I like MIKE

A local radio station, WMKK FM, has switched to a format called "Mike": no particular playlist, no particular music genre, and no DJs. I like them quite a lot, in no small part because of that last factor.

Now there are good radio DJs out there; don't get me wrong. I like some of them. But there are also awful ones, and I've never yet encountered a "drive time" program I like. They all seem to aim for the lowest fratty denominator. WBMX FM's "Lander in the Morning" show is apparently one of the classier ones. Its hallmark? The tastefully named "Nutcracker", in which the host prank-calls some random victim. How delightful.

It seems to have been getting worse lately. There have been programs that "joked" about the best techniques for binding a kidnapped child and that encouraged listeners to have sex in public places such as cathedrals. Or, more recently, there have been programs that held stupid contests with blatant disregard for their fatal consequences:

As a listener who identified herself as "Eve" told the morning crew, people "can get sick and possibly die from water intoxication."

"We're aware of that," one jock replied. And another jumped in to wisecrack that everyone in the contest had signed releases, "so we're not responsible."

Funny, apparently the Sacramento sheriff's department doesn't agree, given the number of warnings the DJs were recorded blowing off and given the resulting death of one of the contestants.

Free speech, even in blatant violation of taste, class, common sense, and criminal incitement ramifications, is one thing. Criminal negligence is entirely another.

They're kidding, right?

The Vallejo fire department recently determined that a fire must have started in the victim's pocket; since the only item they found in the pocket was a cell phone, they announced that the cell phone must have started the fire. After this announcement, Nokia engineers flew in to perform some tests:

Tweedy said the Fire Department called Nokia in because "they offered their electrical engineers to come in and do testing that we can't afford to do."

According to the article, after the investigators checked the wiring, the fancy-shmancy super-expensive conclusive test was pressing the power button to turn the phone on.

ETA: While researching the first comment on this post, I found a blog entry about this subject with perhaps the perfect title: "Nokia isn't to blame for spontaneous combustion in man's pants".

Pet saves family, part 9034

I am such a sucker for "adopted pet saves family" stories:

A Clinton woman and her daughter reaped the benefits Tuesday when the cat they adopted from the Humane Society last year woke them in time to be rescued by firefighters from their burning home.

[...]"I told my daughter, 'See, you saved the cat and now the cat saved you,'" Behr said.

Meanwhile, while I don't love hearing about waste-of-oxygen humans dumping animals, I do like when there's a happy ending:

“I named him Simon and took him to a veterinarian where he was given his shots, wormed and all things necessary,” Sorensen says. “He was abused, the vet said; no wonder he is hand-shy. The vet says he would have died out in the cold, or would have been attacked by other animals. It was a miracle, for a dog lover like me, to have met the two guys by the fire in the park.”

[...] Simon, the rescued Chihuahua, is adapting well to his new home with Sorensen, his giant greyhound and cat. “The big dog tolerates him; they curl up together. I’m going to have Simon neutered this week. That may make it necessary for me to change his name to Simone.”