Reconnecting with the radio hobby after a 15-year hiatus feels like returning to a battlefield where the enemy has gone nuclear. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LED lights, and a thousand other little electronic gremlins now swarm the airwaves, turning AM and FM reception into a game of dodgeball where every ball is made of static.
Now, I have to handle my radios like fragile relics—keeping them far from walls, banishing any AC power connection, and letting them run on batteries like some survivalist clinging to the last scraps of analog comfort. And wouldn’t you know it, the tiny C.Crane Solar picks up stations effortlessly when perched on the bed, as long as it’s exiled from its own AC adapter like a shamed medieval outcast.
Still, there’s nothing like letting smooth jazz or brooding classical music drift from a radio while I read before bed. It’s my personal ritual for shutting down. I have zero interest in barking commands at some smug streaming device. I don’t need an algorithm guessing what I want. I need my radio—simple, flawed, and gloriously analog—to ferry me to the relaxation zone.
No apps. No updates. No talking. Just me, the radio, and the signal fighting its way through the digital smog.
Glad you made it through the fires. Welcome back to Radioland. Watches are cool, but yours all look the same to me, honestly. :-). The CC Solar BT looks nice.
Posted by: Keith B. | January 22, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Welcome back, Jeff. A lot has changed in radios, and yet nothing has really changed. The airwaves are sort of an anachronism now, with streaming delivering millions of channels at our command. Again, good to see you again.
Posted by: Ed Strnad | January 22, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Thanks, Ed. Good to hear from you. I'm really loving my Tecsun PL-880.
Posted by: herculodge | January 22, 2025 at 03:30 PM
Keith, the radios are helping me relax, unlike those streaming devices. Watches are too expensive.
Posted by: herculodge | January 22, 2025 at 03:31 PM