A Starling City Sentinel monthly column

There Is Hope (That Romance Still Lives) by Aisling Brennan

There’s a certain radio station broadcasting on our Seaboard that caters to romance and the romantic. Both those true romantics at heart and the closet romantics that mask the romantic in them and unleash it only when they’re alone, in the evening and late at night, when they turn on their radios and tune in to Romantic FM.

This author is one of the latter, but is using this column to come out of the closet. So, here it is, I’m a romantic. A hopeless romantic, but a hopeful one at the same time. A believer in romance and true love. And this hope has been renewed in the last 17 days, when I became an even more avid follower of this particular radio station.

Why?

The answer is very simple. Because of O.

Who is O, you ask.

Well, the answer to this question is not so simple. It’s impossible, in fact, since the man or woman hiding behind the initial (fake or real, name or surname, no one knows) is adamant about staying anonymous. What I can answer is, that O has been, for the past 17 days, occupying the radio waves with his or her requests for songs to be played, dedicating them to his or her ‘love of my life’. No name, no initial, no acronym, just ‘love of my life’. Simple and to the point.

O’s music taste in love songs spans decades, genres and performers, running from failsafe hits and chart toppers, legends and classics, to indie songs and literal unknowns. From The Carpenters and Elvis, to Bon Jovi and Pink Floyd, John Mayer, Michael Bublé, Shania Twain, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Adele, Train, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Sarah McLachlan, Mark Knopfler, Rod Stewart, Chantal Kreviazuk, Barry White, Kari Kimmel, Train, Peabo Bryson, and the crossover sensation Il Divo to name just a few of his selections.

O’s multiple song requests per night, which are regularly granted, mind you, are sent through texts and e-mails, always accompanied by a short message to complement a certain song, and the dedication.

‘To the love of my life.’

It sounds like a cliché—it is a cliché—and I can already hear the cynics out there clamoring that it’s all fake, a marketing ploy to raise the ratings. Sorry, folks, but to this author, and the numerous followers of the radio station that have grown in numbers in the past two weeks, it sounds incredibly romantic. Sincere, honest. From the heart.

Those six words, and the songs O requests, speak to us, to the romantic part of us, even if it’s hidden and buried deep. Those six words show us, tell us, there is still hope. That romance still exists. That love, true love, love that can last a lifetime is possible. O is living it, O is experiencing it, O is sharing a small part of it with us.

This author is thankful. Awed. Teary. And a little envious.

And a lot curious as to what the love of O’s life has to say about it. Does he or she listen to the songs? Does he or she listen to the songs snuggled on the couch with O? Are they close or are separated by oceans and continents?

This author and the other listeners to Romantic FM are still waiting for a dedication from the love of O’s life to O. Until then, the radio watch continues.

We’ll keep waiting, and listening. And dreaming. Because O is showing us that there is still hope. That romance still lives. That when it comes to love, everything and anything is possible. Even listening to love songs without shedding tears of despair and loneliness.


----- This month’s feature columnist Aisling Brennan is a movie and music blogger, the author of The Power of Music, and a StarNews correspondent.