L.A. radio

I had to get a new battery for my car the other day, and when they were all done, I got in the car to drive to work. I turned the radio on and was annoyed that all my radio presets were gone - and then it occurred to me that since they had to actually take out the old battery before putting in the new one, yeah, that would have wiped out my presets.

OK, so it's a hassle to reprogram everything, but I've done it before, in other cars when I've had them long enough that I needed a new battery.

And as I started to program in radio stations, I realized I had a problem. I couldn't remember what all the stations were. I listen to so little radio nowadays that I was mostly using the same couple of presets to switch between channels, and I had no idea what stations were programmed into the filler ones.


I came up with 3 FM stations off the top of my head.

1. KROQ - I listen to Kevin and Bean, and mostly because of that, I've gotten to know and mostly like the music that the station plays, so I sometimes listen to the music itself. And they have Loveline at night, Sunday through Thursday.

2. K-EARTH - They're an "oldies" station, but for better or for worse, music from the 80s and 90s count as oldies now, so I like a lot of what they play.

3. I found a good channel that's mostly blank so that it works well for me to play my iPod. There are a few places I've encountered (including a stretch by my work) where I have to stop the iPod for a bit because the static is too bad, but otherwise, it's worked well for me.


And I came up with 2 AM stations off the top of my head.

1. KABC - I've had this on my presets forever because it was always the Dodgers station, and there have been various talk shows over the years on the station that I like. Now, I listen to them because of Frosty, Heidi and Frank.

2. ESPN - That's pretty much my go-to sports station. And they have the Lakers too.


And then I stopped and had to think hard about what other stations to add. And it took me a really long time to figure it out. I used to have KOST and KBIG on my presets, but I don't think they're around anymore. At least, I fiddled with the dial and looked for them but didn't really run across anything, but I was also driving so I could only fiddle so much.


I figured out 3 more AM stations to add.

1. KNX 1070 - They're a news station, so I need one of those.

2. KFI - I used to listen to them a lot but stopped several years ago. I'm not even sure who has shows on there anymore, but since I have the room, I figured I'd just put them as a preset.

3. KLAC - They're a sports channel as well, so having a second sports place is good.


I think I just realized that I should put KFWB on there as well. They're *mostly* a news station still, I think. I just have to remember their location when I'm in the car so I can set it.


I have 6 AM stations that I can program, but I have 12 FM stations that I can put in. And I mostly blanked on any other FM stations to put in. I don't do KIIS or POWER 106. I gave up KLOS years ago because I was so pissed off at what Mark and Brian were doing that I vowed not to listen to the station at all. I might go back on that and just listen when M&B aren't on since I actually like the music they play. Oh, JACK-FM, that's the station I was trying to think of the other day. I remember liking their stuff. Gotta remember their location so I can program it too.


Radio in Los Angeles ain't what it used to be.