One of the nice things about living in the Bay Area is having a full-time jazz station, KCSM/91.1; I’m a member, and it’s been one of the presets on my car radio for a number of years. But they talk a lot. Sometimes, it’s good, when they’re talking about the music; other times, it’s not so good, when they’re going through the Jazz Datebook or asking for support (I know that they have to run pledge drives — that’s how they got me to join in the first place — but I don’t have to like them). And reception could be better in a lot of places. But still, it’s one of the FM stations I listen to most often.

So I expected to enjoy today’s Bootcamp channel, Real Jazz. And I was not disappointed. I’ve enjoyed almost everything I’ve heard today, whether I was using it as background or foreground listening (more background than foreground, I’m afraid). The only real problem was a timing problem — today is also Mozart’s birthday, and I’d also like to be listening to the All-Mozart day on XM Classics. But it’s ok — I’m sure we’ll be listening to Mozart at home.

And in the meantime, I’ll keep listening to jazz at work — definitely worth a preset!

I hadn’t gotten around to listening to Discovery Radio before today — for that matter, I haven’t watched much on Discovery TV even though I’ve had it on cable and satellite for many years. Both the radio and TV stations are loaded with interesting shows about various topics (I’m listening to one on synthetic memories now). But they require one to pay attention to get any value out of the time, and it’s hard to pay attention to the radio while doing the kind of work IBM wants me to do.

I could definitely enjoy listening to this channel on a plane, or at the gym, or even while driving — but it’s not something I can deal with at my desk. I’m giving it a “B” despite being unable to listen to it here, because what I did hear was very good.