The Folger's Crystals Swap with Dennis Miller

"We've secretly replaced the Dennis Miller show with Christmas music... let's see if he notices."

For the past six months or so, I have been a devoted listener to the Dennis Miller Radio Show, broadcast on the Westwood One network. Aside from the hometown Pittsburgh flavor, Miller is a breath of fresh air on the talk radio airwaves. He deftly combines pragmatic neoconservative ideas with hipster showbiz chat. I loved listening to the show... so you can imagine my surprise when I flicked on the radio at work to find that 93.7 "The Zone" was replaced with Christmas carols.

The Zone prided itself as "Pittsburgh's 'Man Station,'" which only further confused me when I heard Christmas music on October 1st. Turns out, the station disappeared, and the Christmas carols were a marketing ploy for a new station starting this Friday. I don't care what kind of new radio station you are launching, you don't preface it with a week of Christmas music.

In a way, I'm sad to see The Zone go. It wasn't a particularly great station, aside from Miller, but it was a nice diversion while toiling away at work. Apparently the station's ratings were pretty abysmal, so the decision to give it the axe may have been appropriate... it just stinks to see someone like Miller get left out in the cold. He wasn't quick to give up on his hometown, however, and he mentioned on today's show (which I streamed online) that he hopes to get on another radio station.