I got a radio, and I haven’t used my nice speakers once this year. I’m always listening to music, and the speakers I have in my room, I’ve had them since high school — they’re awesome. For 10 years I’d plug my computer or my phone into them and listen all day. But I got a new phone in January that has this new jack, so when I went to listen to a new mix of one of my songs on the speakers last week, I was like, Hmm, I haven’t listened to these in a while… I don’t even have the new phone’s correct adapter. So I actually haven’t used them since 2024!
The radio came from a music video shoot I did last October, where we used a radio as a prop. I was going to return it after, but then I thought, Wait, I love this thing. So I kept it. It’s also got a Bluetooth setting and a tape player. I walk around the house with it like it’s my pet.
I listen to K-EARTH 101 almost exclusively. It’s ‘80s rock, which is my favorite world sonically to live in. I wake up and, you know, sometimes it’s hard to get the day going, so I lean over in bed, turn on the radio, and get out of bed. It wakes me up. I kind of treat whatever song is first playing like a horoscope. I’ll turn it on, and whatever that first song that’s on is, I’ll let it guide my day. Maybe what the song is about, or maybe just the energy of it. I let the song inspire my outfit, my intention for the day, it even affects my mood. I actually didn’t turn the radio on yet today — let’s see.
[Sedona turns the radio on, and “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac is playing.]
Oh, yeah, baby!
Listening to the radio feels a little more cosmic than streaming. It’s like you’re receiving something from the universe, and then you can place meaning on it because you didn’t actively choose it. Also, we are in a time when you can hear literally any song you want now at any time. With the radio, there’s parameters. I do think there is something about having limitations that inspires me.
I’ve always been an avid radio listener, even in my car. When I was a baby, every time I was in the car with my dad and I wanted to fall asleep, I’d ask him to put on jazz. So I do also listen to 88.1 K-JAZZ and 94.7 The WAVE when I’m wanting to wind down. And then K-EARTH is more of a wind-up for me. But I think specifically this year, I wanted the radio more in my house rather than just moments in the car. I do think when I listen to the radio, I feel less alone energetically. When I’m listening to Bluetooth, I feel more isolated — not in a bad way. It’s probably why I subconsciously love the radio so much, because it does have that larger feeling of togetherness. The communal part of radio is why I think it still exists.
I don’t know how many people still actively listen to the radio, unless it’s in their car. I don’t even think people really listen to the radio that way as much anymore! Things are becoming more digital, especially with how we listen to music, so now the radio is also becoming a relic. It’s crazy how quickly things are changing, and there are some things that I hope we never lose. I’m a very nostalgic person and the radio makes me feel closer to my childhood. As I’m getting older, I’m wanting to remember my roots and the way music once was, which was that we’d all listen to the same thing. Now, everything is oversaturated. But the radio calms me down — it calms my overstimulated brain.
My brain feels like a radio. I have always many songs playing on different channels. So it’s nice to know there’s an object that understands me.
As told to Annie Fell.
Sedona's record Getting Into Heaven is out now.
