I am nothing if not a creature of habit.
I have a tendency to do the same things at the same time every day.
I kind of like it that way. I find comfort in the routine.
Go ahead, call me old-fashioned. A dinosaur. You would not be the first one.
The very first thing I do every morning - at an ungodly early hour - is grab the battery-powered portable radio I still keep beside my bed and then head for the coffee maker.
In that order.
I flip on the radio and within a minute or two I can be reassured that the world has not gone awry in the few hours since I slid into my nightly coma the night before.
More importantly, it gives me a quick glance at any big stories that might be breaking in the region.
That radio never changes. It is tuned to one station.
That would be KYW-Newsradio 1060.
It has provided the soundtrack of my life. I hear their jingle - "KYW, Newsradio, 1060" - in my sleep,
It plays on the old box-top radio that belonged to my mother that has sat on my desk every day of my 36 years here at the Daily Times.
That station never wavers either.
That clackety-clack teletype that is the background soundtrack on KYW might be bothersome to others, but to me it is a soothing presence. It reminds me of the teletype machines that once were the staple of any newsroom.
I find great comfort in my routine, and KYW Newsradio provides a big part of it.
I know that I can always click on the radio and get the traffic on the 2's, a business update at 25 and 55 after the hour.
And I always know that I can flip on the radio at any time of the day at quarter of and quarter after the hour to get an update on the top stories of the day and the sports report.
Right up until Tuesday.
That's when I discovered that my beloved KYW has changed.
Sports is no longer at quarter of and quarter after.
Sports reports now come on at 8 minutes and 38 minutes after the hour.
I'm sure the folks at KYW know what they are doing, and there is a good reason for this.
I have my own theory.
After all, I work for a newspaper. If you know anything about the news business these days, you know that it is a very difficult business climate.
"Efficiencies" are a common phrase in my line of work these days.
I'm guessing in radio, too.
I can't be sure, but I'm guess this factored into the decision to change things at KYW.
I suppose I will adjust.
Hell, I've survived the last decade in the newspaper racket.
But it's still a jolt to this dinosaur's system.
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