The Radio Wars

"It's so boring", F said.

"What is?", I asked.

"The radio."

"Finally", I thought, smiling.

Every lab has a radio. Every lab has more than one person. So inevitably, every lab has radio wars.

Especially when their music tastes collide, as in our lab:

The boss likes jazz.
F and X hate jazz.
F and X like pop music.
R (the under) hates pop music. ("cheesy", he calls them.)
R likes Rock'n'Roll.
F, X and I don't like Rock'n'Roll.
I like classical music and opera.
F and X hate classical music and opera.
The boss hates opera.
M hates rap.
Nobody likes rap.(the only common ground)

The boss's verdict:"Who comes in first has the pick." But the "picked" radio station would always be changed if the "picker" left the lab for a while. Sometimes it would be changed for so many times a day that the poor radio suffered nervous breakdowns from time to time. Otherwise how would you explain its frequent hissing sound?

It had become more and more clear that it had to stop, and someone had to give in. But who?

The boss wouldn't care because he is usually in his office, where he has a stereo playing jazz all the time;
M wouldn't care because she only works half-time and she only hates rap;
R wouldn't care because he is always in his classes and exams;
F and X would care and they are two people;
I would care but I am only one person.

So I gave in.

The radio was happily on "Y94FM, the best mix of the 70's, 80's, 90's and today" all the time ever since.

I personally have nothing against pop music per se, but that radio station has only about 20 songs and they play them over and over again, all day, all month, and probably all year. After several months of brain washing, I myself was having a nervous breakdown. That's why I was smiling with relief when F claimed he had enough, too.

My eyes followed him standing up, walking toward the radio, tuning through several stations and finally leaving it on..."Light 105.9, your continuous favorite light music!" It's like Y94FM's twin sister. You know they have different name, and perhaps different personalities, but you just can't tell one from the other.

I groaned.