At the Speed of German Radio

by William C. Altreuter

Our law practice takes me all over New York and all over the world. Sometimes the cultural adjustments involved are somewhat jarring.

Recently I had to spend some time in Germany, and I have to tell you, I think the autobahn is cool. You can drive faster; you have to drive faster than you ever felt comfortable driving, and it's sort of hard to know why this is so. The guys on Star Trek don't travel this fast. I think that the biggest reason for driving at this speed is subtle: it's German radio, which is of an awfulness I could never have imagined.

Man, the extra hour in the car on the way to Munich, which is how long it would have taken me to drive that far at my ordinary U.S. speed, would have compelled me to gnaw off my own forepaw after a very short time. German-language covers of pop hits. And worse, they'd play stuff in English: the Bee Gees, and not just the Saturday Night Fever disco stuff the pre-falsetto stuff. "I Started a Joke." The one about the mining disaster. All of it. Tom Jones. Tom Jones. Honest to goodness, I heard "Suspicious Minds" half a dozen times.

I was never so glad to get home, get into my car, and hear WBFO. The great jazz programming. The wonderful news shows. The Blues. Car Talk.

WBFO is here for us to come home to, but we all need to support it so that it always will be.