Day 18: The Spectrum

According to Sirius: Spanning the past, present, and future with adult album rock artists.

Driving Conditions: Pretty basic. To work and back, but with pitstops on the way home at Whole Foods (for groceries), Best Buy (for an iPod armband and headphones) and Borders (for a magazine they didn't have in stock).

My Experience: The Spectrum was one of the first channels I stumbled upon when I first got Sirius two and a half years ago. My impression of it has changed a bit over time. In the past, I used to think of it as "the best hits from the past several decades" (including present time). Now, though, it seems to be more along the lines of "music I haven't heard of from artists that, ironically, I know." Sure, I recognized a song by R.E.M. (Superman) and Melissa Etheridge (I'm the Only One), but everything else was new.

Sample Playlist:

• Paul McCartney, Dance Tonight
  
• Dave Matthews, American Baby
• Suzanne Vega, Frank & Ava
• Chris Rea, The Road to Hell
• Bonnie Raitt, Runaway
• John Mayer, Belief

Verdict: In the few seconds that elapsed between me seeing what station I would be listening to today, and the playing of the first song (Dance Tonight, by Paul McCartney), I went from thinking I was going to bookmark this, to deciding that the station was, in fact, going to have to prove itself to me. It didn't. And on a side note, the song it started me off with was also the final song I heard playing on The Spectrum. Yes, with over forty years of music to pull from, I still managed to get a repeat song during the hour (in total) I was listening to it. I didn't need that much Paul McCartney...although I might have forgiven him had it been Hey, Jude that was playing.