I’m driving to the Albany, New York airport on Sunday morning. As I enter the Northway (US 87) at Exit 30, my tenuous link to North Country Radio, the regional NPR group of stations, finally fades into static. So, I start the Seek experience. And I find eBay on the radio.
WOKO, 98.9 on your FM dial, offers The Sunday Morning Radio Flea Market from 7-11 each Sunday morning. I’ve learned since returning home that WOKO, out of Burlington, Vermont, is a country station, but I heard no music that morning. I listened to Lee Bodette (scroll to the bottom of the DJs page) answer the phone, listen to people rattle off their offer, and then move on to the next.
“Hi, I’m Christy from Keene. I’ve got a 1986 Thunderbird with 130,000 miles on it. New tires and nicely tuned by my father. $900 or best offer. My phone number is 555-1212.”
Lee repeats “Caller number 104, 1986 Thunderbird, phone number 555-1212.”
And on it goes.
Lee’s bio says: “I’ve been hosting the North Counrty’s [sic] largest Radio Flea Market for about ten years.” So, this has been going on for a decade, probably more. Decades? I’m not a big radio listener, but never heard the like before. And, possibly more interesting… are there others? Lee claims his is the North Country’s largest… are there smaller ones? I would think the network effect would make it the only one. There’s a reason eBay’s marketplace size hampers competitors. No reason same rules wouldn’t apply here.
The whole experience made me smile, and wonder what else I’m missing in the world. It also brought to mind William Gibson’s epigram about the future; how it’s already here, just not evenly distributed. I now have proof.