other non-commercial stations hang out. I'll spare you my usual rant about the dreadful state of commercial radio and just ask that, if you know of a good radio station anywhere, please let me know. By good, I mean stations that treat listeners with a bit of respect, that are locally-owned or listener-sponsored, and who could mix Mozart, John Coltrane, Jefferson Airplane, and a few performers I've not heard before. Give the keys for all parts of the music library to the DJs and listen to what happens.