Aerial View was WFMU’s first regularly-scheduled phone-in talk show. Hosted by Chris T. and on the air since 1989, the show features topical conversation, interviews and many trips down the rabbit hole. Until further notice, Aerial View is only available as a podcast, available every Tuesday morning. Subscribe to the newsletter “See You Next Tuesday!” and find tons of archives at aerialview.me. (Visit homepage.)

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July 15, 2014: Your Commute
My commute these days is a piece of cake. Either my wife gives me a ride or I take the community shuttle to the ferry. The boat takes six to ten minutes to cross the Hudson. Then I get in one of the glorified school buses the ferry company runs and we head down 50th Street. The bus stops across the street from my building. From my house to my desk the whole commute usually takes less than half an hour. Jealous? Please don't be. I made the down payment on this commute with some horrible ones over the years.

There was the RCA Phone Systems telemarketing gig in Great Neck on Long Island, when I Iived in Lindenhurst and drove a car that got seven miles to the gallon with a stiff breeze behind it. I crawled on the Long Island Expressway, sometimes taking two or more hours to go a distance of less than twenty five miles. Worse still was when I totaled the car and had to take three buses to get there, leaving before dawn so I could be there by 9 AM.

Then there was the short-lived job at the Springfield, NJ Guitar Center (I worked in the Pro Audio department). I lived in Hoboken at the time and driving back and forth on Route 22 left me with a mobile form of post traumatic stress disorder. The few times I've found myself on that ridiculous road I've suffered palpitations and cold sweats. I don't know if I could ever go back to sitting in a car crawling to work.

But the worst might've been all the years I commuted via bus from Hoboken to Manhattan and back. The buses were always packed, the AC was often out, fellow commuters spent the entire trip on their cellphones, the tunnel traffic would come to an utter halt and the diesel fumes had your head spinning. And then there's the camel that broke my straw back: the Port Authority Bus Terminal of New York. I'd like to thank the Port Authority (commuters here never add "Bus Terminal") that convinced me to pay through the nose to ride the ferry to work.

Which brings me to you, dear listener. In all the years I've been doing Aerial View I've never specifically asked about your commute, though my show IS on during drive time and I know many of you are commuting when you call. Tonight, we change all that. Call from your car, stuck in traffic. Call from the Port Authority. Call from your fixie. Just call. The number is 201-209-WFMU.

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