What’s your favorite song? Your favorite genre of music? How about your favorite radio station? All valid questions when making a new friend, or trying to accommodate friends during a road trip. I have answers to all these questions. Favorite Song: "Jack & Diane" by John Mellencamp. Genre: 80s soft rock. Radio Station: CRRZ 1390 out of Minot, ND. For those of you who are wondering why there isn’t a decimal point in that and why it’s not a number in the 80s, 90s, or 1000s, that is because it is an AM station, the static-filled stuff that your grandpa listens to. I am 21 years old and I already listen to your grandpa’s favorite station. The station I named as my favorite is not a talk station, though. 1390 does play music for the most part, except for from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays when they broadcast sports, and on Sunday morning when they play a church service. But I do also listen to talk radio, and I love it.

Due to my profession as a farmer, I spend a lot of time alone in a truck or tractor cab with no one but the voices on the radio to keep me company. So radio stations probably mean a little more to me than they do to you. That is why I consider myself a radio expert. And the best part about my expertise? I am almost always alone when I get to choose my radio stations so nobody can tell me I’m not an expert. Now, it took me awhile to figure out exactly what I was into. I’ve gone through phases. When I was a preteen and too easily influenced by my older siblings I had some dark days when the pop station got some play. It has been over eight years since those days. though, thankfully. I had several years with the new country stations on the FM side being my favorites. These stations do still get some of my listening time, however, they are not my primary stations. I have to be in a certain mood to listen to new country, and it is never an all-day thing. It’s an hour here or an hour there but that’s about it. That’s about the only FM radio station I listen to.

Of course, all of the numbers I am going to listen as the titles for radio stations will mean nothing to you unless you live in west central North Dakota. But where ever you are from, I’m sure you have radio stations similar to these in style.

1390 is my favorite because it plays my favorite music, but that’s not my post played station. 910 is another AM station. It plays oldies country along with some local news shows, farm reports, and five minutes of national news an hour. This station usually gets an hour or two of play a day for me. I get caught up on both world and local news as well as hear some classic country songs which, as we all know, are good for the soul, especially on those down days. 660 is another station similar to 910 that I also listen to at times.

However, my most played station is 710 AM. The best part about this station is that, for most of the day, they play the Minneapolis Sports Talk shows. As a fan of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings as well as the Timberwolves to some extent, that is a big draw for me. This station also plays all the Twins’ games, which I listen to on a daily basis during the season (even on a year as bad as this one was for the Twins).

But I want to focus on the talk shows. Yes, I am a huge fan of talk radio. The music stations that I listed above are all stations that I use for a break from talk radio. My favorite show that 710 plays is The Power Trip Morning Show which is on from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on weekdays. During the busy part of the summer I get into the sprayer at about 6:45 in the morning, so I miss a little more than an hour of the show which is sad, but these guys are hilarious. While at college I am that weird kid who listens to podcasts of this show instead of listening to music while running or typing a paper. In fact, right now, as I type this article, I am listening to a podcast of The Power Trip morning show at 4:00 in the afternoon in the library. This show is less than serious at times and can even be a little immature sometimes. The main guys (Cory, AJ, Hawkey, and Meatsauce) are silly, and my favorite thing about the show is that it comes across so informal that it’s like a group of guys hanging out with you in a room just chatting away. It’s kind of a sports talk show. I say kind of because I believe that technically it is a sports talk show and all four of the host work for the Vikings Radio Network in some capacity, but they have serious opinions on sport topics much less often than most sports shows.

Some people have a regular television viewing schedule. I, on the other hand, have a regular radio listening schedule. After The Power Trip I usually turn it over for some old rock on 1390 until 11 a.m.. At that point, I catch up on some news and cleanse the soul with some classic country for an hour or two. The other talk show that I really enjoy is back on 710 from noon to 3 in the afternoon. That is The Rich Eisen Show which is a national show broadcasted out of southern California. After that show ends its time for the soft rock to take over until it’s time for the Minnesota Twins pregame show, which usually begins at 6:30 PM. I do occasionally change up this schedule, but generally that is my daily radio playlist.

FM radio does include some talking and some news, but not anywhere near as much as on AM stations. Plus, the FM talking is full of pointless news stories that either irritate me or leave me feeling dumber than I was before I heard it (usually the second one). I am not an AM fan because I think it’s way more educational or highbrow or something of that sort. My favorite talk show is probably one of the most immature shows on the radio, the opposite of highbrow. I am still a music fan, but for whatever reason I prefer to listen to talk shows, hear some hot takes as they like to call them, and the sport aspect certainly helps. So, as a fellow young person, I advise you to give that station your grandpa has on in the car a chance next time before putting on your headphones. You might learn something, you might laugh, or I guess you might still hate it. But you might end up being a weirdo like me and enjoying it.