What's Your Audio Setup in Your Toyota? Sort of a Poll...

Try Glenn Beck. IIRC, you live in upstate NY? Get WGN from Schenectady, or too far for you (810AM) at 9 AM.

It's a good unit, LOTS of power and good sound, but has some quirks...

Dude, I listen to NPR, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Howie Carr, and in the few spare minutes left over catch the BBC.

How the hell much MORE diversified can I get?!?! ;)

Here's my take on this. We have a Prius with the iPod port and my wife uses it much more than I do. It was a big drawing card for her. We had tried that FM transmitter thingy and it never sounded good. I had that cassette adapter that I used to use with my Disc-Man back then and it was a PITA too. So if you want to bring your own music along, then a port is the way to go if you don't want to deal with all those CDs (like I do in the Jeep and the Sienna).

Now, having said all that, I find that I really rarely hit the button to listen to my CDs anyway. Listening to live radio is where I am able to pick up new stuff. Stuff that I don't already have. If I have a CD or the iPod going I miss out on something that I have not heard before. So I do try to minimize the stored music unless there is really just nothing on, then I hit 'play'.

It is easy for me to say this. I live right in between NYC and Philadelphia. There is a plethora of stations to choose from here. My 10 FM button selections and my 5 AM ones are all filled with viable station choices. Curiously, there are few FM stations that I choose coming out of NYC, the better ones are in Philadelphia, or local. One of the favorites is a 'college' (not college kids tho) station nearby. This includes both music and talk. So I have better choices than most.

I know that this is not what you are looking for, as you want upgrade options, I just wish to advocate live radio (and that is live, not Clear Channel cookie-cutter drivel), especially down the left end of the dial, below 92, the stuff that you do not hear everyday. Tomes

There are other people than Rush Limbaugh to listen to for an alternate opinion. Peter Jennings was certainly not one of them.

I didn't say that he was; but that the ABC nightly world news to be one of my regular news sources, whereas it no longer is.

Cathy

Which college? I'll look them up if they "transmit" on the net.

Well, actually, I understand what you're getting at. Around here, there's a public radio station, The Current, that plays a lot of interesting new stuff, much of it good. I think they let the DJs pick their own music. And the range is wide, a little hip-hop, a little country, lots of contemporary rock, some jazz, some clasic rock. Recent playlist always available at:

They also offer a little extra exposure for local talent. I've bought a dozen or so CDs and some iTunes downloads after hearing artists on The Current.

There's another station here, KFAI, that's more of a "community" radio station. You hear interesting stuff on that, sometimes, but with each hour, you're never quite sure what language will be up next and if it's culturally too unfamiliar, it's difficult for me to get all that interested.

The University of Minnesota has a (loosely?) affiliated station, Radio K, which is good, but it's AM and reception is not wonderful.

I had asked about HD radio to see if it offered more choices. For me, that would be the advantage of HD.

"dh" om...

WNTI, Centenary College, Hacketstown NJ:

is much like what you describe below. The DJs are not college kids, but young professionals that do a very good job, and each has their own bend; on weekends it can get into the alternate language thing too. I end up on this a lot on the road. Another good link that I listen to the most at home, and if I am in the car on weeknights: is an alternative station in Philadelphia that lost its funding and went net-only . It then was picked up by another favorite station, WXPN, that broadcasts is every weeknight. It webcasts constantly all the time.

I'll check both of these out, thanks.

I don't know about HD radio yet, I need to get over a lot of inertia on things like this. What I have now is pretty good by me. I don't do HDTV or satellite radio yet either, I just was not impressed enough in looking at in my friends' houses. XM in my brother's car was OK, just not better, except for reception in spots - I get the same stuff now with more local personality. Then again, I kept on buying albums after others switched to CDs too [grin]. Tomes