Road Trips

I was driving to North Carolina the other night for Thanksgiving. I was driving by myself because Stacey was already in Durham conducting some residency interviews. Six hours is a long time to drive by yourself when you don't have to do that very often. It means you rely on the radio to keep you company. I learned a lot listening to the radio for that long. First I learned that Delilah the stronghold of evening soft rock provides a lot of people company every night. It was clear that people calling in were hanging on her every word of encouragement. The request of a song to show their love for their significant other was done thinking that was the greatest gesture they could make. Delilah fills a need for a lot of people in our country at night. Just goes to show how wired we are for relationship.

Second thing I learned is that hip hop radio stations along the southeast all promote the same types of events, with same types of advertisements, done with same voiceover guys. You'll hear the same thing in South Carolina as you do in North Carolina. And that message: Come to the hottest club in town on Saturday Night where we're going to get as many ladies in as possible to attract males looking for a range of things in order that they will drop tons of money on a drinks. Here's the brutal part. If everything works out for the people going, they'll make a mistake and spend a lot more money and stress on the consequences. The women and men are going for different reasons but the advertisement doesn't tell you that.

Third, I learned that classic rock stations across the trip have all received the same message: They are being listened to by people driving or working and they don't walk talk, they just want music. All of these stations advertised the least amount of commercial interruptions. The classic rock station demographic is traditionally middle class, blue collar, men. They aren't looking to radio DJs for sappy relationship advice. They want relationship advice they just need Lynard Skynard to deliver it.

Its amazing what you can learn about society from just observing our media. Our media tends to be reactive to want people want. Sometimes they get it wrong and the programming gets cancelled. But when they get it right like a longstanding Delilah program or the fact that radio stations continue to sponsor club night parties, you can learn where people in America are at. It also provides a great exercise for me to keep myself busy for six hours of driving.