Who Killed the Radio Star?

(It may be too late to be writing a eulogy, but hey, at least I’m back trying to write again.)

Roughly a dozen years ago, back when pimples and meeting assignment deadlines comprise the daily crises of my existence, NU107 was to me what sexual harassments are to Baron Geisler: inseparable. Back then, there was nothing more beloved to me than my little orange cassette player with the fm radio tuned in on the rightmost side of the dial. Then time quickly passed by. I got busy trying to climb the impossible corporate ladder, making a living while taking crap from people who oftentimes has less brains but has shitloads of money. It’s funny that when you try to “grow up”, you will almost never have enough time for fun. I still listened to NU from time to time, taking comfort that it was still there, the one and only true bastion of Rock and Roll in the country, at the end of my fm radio dial.

Back then, stickers of this logo are far more precious than cellphone load. 

It was until I commuted yesterday that I realized the tragic reality of the world we live in. So I was riding the bus yesterday (btw, the Buendia incident, that was just wrong dude) and it was tuned in to Christy Fermin. That’s right, Christy Fermin is on friggin’ fm radio. I quickly reached for my front pockets… empty. Shit. I raised my butt off the chair to check out my back pockets. To my absolute horror, I realized I left the earphones for my phone at the office. Throughout the entire trip I kept praying to the high heavens for the conductor to just play a movie, any movie, or mercifully change the station or just stab me in the eye with his ballpoint pen. He didn’t do shit.

Then it hit me: NO MORE NU107. NO MORE HOME OF NU ROCK. And to me, it may have meant no more music. It is extremely challenging for me to go to gigs. A night at Saguijo with my friends sometimes takes a full month of careful planning and scheduling to make it happen. So what now? Did the video finally kill the radio star?

Maybe. Or maybe we’re just living in a society who’d rather immerse itself in annoying jingles and extremely repetitive catchphrases. People that are more comfortable hearing the same lousy jokes over and over again. Which may really be what the Pinoy sensibility is all about: cheap thrills and corny shit.

I just pray my son will see better radio airwave days. That he may somehow have a taste of the wonderful joy listening to free radio brings. I hope all of you will get used to all the “to-to-tot” and getting asked for the need to “memorize” shit in your daily lives. I know I won’t. If there is God, then I believe He will not let this cultural drought drag on.

He will also not let me forget to bring my damn earphones.. ever..