Bubblegum radio is a radio station where they play today's hits, talk about a very watered down version of the news, and advertise too much. I like bubblegum radio for several reasons and two are related to my criteria for being a bubblegum radio station.

Yep, they play a lot of inane music by Brittany and those boy bands. But there's another side to it. They sometimes have an interesting tune on or something that really catches my fancy for some reason. I really like Christina Aguilera's song Ain't No Other Man. I would have never heard it without my bubblegum radio. I get to hear new songs by mainstream artists that when you search the internet for them, there are lots of sites that say, "Here's an indy band that you might like if you like Christina's latest song." It's an introduction to some new things. Holly Cole, I feel, is hardly mainstream and yet she had a hit on bubblegum radio. I was thrilled for her mainly because it meant she'd be able to continue creating music because so many people like that one song. I, of course, didn't think it was her best, but I LOVE Holly Cole. I can just hope that others were introduced to her magic by the bubblegum radio song.

The watered down version of the news is great too. I'm way too emotional to get the full story sometimes. Give me the basics so that I know there was an earthquake near where my friends live and that some people were hurt, but don't tell about how any moment now the whole fault line could just collapse and don't give me a bunch of supporting information about how everyone living there has a death wish. I don't need to worry about millions of people who are going to die by being swallowed by the earth someday that might not even be in my lifetime. And don't get me started about all the war and fighting in the world because just the mention of it on bad days makes me cry. They also throw in a little weather and traffic reporting too which is just stuff that's nice to know without having to go through the effort of finding it myself.

And the biggest reason that I like bubblegum radio is that it helps me concentrate while I'm working. If I don't have bubblegum radio on in the background while I'm doing my job, I am way less productive. Somehow, the constant talking or playing of music marks the passage of time so that I know that my time to finish a particular task is finite. If left to my own devices, I am so much more easily sidetracked by a fuzzy cat or something I'd been wondering about just before falling asleep the night before that the internet could possibly solve. Bubblegum radio removes a lot of these tangents from my brain so that the larger part can stay focused on work. Now, there's a danger being presented here as well - why do I have to distract a portion of my brain to be able to work productively? Meh, I'm just too smart for my own good, I guess. [grin]

And bubblegum radio annoys Cheruby to no end. Some would say this is a bad thing. I have many big red buttons that he loves to push, but he has very little that I can bug him with. I'll just have to call this leverage and put it in the pro column.

I hate the ads, though, but I'll have to live with those to get the perks.