“I don't have a radio (the one in my car is broken). Who has a radio?”
Mr. Guano was stunned and horrified to read this in a recent email from a listener who wanted to hear SwaG!. She wanted to hear the program live. She was in the Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA area. But she did not have a radio.
Radios, even those that pick up stereo FM signals (recommended for SwaG! broadcasts), are inexpensive and found in almost any store that carries electronic devices (Radio Shack is just one example). They require almost no technical skill to operate, and use very little power. If you feel unsure as to how one works, ask the friendly store clerk and he will explain how to adjust all the dials and knobs, antenna, reception diodes and power resistors for an enjoyable listening experience.
Unlike iTunes, which charges exorbitant fees for each song you hear, or illegal downloading which leads to shattered homes, addiction and imprisonment, radio broadcasts are 100 per cent free and legal.
In summary, an inexpensive device can give you, free, hours of audio entertainment, which can be a solace to the destitute in these trying economic times.
If you are a computer “whiz” then you may be able to “rip” the recorded archives of SwaG! (meant for media students and historians of the future). But listening to these recordings can not provide the same satisfying experience as listening to SwaG! live, over the airwaves, carried by transmissions from WIDR, 89.1 on the FM dial, in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Ou would-be listener continued in her letter: “Anyway, I will try the web page. Because I hear cool people listen to your show and I like being cool people.”
We all like being “cool people.” If this is your only way to attempt this achievement, then see below, the links to the broadcast of January 7, 2009. In this episode Mr. Guano plays music from Tiny Tim to Motorhead, Herb Alpert to the Butthole Surfers. And a favorite of the “kids,” classical music performed on the Moog.