There are these signs on the freeway that tell you to listen to AM 840 for traffic information. On my drive home tonight, I tuned in, and I heard a very staticky radio call-in show where some guy with an Indian accent was talking about his family problems, I think, or maybe politics. I'm not sure, because I was distracted by an equally staticky drone going on at the same time: "This is a test of the Caltrans highway radio advisory system. This is a test of the Caltrans highway radio advisory system. This is a test of the Caltrans highway radio advisory system."
And it was positively hypnotic!
I brought my laptop downstairs after getting home to record an audio clip [37 sec, 396 KB WAV].
I'm not usually much of a Luddite when it comes to digital vs. analog, but there is something I really love about staticky radio. In fact, my car radio is already missing one of the best things, which is having that analog tuning knob that lets you get almost to a station but not quite, or sometimes even between stations.
I don't know what it is about it, but there's something deeply romantic to me about listening to signals flying through the air, competing with each other for my radio's attention, all while the background radiation of the Universe overwhelms them both from time to time.
It's also interesting how here's this guy pouring his heart out about something or other, but all I can remember is: "This is a test of the Caltrans highway radio advisory system. This is a test of the Caltrans highway radio advisory system. This is a test of the Caltrans highway radio advisory system."