Much about the process of driving a car becomes automatic; the gears, the steering, the brakes. I find in my Golf that operation of the cruise control is fairly autonomous too, as well as the operation of the radio in support of a simple policy of avoiding argument, boredom, advertisements or bad music. My normal radio listening tastes stretch from commercial radio through to BBC radio 3 and radio 4.
In the mornings the commercial radio tends to be OK, except for the sponsored content, radio 4 is generally the Today programme which may suffer poor guests or uninteresting topics and radio 3 may or may not have some music I like. If I'm not engaged in thought, the radio is generally on, but if none of the ususal selection of stations is entertaining me, it may go off. My fingers stab at channel buttons or the Source button more or less of their own volition.
Commercial radio, with its obsession for avoiding dead-air is always easy to filter quickly. I know in under a second whether there is studio chat, news, traffic, music or adverts. For advertising or rap or a selection of artists I choose to avoid getting to know, the decision to click away is swift.
Radio 4's Today programme is largely composed of two to five minute segments on topical subjects which may be reportage, interview or recordings from some event. Rarely there may be short recorded performances; regularly there is news. I find many of the topics interesting, but click away if I've already heard the news, if an interviewee is not answering the questions, if the interviewer is too abrasive or if the topic is of no interest. Unless I revisit a segment I have already decided against, filtering the content can be a slower process than for commercial radio. I may listen to half an item, or two words of an item before 'Click'.
Radio 3 is not normally my first choice. First thing in the morning I am seeking some stimulus, some fresh perspective, something lively; but once I've exhausted the other possibilities my fingers will stab for radio 3 and though I may sometimes find music that doesn't fit my mood, the result is occasionally sublime - such as the moment I journalled about, the simple introduction "Bach" followed by part of the Musical Offering. The interesting contrast to the other possible station choices is the proportion of times I click for radio 3 and hear - nothing. These are not 'silent' nothings, always they are expectant or reflective; they may be the slight pause after a piece before the announcer interrupts our reverie to remind us what we have heard, or just missed in this case. It may be the interval before the first note of an announced piece, rendered more surprising for starting anonymously. It may be a simple musical pause, perhaps between movements. It may just be the prelude to a crecendo, the tail of a diminuendo or a section of bass that is submerged in the road noise. Radio 3 has the slowest tempo of any of the stations, pieces last from 90 seconds to 20 minutes. I like to guess the piece and, if I know it well, the artists. I have been known to click away in anger at the performance, such as this morning's Wagner overture in which the brass was completely submerging the urgency and drama of the strings.
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