Weird Radio Station Names

Occasionally I turn on the radio when I'm in the car. Like, old school FM radio. Not AM radio— that's too old school. 😅 But I do like to listen to a bit of news while I'm driving; it's a good reality-check on customized online newsfeeds. And I like to listen to a bit of music to try not to be a total old fogey about not understanding what's popular today.

So, anyway, occasionally I turn on the radio. And lately I've noticed that some radio stations have weird names. The station identification that displays on the radio control panel isn't just the classic FCC radio call sign, like "107.7 KSAN".

KSAN-FM, BTW, has used the moniker "The Bone" for decades. "107.8 The Bone" announcers call out. Okay, that's kind of weird, too. I guess I've gotten used to it. But the weird names I'm talking about now are Mike, Justin, and Norman.

Yes, as I cruise through the display on my car's radio I see radio stations named Mike, Justin, and Norman now. WTF? And they're even like, "Thanks for listening to Mike!" in between songs. Who TF is Mike? I mean, aside from some dude who apparently likes 80s music, because that's all his station plays?

And it's not even like Mike is the one thanking us. It's some gal. Does she work for Mike? Is she co-owner with Mike, but Mike's the 51% partner so he gets his name on the station and she doesn't? Is there even a real Mike or is it just a name the marketing department picked?

Let's face it, when you're listing to 80s music, it's superficial enough you've got spare brain cycles to ponder questions like these. Plus, who's Norman? 🤣

Erdinger Weissbier

Most of my recent entries in my Beer Tasting 2022 project have featured dark lagers, aka bock beer. I've grown a bit tired of them. While I do want to explore bocks a bit further I also want to take a break. After trying a shit beer (and kind of liking it) with a light body I decided to try a light-bodied good beer. Almost on a whim I picked up a 4-pack of Erdinger Weißbier. What can I say, it was on sale at Costco. 😂

Weißbier is better known in the US as Weissbier, or wheat beer. It's fun that this beer comes in packaging with the German spelling on it. (In German the character ß is a sharp S sound, kind of an "sz" in English.) Using the letter ß makes it feel even more German than spelling things with umlauts.

Erdinger Weissbier pours out with a surprisingly foamy head. It's light and airy, so you kind of have to wait for it to settle down before you drink it. That's the one thing I didn't like about this beer.

Wheat beers in the US typically have fruity tastes. That comes from the type of yeast used; and American brewer accentuate the fruity and herbal characters. Often at brewpubs a wheat beer is served with a slice of fruit on top, like lemon or grapefruit, to doubly accentuate the fact that you're drinking a fruit-bomb of a beer.

Erdinger is refreshingly not like that. It has a simple, clean flavor. It's smooth and even from start to finish. It goes remarkably well as a solo beer— something to sip on a warm afternoon outdoors, without food to accompany it. But it also has just enough strength of character not to be overpowered by light and medium flavored foods.

This beer is a nice discovery for me. I really like a wheat beer that's not an overdone fruit bomb. I'm starting to really get why people love German beers, with their clean tastes from skillful combinations of basic ingredients.

So far I've been rationing this beer out, wanting to save a can or two (out of a 4-pack) to compare to other lighter German beers. But at the same time it's so good I want to drink it more often. Really I should just buy another package or two and keep them handy in the storeroom.