At the Core of the Radiophile's Personality

Earlier, I considered that radiophiles are distinguished by two things, a fastidiousness and a curiosity, which compels them to tinker endlessly as they seek perfection, not just in their radios, but in speaker systems, the garage shelving unit, their alphabetized books, CDs, spices, etc.

But as I drove home from the hardware store this morning and saw a tarted-up 2009 Toyota Corolla "S" model with flaring rear spoiler and flashy body molding, an economy car built with cheap plastic for over $22,000, I realized radiophiles can be characterized by another salient trait: A strong passion for authenticity and a ferocious loathing of fakery. 

Analogous to the gussied-up Corolla are those $500 radios that come with every bell and whistle known to man with one exception: strong AM and FM reception. The makers figured they could bamboozle the radio buyer with cheap enticements while ignoring the fundamentals of a good radio. Thus these makers perpetrate fraud and represent the manner in which tinsel and glitter gets stuffed down our throats while quality recedes more and more into the distance.

Radiophiles are adamant about finding quality in a world of cheap gaucherie and this blog seems to attract readers who represent that adamantine passion.

Of course, you will have to forgive this blog's author for his unctuous sanctimony and rhetorical excesses, weaknesses as incurable as his love for good radios.

 

Comments

[Ed]

You are forgiven my son, by that great Transmitter in the sky.

[jeffrey McMahon]

But am I forgiven for bidding on a mysterious radio on eBay after swearing to myself that I was on radio-buying hiatus?

Radio lovers can't be cured, indeed.

[Paul]

New overpriced table top stereo system with dock for iPod/XM ready/AM/FM/shortwave/RDS, from Eton:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A3ZDIA

and

http://www.etoncorp.com/product_card/?p_ProductDbId=473953