Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Summer Crackle

I still listen to an AM radio station.  My first professional job was in AM radio.  My first love is AM radio.  There's only one FM oldies station around here, and I can't pick it up.  It's AM oldies for me.

That brings up an issue, especially in the summer.  AM signals and lightning don't get along.  Lightning, even many, many miles away disrupts the signal and sends a distinct "crackle" through the speaker.

You know what?  I really don't mind.  The crackle is the sound of summer, memories of sitting on the porch with a transistor radio, hanging with my friends, backyard wiffle ball games, hoping the DJ would play your favorite song, maybe trying to get in on a contest.

On top of that, in the days before Mega Super Doppler Radar and the internet, the lightning inspired crackle was the way we knew bad weather was approaching.

It might be static to you.  It's a delightful sound to me.