the current wave...

Picture this scene: a twenty-something girl returning home for spring break, replete with an array of fresh tatoos and six or eight new facial piercings, sitting down with her parents to make a shocking confession:

"Mom... Dad, please sit down, I have something to say."

"Yes, darling" Mom says as tears well up in the corner of her eye.

"I listen to public radio," she states as hands tremble. Completely thrown off by bazaar news, the parents naturally have questions.

"When did this start?' father firmly asks.

"I'm a PR-addict," their college student daughter continues to accede, "I can't stop listening."

"Did you give into their persistent fund drives, honey?" Mom asks.

"No, it wasn't that, I swear!" she protests.

"You know they don't need all that money!" father intones, "It's the MPR President Kling, he's mono-monicial, he's an empire builder and now's he's grabbing up young minds... with what?" directing his questions to his wife, "All for more money and more pledges. Oh no, you didn't give MPR your student loan money did you?"

"Nooo, I like the randomness of 89.3" the disheveled daughter explains, "I like the unpredictability, the formatlessness..."

"Oh yeah, anarchy and chaos!" father grumbles.

"...they play rap music, and then Perry Como, and then Patsy Klein. or Moby and then The Sensational Joint Chiefs"

"WHO? The Joint what?" father asks.

"The Sensational Joint Chiefs? Oh my gawd." mother repeats.

"A great Minneapolis funk/soul/rock band from the late 90s!"

"How can that radio be any good sweetie?" Mom gently inquires, "When we grew up, we knew the kind of music the radio station was going to play. Nothing was left to chance. You had WCCO, KQRS, KDWB..."

"But it's good for me..." the daughter interrupts, "It non-commercial."

"Why is that good for you?" father asks cynically.

"Because its public radio!"