Mr. Toy's Mental Notes

Radio station format changes are not usually pleasant. For reasons known only to station owners, they tend to be drastic, abrupt, and unwelcome to loyal listeners. Friday evening, as I was getting ready to take a shower I tuned the bathroom radio to KBOQ hoping to hear classic rock tunes which is my favorite entertainment for my particular bathing ritual. But instead of classic rock, it was just...classical. Now don't get me wrong. I love classical music as much as any other form, but it was still kinda jarring to expect one thing and hear something very different. At first I thought it was some sort of feed mix-up, as this particular station had that happen once before. But no, apparently KBOQ is now rebroadcasting San Francisco's classical KDFC in Monterey. So KBOQ, originally known as "K-Bach," has come back to its classical roots. Five years ago Mapleton Communications abruptly changed KBOQ's format from classical to classic hits, much to the dismay...

I love Carmel. I was born in Carmel during one of the final years of it having its own hospital and maternity ward. Carmel is in my blood, and like many people I never want it to change. Of course, over the last 56 years it has, in many ways, changed quite a bit, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. Yet it is comforting that many of the village landmarks I grew up with, from the Pine Inn to Bruno's Market still look pretty much the same as they did in my earliest childhood memories.   For some strange reason a single building on the corner of 7 th and Dolores seems to be the focal point for the local political drama over keeping Carmel Carmelish. Several years ago it was suggested that a Long's Drug store might occupy the former bank building, but that was shot down by the anti-chain-store crowd whose short memory forgot that the townsfolk fought to preserve a similar chain store that closed its Ocean Avenue location just a decade earlier.   More recently there we...