Someone dear to me got excited when she learned that Congress was considering making Daylight Saving Time permanent.
Excited, that is, until I told her that in wintertime here in northern Virginia, she’d find herself arriving at work each morning in the dark — even though she gets to the office as late as 8:30 a.m. She didn’t like that so much. (Good thing she doesn’t work in the U.P. of Michigan.)
Why mess with a system that works? That’s my take on it.
I find it interesting that some folks get so worked up about this issue. One end of the day or another, changing the system is going to inconvenience someone.
Or if we do decide to change it, why not stay on Standard Time rather than on DST? Isn’t that more natural?
Well … none of it is natural.
Me, I kinda like the semiannual changing of the clocks; I find it a rare common ritual in our lives (well, almost common, looking at you, Hawaii and Arizona). It’s a ceremony that makes us all briefly aware that the structuring of our daily lives by the hours is really arbitrary. And even though DST itself only began in the United States in the early 20th century, changing clocks somehow makes me feel just the smallest bit closer to folks who lived centuries ago, their lives ruled by the cycles of agriculture and of the sun.
All of which is to let you know that in Radio World’s latest issue, Randy Stine reports on the reaction to the DST proposal among AM broadcasters.
Staff news
Also, I’m happy to welcome Elle Kehres to the Radio World team. She is the new editor of our daily Radio World SmartBrief e-newsletter and will also work as a content producer across our platforms.
Elle is a journalist who has experience in print, radio, TV and web, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She most recently was assistant news director and reporter for WCHL(AM/FM). She is based in our parent company’s new office in Atlanta’s Bank of America Plaza tower.
At least she’s in the same time zone as I am.
