The Car Radio AM Very Important!!!

I consider myself blessed beyond belief. I have a Beautiful Girlfriend who actually allowed me to marry her. We have two Beautiful Children. We have a Beautiful Son In Law. We have Beautiful Friends Who Are Basically Family. And I Also Have A Strong Propensity To Capitalize Words That Don’t Need To Be Capitalized.

I also have a brand new, 2001 Minivan that we were able to buy when our older, stinkier, 2001 “MuttMobile” Minivan died suddenly a little over month ago. The brand new 2001 Minivan is in very nice shape. So nice, in fact that my Beautiful Girlfriend asked, “are you sure you want to let the dog in here??” You see, the older, stinkier Minivan was dubbed the “MuttMobile” because it was the only vehicle in which Musky Da Husky was allowed to travel. Musky sheds his fur via great quantities of fluff bombs, and this was very evident inside the MuttMobile. And of course, if a dog travels in a car long enough, the car and dog begin to smell very much the same.

The old MuttMobile died on the highway, and we had it towed home. Fortunately, the tow truck driver was looking for a parts car; and he bought our old dead Muttmobile!! Now we are spoiled rotten Americans, with a brand new, used MuttMobile. Very nice shape… it was extremely well maintained. All the items one usually has to fix after buying a used car were repaired before we bought the car. This of course brought the price a bit higher than “blue book,” but I’m convinced it was well worth it.

So there I was, minding my own business, driving the car home from the dealership in Holland. All seemed very alright with the car, everything actually worked. But events of the following day would send a chill down my spine, however. The radio was not working very well. FM reception was fair to partly cloudy, but AM only pulled in TWO STATIONS!!! This, I cried aloud to my Beautiful Girlfriend, was unacceptable.

I’m a pretty simple guy. And although my job as a computer flunky (computer support guy) shoves me into some rather high-tech situations, I really could care less about techno-toys. That is, of course, unless you’re talking about radio or TV receivers. Those items are basically considered archaeological artifacts in these times of streaming media and so forth. But this boy loves to play with the radio, and also loves the fact that our TV reception is from an antenna; which is free.

Off I went on a journey to remedy the situation. I cried a bit to the dealer, but I distinctly remembered the “As-Is, No Warranty” disclaimer when I bought the car. So I really didn’t expect them to help much. Then I ran off to e-bay and found several replacement radios for between $35 and $50. Then off to YouTube to see how hard it was to replace the radio. Then, came the big giant epiphany into my silly head bone. “I wonder what the tow truck guy is gonna do with the radio in the old MuttMobile??”

So, I texted him. He said, “no plans for the radio, you can have it.” “How much do you want for it,” I replied. “Nothing,” he texted back. So I went to YouTube again, memorized the removal instructions, and headed to his house. Armed with my Swiss Army Knife and a Phillips head screwdriver, I had the radio out in about 5 minutes. Reversed the process when I got home, and HOLY MOLY!! IT WORKED PERFECTLY!! BOTH FM, AND AM!! I was very grateful. Did I mention I’m a spoiled rotten American?

I told this story to all my friends, and many said, “AM?? What’s on AM??” “These kids don’t know what they’re missing,” I thought to myself. I explained that there are lots of stations within a few hundred miles that are fun. Here in Beautiful West Michigan there are broadcasts from as far as Detroit that come in very clearly, as well as Chicago and Milwaukee. At night the AM radio band comes alive; and stations from many hundreds and even thousands of miles can be heard. See for yourself; click on this link thingy for a listing of all kinds of AM stations—> http://www.am-dx.com/fcclist.htm

Anywho, the car radio AM important to me; and now the new MuttMobile is ready to rock. AM I a lucky guy or what??

So, what’s so special about AM?? Well, among other things, some stations are still broadcasting what are now called “old time radio programs.” Here’s a clip from The George Allen and Gracie Allen Show, which like many shows of its day, made the transition from radio to television. You can literally enjoy the radio audience experience by closing your eyes while listening during the clip. Hope you like!