Radio Radio

On my recent drive over to Ephrata, I mostly listened to the radio. From Seattle to Snoqualmie, I chose my normal pre-set stations. So it was a mix of Swedish House Mafia, Fleet Foxes, Pitbull, M83, Tom Petty and All Things Considered. Yeah, I like to mix it up. 

But as I climbed higher up the pass and the rain pounded my little Mazda, my Seattle stations started to get fuzzy.  Soon all I could hear was static. So I switched to an Antlers CD that Aaron burned for me. It’s a great listen, but I get fidgety when I drive, so I had to switch back to the radio so I could change stations every five seconds. 

Since none of my presets worked, I just started scanning the dial. First, I found Hot 99.7 KHHK out of Yakima. Hot 99.7 plays “Today’s Hottest Hits”. It seemed like a merging of KUBE 93 and Movin’ 92.5. They were playing Beyonce’s “Put a ring on it” and that gave way to 50 Cent’s “In Da Club”. So I sang, “Go shawty, it’s your birthday”, as I cruised over the bridge to Vantage, where I was met with a scenic vista of the Columbia River. I pulled over to snap a few pictures. 

However, the further onto the winding desert road I went, the more Hot 99.7 started to fade. 

Undaunted, I started perusing again and found quite an assortment of religious stations at the left end of the dial. Hell fire and damnation is not my bag, so I skipped over those. Next up were a couple Spanish language stations that were playing music like you always hear in Mexican restaurants. It was jaunty, but at the risk of sounding racist, it was making me hungry for chicken enchiladas. So, I hit the button again and ended up on a country station called KXLE 95.3 FM out of Ellensburg. My tractor was getting’ pretty good traction, so I searched on and found a classic rock station. I landed on Central Washington’s Rock Station – better known as The Quake 102.1. They were playing Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, so I stayed there until I hit Grant County. 

After exiting I-90, I got bored with the Quake, so I moved on to Moses Lake’s NPR station at KLWS 91.5 FM. Good old Kai Ryssdal was there with Marketplace. I had him take me out as I blew past the beet fields in Quincy. Bugs splattered against my windshield until I pulled into the driveway on G Street, where my Dad and my brother were waiting for me. Just before turning off the ignition, Kai left me with the knowledge that the Dow had gained 30 points in heavy trading.