I love music. I hate the radio.

And it’s not just because I am a little bitter I didn’t get that radio station internship I applied for. Radio is ruining the music I love.

This dilemma has led me to rely heavily on the CD player in my car and my MP3 player, of course.

There are still times, however, when the evil radio cannot be escaped.

For instance, I had an incredibly boring office job over the summer. I would listen to music everyday to pass the time. I would start out by listening to a morning show perhaps the only redeemable quality radio has to offer these days to get me through until my coffee break. I began listening to The Blitz’s Grego and Mo and when that got boring, I turned to WNCI’s The Morning Zoo. Occasionally, I threw in a morning with Woody and the Wake Up Call on WCOL.

Although these shows kept me entertained with their stunts, pranks and running commentary, I found myself dreading 10 o’clock, when the shows would end and I had to find music to listen to. A girl can only take Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” or Paris Hilton’s “Stars are Blind” so many times and still keep her sanity. Seriously, who told Paris Hilton she could sing?

I was taken from a level of distaste for these mediocre pop songs to sheer hatred. If I got into my car or I walked into a restaurant and one of these songs were playing, I felt about two seconds away from a nervous breakdown.The problem with radio: Overkill.

The terrible songs I already hated started to make me want to scratch my eyeballs out after hearing them over and over. The songs I enjoyed began to lose all flavor for me after the 20th listener had requested them.

Even the songs I really liked became dreaded annoyances. Sure, Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” was a fun dance hit. It made me want to go out to a club and get my groove on at first, but after hearing it so many times, it kind of made me want to kill Justin Timberlake.

It seems the pop or “lite rock” stations are guiltiest of this sin, but it occasionally happens with the hard rock and country stations too. Independently-run stations have somewhat flexibility with what they play. CD 101 has a “main playlist” they stick to, only occasionally throwing in some older songs.

Stations run by big corporations are even worse, stuck playing the same five songs over and over again because they are basically paid to play them. Seriously, is it just me or does it seem like Clear Channel is taking over the world?

The saddest part is, I really do love pop music. It’s not even a guilty pleasure for me, I am loud and proud about my love for Justin, Britney, Christina, boy bands, ’80s rock ballads and all things cheesy. And I love singing along to the radio and the thrill of not knowing what song will come on next and the excitement when they throw in something random or old school.

Imagine me on that VH1 show “Motor Mouth” – I would be a perfect candidate. Unfortunately I find myself turning the radio off most of the time because I would rather sit in silence than hear “My Humps” by the Black Eyed Peas one more time.

It makes me sad some of my favorite pop hits have been ruined for me essentially by this system of overplaying a song; it’s like beating a dead horse. But, I guess I consider myself lucky to have other options when I am driving with the windows down – I think I’ll be sticking to my CD player from now on, or maybe I’ll be asking Santa for some Sirius or XM this Christmas.

Megan Partlow can be reached for comment at [email protected].