Routine Destroyed...

I like my routines. In fact, I am desperate to maintain them when I am under stress.

For the last few years, I have listened to WCCO (830, Minneapolis) at night. The overnight hosts on this local station simply talked. They'd talk about local music, the weather, and stupid news headlines. They were seldom political; mainly it was just people chatting like they might over shared drinks.

Now, WCCO is carrying a syndicated show at night. It's horrible.

The old WCCO reminded me of KGO (810, S.F.) at times. While KGO can get too political, there were also the familiar callers, the nights when "best burger in the Bay Area" was the topic. Just chatting.

National shows have to be loud, it seems. The hosts need passionate topics, so they can't avoid the political nonsense.

I just want friendly voices in the night.

So, I'm back to using Internet radio and listening to old-time radio shows. You can't get much friendlier than Fibber McGee or George Burns. What a shame that local radio is dying... like local newspapers.

Routines matter to me. At least on this issue, I'm not alone. I think a lot of people in Minnesota are unhappy about the change.