One thing I've noticed, now having to drive myself into work everyday, is that radio in Pittsburgh in the morning...blows. I know, I know. I have about 2,000 cd's why don't I listen to those. I don't listen to my cd's on my commute because I want to at least make the attempt to keep up with the new music and artists coming out. Although at times that gives me more of a headache than it's worth.
When I was a DJ, not only could I give you the top ten songs at any given moment on pretty much every chart, but there was a good chance that I owned at least 6 of the 10. Since the weekend BEFORE...yes before...Thanksgiving, one radio station in Pittsburgh has been playing nothing but Christmas music 24 hours a day. I think there should be a national ban on playing Christmas music on the radio until December 13th, at the very least. That's 12 days before Christmas...you can even link it to a big promotion and kick-off the holiday season by playing...The 12 Days of Christmas.
I have 12 presets on my car radio. Three of them are now solely Christmas music and have been since about Thanksgiving. That leaves me with 9 stations to choose from in the morning. Two of the stations have morning shows that are nothing but talk. Down to 7. Now, like all morning radio, each of the remaining seven have a morning team and you'll be lucky to hear 4 songs an hour. However, I used to be able to surf around and catch a pretty good stream. Well now, 3 of the remaining 7 are mixing in holdiay songs and two of the remaining 4 have cut out some of their music in the mornings and are gravitating towards all talk. That leaves me with two stations. One is the alternative music station and the other is the local hip-hop station. I'm not especially enthralled with either one, but the alternative music station has plummeted in both the quality of the music and the depth of their selection since their decision to remove the Howard Stern morning show due to offensive material. So, I'm stuck with hip-hop/pseudo rap and they, being the local teeny-bopper station nowadays, have the exact same rotation day in and day out. So, by Monday's arrival at work...I've heard their morning show for the week.
Just one more good reason to dislike the holiday "season".
On the good music front...I'm glad to see that Rascal Flatts has a talented person choosing their songs. Bless the Broken Road has been around for a long time...from what I understand, it's first incarnation was simply called The Broken Road and it was recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (country) in 1994. I came across Melodie Crittenden's (country) version from 1998. Jamie Slocum (a Christian artist) redid the song in 1999. Until now...the most popular version was Melodie's, thanks in part to the fact that, although the show was full of crap most of the time, Dawson's Creek also had talented people picking music. The song aired in a Season 2 episode in 1998.
Why such a background on one song? Because I chose the song to use as part of the music in my wedding because of the lyrics and significance of the song. I'm glad to see that even though it's not my favorite rendition of the song, Rascal Flatts will give the song a wider exposure than it had previously and introduce it to many more fans. One fan of Rascal Flatts, who shall remain nameless, could have heard the song years before she actually did just by accepting an invitation that was extended to her.