Local Radio

I'm sure you have your doubts about the cultural offerings of someplace like Las Vegas. It's okay, most people do.

But even before I had moved here from the Los Angeles area, when I was only coming here for our annual pilgrimage (but that's another story entirely), I had managed to find the local NPR station in the Microtel that I mentioned previously. I didn't realize at that time how vital this would be.

Once I moved here, I discovered that this was a much more valuable find than I had thought.

Obviously when you move, you're a little . . . disoriented. You can't find things. You spend an hour looking for a computer cable, or cleaning supplies, or your other shoe.

But you find your clock radio, and you go up and down the dial, and then . . . you find the local NPR station.

And you're home.

That's how it felt for me here when I first arrived. There's something about NPR that's familiar and comforting, wherever you go. So I listened to Morning Edition, and that was good. But then I discovered that unlike anyplace else I've lived, they took the news station here 88.9 and separated it, so that there's also a classical music station at 89.7 .

This is great because if you want the classical music, there's that (it's very good to write by, so I remember that one). But there's also a larger range of stations that I would've thought. There's your Pop/Top 40, Rock, Soul, Jazz, Sports, Talk, Sports-Talk, Spanish-language, Oldies, Classic Rock, Electronic Dance, what I call the God Stations (which includes everything from pastors preaching to “inspirational”), and even local stations for UNLV and the local police. Some of these are online only stations, but you can listen live here.

But if you want both to know what's going on nationally, and to find out all the local happenings and so forth, you'll want to mostly keep your dial set to 88.9. Because after Morning Edition (which, if you don't listen to, where have you been?), you get KNPR's State of Nevada, followed by Talk of the Nation, and then The World. In other words, if you want to be well-informed, I have to say, Southern Nevada has one of the best radio stations I've ever run into. You can get the full schedule here and if you're interested in community activities, ways to help others, or maybe get some help yourself, there's a guide to all kinds of organizations here. 

 

In addition, you can find out something about HD Radio here, something they didn't have even in Southern California, nor in Philly when I left the area (although they have since gotten it: WHYY). They also offer a radio reading service for anyone who is visually impaired or just has trouble reading, they read newspapers, books, and magazines, which is cool. You need a special radio for this, apparently, but there's little (possibly no) cost.

So I guess what I'm saying is that though there's a better selection of stations here than in Los Angeles, in my own humble opinion, the local NPR station is probably the one cultural offering I would go so far as to say is not to be passed up, and it's well worth the small donation I make each year to be a member, even if you can't afford the cool premiums.

Oh, and just because I don't have any more photos this time around, here's a pic of the view from just going to pick up a pizza last night.

Pet Friendly

Las Vegas is a very pet-friendly town.  In SoCal everyone seemed to have dogs and cats despite the pervasive no pets policy – or, in other words, that rule was routinely ignored, and as long as no one complained, you could get away with it.  But I've never seen so many signs advertising, "Pets Welcome!" as I have in this town.  I'm not sure why, exactly.  You see this on almost every complex when you're apartment-hunting, with a few variations, like, "Small Pets Welcome!" or, "We Welcome Pets of All Sizes!" 

The local NPR station, which is KNPR (Nevada Public Radio),88.9FM, puts out a magazine called DESERT COMPANION (which you can subscribe to, if you like,at that link).  This month, as you can see from the photo above, they've got a whole issue revolving around pets.  And that doesn't even cover it.

I know my little guy . . .

. . . gets bored sometimes.  After all, he's stuck in an apartment all day, so that's pretty much his world.  And though I try to vary his walk by taking different routes around our complex, and sometimes outside the complex, really . . . it's still all the same places.  So I looked up the closest dog park, and found a bunch that weren't even listed in the magazine.  I guess they didn't have enough room to list them all.

 And though they're not nearly as big as the ones I had gone to in SoCal, I think they'll be better for my little fella, who gets intimidated by too many dogs.  This particular park has three different areas sectioned off by fences.  Also, since they actually do have rules (they probably did in the Southland, too . . . only no one seemed to follow them) . . .

 

. . . I hopefully won't get knocked on my ass by a dog that weighs more than I do because I didn't seem like a barrier to catching the Frisbee Pro Classic with U-Flex (he wasn't being aggressive or anything, he just didn't see me as an impediment; after that I learned to stand near trees!).  So we'll have to try the park out in the near future, though you really can't go during the day here.  You go either in the morning or around 6:00 or 7:00pm, when it's relatively cooler.

Another thing you see a lot here are these:

 

So there's no excuse for not cleaning up after your furry friend!

The one thing they aren't as progressive on here, I have to say, is service dogs.  Whereas in SoCal you don't even need to carry around proof that your dog is a service dog (and they're not allowed to ask too many questions, either), here I've seen people told their service dog can't enter a business because it's not a seeing-eye dog (apparently the only type of service dogs those people were familiar with). 

There are also a lot of dog-friendly hotels and motels here.  You can check bringfido.com, but the one I have stayed in (before I moved here) and can vouch for is the Microtel on Robindale Road (just off The Strip, but pretty far south).  It's clean and inexpensive, and that's really what was most important to me. 

On the other hand, I've taken the little guy to the car dealer for service, to the hair salon (with another person along to keep watch on him), and when we stayed at "an unnamed Strip Hotel" instead, too, and never had any problems.  Generally as long as it wasn't a place that sells food, that's usually the case, at least in my experience. 

Now the only thing I need to do is figure out how to cure my little one of car-sickness, and we're all set!