These days, while driving the roads of Floyd County (and most anywhere else) I listen to high-quality digital sound on XM satellite radio — a far cry from the scratchy AM radio that brought the outside world to my ’57 Ford in high school.

Back in the 60s, AM radio ruled and it took a good radio to pull in the 50,000-watt clear channel stations from far beyond the borders on Floyd County.

On dates, we would park at Rocky Knob overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway and listen to Cousin Bruce Morrow on WABC in New York or Dick Biondi on WLS in Chicago. The music provided the backdrop to our fumbling attempts at teenage passion in the back seat.

Nowadays, XM provides memories with 60s on 6, the oldies channel that features only 1960s rock. Because XM doesn’t run commercials on the music channels, you get the music without the ads for acne medicine.