Small towns are funny. They’re interesting. Take for example, the radio. I remember that when I got here, I would press the Seek button and it would get to 92.1. I press it again, and where do you think it would end up? Yes, sadly, it would end up at 92.1. And if that wasn’t all, it’s classic country. I’m not that much into country, but some of the songs are cool. I grew up listening to country music. The Judds, Kenny Rogers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, George Strait. And even some of the older ones are catchy, like those of Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Jonny Cash, George Jones. But due to external forces unbeknownst to me, these are hardly played! I had no idea there was so many (I don’t want to say weird, …but anyway) weird-sounding country music back in the day. I knew there were some, but there are many. Now, back in San Antonio, if you didn’t like a song that was being played, you simply tuned in to another station. No biggie. Not here, my friend.
This is where a CD player is a must. Or satellite radio, which many Sonorians have. And it’s worse when you’re working using the company truck that has no CD player. And when we leave the town, toward the ranchos, whatever signal you may have, being that a pathetic or a good song is being played, the signal fades away, leaving you to play songs from the jukebox that’s in your head. But, fortunately, we got another radio station!! It’s 104.9, oldies. Now this is better. Although, it’s not KONO from San Antonio, it’s ok. Now THAT was an oldie radio station. And sometimes, more often when a storm is coming, we pick up stations from San Angelo, San Antonio, Del Rio, Abilene. So, you never know what’cha gonna get.
So even though some of the songs are cool, what I really like to listen to is the news. Kinda reminds me of NPR. Every few hours, the song that’s being played (and again, due to external forces unbeknownst to me, when a good song is being played), it is interrupted by the news. Like this morning. This cool song was finally playing and in the middle of it, it was interrupted by the National Anthem! No announcement, no nothing! I tell ya, they are out to get me. They are out… to get me. Anyway, first it’s TSN, the Texas State Network with interesting bits, followed by ABC News with Richard Davies. It’s been pretty cool, except for all of the presidential election stuff. Although, it does make me giggle when I hear President Bush speak. I always picture Frank Caliendo impersonating him. So, with the news, I keep up with some current events. Then some guy that calls himself Doctor Doppler, gives us updates on the weather. There is also this other guy, Paul Harvey, that gives news and commentary on anything and everything. I like listening to him, although he sounds like he’s in love with his voice. Lets see, who else… Ah yes, there is the local morning show. Now this is interesting. They mainly talk about local stuff. Not too interesting.
But what got my attention the other morning was how the radio persons refer to specific individuals of Sonora. For example, they always mention all of the names of people that have their birthdays and anniversaries, from Sonora, Eldorado, and Ozona. And this one time, the guy mentioned an anniversary and was making fun of the guy having the anniversary, saying that he probably forgot and he said, “Billy Ray, if you’re listening, don’t forget about your anniversary or you’ll be sleepin’ out in da’barn”, obviously because he knows the couple. That just shows how small this town is and how everyone knows almost everyone.
And no one knows street names (maybe because some streets are not named). I thought it was just a few, but the girl on the radio confirmed that. She said that no one knows the street names. Say, someone recently moves and so the direction-giving conversation would go something like this: “You know where the swimming pool is at? Ok, you take a left at the pool, you pass Fred’s little store, when you get to the corner where Annie May’s mother’s house is- oh, did you hear what happened with her… (gossip of the week is inserted here). Anyway, you take a right and you’re there. Oh, and watch out for the horse droppings.” And don’t think I’m exaggerating this.
It's like I said, small towns are interesting.
