The rest...

DAYS 2-7
In the days that followed day 1, I didn't have as much trouble... although I did drive my mom's car to work (she was out of town and I could park closer to the door at work, call me lazy) and her radio was on. It took me a second to register I needed to turn it off. The radio is just so automatic, it is like background noise. I knew it was on and I wasn't paying attention, it was also 6am.

That was the entire reason for my experiment. I am not an avid radio listener, but I listen while commuting and when it was taken away, I noticed. It was boring, not going to lie, especially in traffic. I am totally one of those people you see in their car singing along to the radio, and I don't even notice. Well, I saw those people and I was jealous.

I missed the company most of all. I didn't miss the information, because I can get that from other sources. I am an extrovert and enjoy interaction, even if it is through the airwaves. I suppose I could have used the time to reflect more on life, and the goings on around me, but I didn't. I think as a creature of habit, I do those things at other times of the day and couldn't change that in a week.

RADIO ON
When I turned the radio back on, it was WONDERFUL! I was happy and driving/singing-a-long with a smile on my face. I felt like I couldn't get enough, I had to listen to every station on the dial just a little. Then I got back into my rhythm... like Kanye says, "you don't know what you got till it's gone"; true.

I am happy to have the radio back in my life, major lessons learned:

• Appreciate the simple things
• Life can be silent and boring or silent and intriguing, you decide
• I am the same radio listener now that I was then
• Radio is not passive, listeners have control, but I don't know if they realize it?

Now, turn the radio up and sing-a-long... you know you want to!

THE CHALLENGE: Spend 1 Week Without the Radio

I have been challenged to spend a week without listening to the radio. Which means I will be driving in silence for the next 7 days. The reason for this is I am trying to figure out what radio means to me. I would not consider myself a serious radio listener. I do not know the schedules, the personalities life stories, and I do not listen through the commercials (I flip stations). I only listen in the car, and I think that makes me a fairly typical radio listener. I suppose I could listen at work, but I don't.

Although I am impartial to radio as a medium, when it is taken away from me I feel uneasy.

DAY 1
I got in the car and turned off the radio. While I was driving to work I kept wanting to hit my radio consul because my radio only works some of the time, and that is how I get it to work. Then I think to myself what is going on in the world, what am I missing? I listen to NPR on my way to work so I get a feel for those kinds of things, and in case I don't have time at work to check nytimes.com.

I start to notice the car in front of me looks like its tires might be a little low. Then I start to hum to myself. I guess I needed more than just the noises of cars around me. Admittedly this may be more enjoyable if I were on a scenic highway, but because I am not I begin to get bored. Now my time is spent getting frustrated at other drivers. Finally, I get to work and can interact with others!

My drive home was HOT, not only does the radio sometimes work, the A/C doesn't (I am driving my brothers car because mine had a fuel leak). I didn't miss the radio as much because I almost always talk on the phone while I drive home... I really need to invest in a head-set.

Well there you have it. Day 1 of no radio. What did I discover? Radio makes me a little more carefree, not letting other drives get under my skin. Radio acts as an information source to keep me connected to what is happening here, there and everywhere. Radio acts as my commuter companion.