104.7 The Mile is the greatest radio station I have ever heard.

Quick, listen to it here before we go any further: http://www.themile.fm/

Keep it on while you read.

And yes, that is their whole website. This station is so old-school they don’t even produce web content. I LOVE IT.

I’m a music guy (or at least I aspire to be). I read the blogs; I read music boards occasionally; I know as soon as the latest TaylorSwift.1989.320.zip hits the web (Has not hit, as of yet). I love curating playlists and discovering new artists via Spotify, and playing what I hope people will like and have not heard.

Music is an active experience for me.

And yet, since arriving in Vail, I mostly listen to the radio. And on the radio, I almost exclusively listen to 104.7 The Mile.

104.7 The Mile (why yes, I have been working in search engine optimization, how’s my keyword density?) is pretty much exactly what I imagined a ski town radio station would be like ever since I put SSX 3 in the Gamecube.

104.7 The Mile plays the greatest mix of songs, on top of the best music: commercials ratio you’ll hear anywhere this side of college radio. Actually, I’m sure that my former college’s radio station KCSU plays more ads than 104.7 The Mile does. KCSU is a little edgier, but you don’t really need edge in Vail, Colorado. Vail’s really not such an edgy town. As Vail Resorts is happy to remind it’s employees, Vail has brand standards. Rich people come here to relax, not to be offended. The locals just try and slip between the cracks.

EVEN BETTER, 104.7 The Mile has local news, recorded daily (of surprising importance in the Vail Valley, I’m discovering). These news breaks are also a great way to learn about local events, which are always going on in the Vail Valley.

Most importantly, since Vail and Avon are ski towns, 104.7 The Mile gives the weather forecast multiple times a day, so you can plan your days and your days off to take maximum advantage of the world-class skiing provided by Vail and Beaver Creek. I have to say though, these weather forecasts are not very useful. The meteorologist, Stacy Donaldson, never gives any estimate about snow accumulation. I understand that you can’t always accurately predict the weather, but this being a ski town, it would be nice if she differentiated between 1 inch of snow and a 16-inch powder day. As it stands, I need to resort to OpenSnow.com for my detailed ski forecasts. That’s a minor inconvenience though.

104.7 The Mile is an awesome station that plays perfect music, keeps the advertising to a minimum, and provides timely, useful information.

Basically, this is the greatest radio station I have ever heard.
(I don’t work there.)
(But I would really like to. Seriously. Hit me up, 104.7 The Mile. Vail is expensive.)