I was pretty surprised yesterday morning when, waiting for the Green Line at North Station, I found myself assaulted by the end of one of those slower Maroon 5 songs that was horribly overplayed and overused in movie trailers. Given that we've kind of moved beyond the days of the boom box, it took me a minute to figure out that the music was coming from the station's loudspeakers.

Turns out I had stumbled into the first day of T-Radio, a pilot program of what the press release calls "an expertly programmed radio format where informative news, entertainment and safety announcements are seamlessly integrated with music to appeal to Boston’s multi-cultural T-rider demographics."

Let's unpack that, shall we?

an expertly programmed radio format - I didn't know that radio for subway platforms was its own format. Are there Arbitron numbers for it?

informative news, entertainment and safety announcements - in the time I was on the platform I heard no news. The 'entertainment' consisted of the sort of funny facts you'd find on a fact a day calendar that you get in your office's holiday swap. There was one announcement, but it was just one of the "See Something, Say Something" spots that remind us that a slogan is the T's best defense against terrorism.

For what it's worth, the most interesting thing I heard from the non-musical programming was that Pope John Paul II was named an honorary Harlem Globetrotter in 2000. I assume it went something like the dream in Fletch where the Pope's height is given with and without mitre.

seamlessly integrated - OK, there were no gaps of dead air or anything, but I figure anyone with basic radio training should be able to do this.

music to appeal to Boston's multi-cultural T-rider demographics - the T is a bit of a melting pot, so this actually makes sense. I am not sure if all the ingredients in the pot will find appeal from Maroon 5, Augustana, and Edwin McCain. Clearly, we're a bechamel rather than a demi glace.

The one thing I can say in the positive about T-Radio is that everyone could hear it. It was obtrusively loud, much too loud for me at 7:45 in the morning. I'm assuming there were complaints, as today I couldn't hear it on the platform at all. I could hear it in the walkway under Causeway Street, but that's about it.

There's an emphasis on the non-musical portions of the broadcast, which is interesting given that I've heard almost nothing that wasn't music. I'm also wondering how I'm going to hear much of the programming unless I'm waiting an inordinate amount of time for a train. This will probably work better at the Airport stop than North and South Stations (the only places getting T-Radio right now).

The kicker is that this new service rolled out the same day I got stuck in the tunnel between Park Street and Boylston for about 15 minutes. I was late to work, but at least I could think about the Pope being the Clown Vicar of Basketball.