# Seattle Mazda drivers can't change their radios off of KUOW **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** racing-auto-boat\ **Created:** [February 9, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162 "2022-02-09T16:02:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/41 "2022-02-11T03:19:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Perhaps, but it seems extremely weird that you can’t just reset the module yourself, like you can pretty much any other device that can possibly freeze or crash Bricked devices aren’t always so easy to recover from. If they wrote the file to local storage, they could be stuck in a reboot loop, where as soon as the main program starts, it sees the bad file and then immediately crashes, starting the cycle over. Power cycling wouldn’t fix that; you’d need to reset/format the filesystem to recover. Not likely something easily available to an end user. > [@BigT](#): > > Also, who came up with a standard that required filenames at all? That seems dumb to me, but I don’t know that it’s actually in the standard. Could just be a bad choice on the part of Madza (or rather their supplier). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/42 "2022-02-11T03:35:48Z")
Of course. It didn’t even occur to me that the thing would have writable storage at all. I mean, sure, it would need to store presets and a few other things, but I would have thought all of those could just be reset. I just assumed it would run off firmware. I don’t see how the filename could could be a Mazda-only issue, though. What I understood is that the radio station send bad data. Surely that data would have be using some sort of standard so that it would work on other “HD” radios. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/43 "2022-02-11T03:43:21Z")
I dunno; the file probably comes through as a blob that contains a description, filename, and the binary data itself. Maybe some “intent” as well, like whether it’s a station logo or song cover art. The radio could choose to parse the data to determine the file type, but if you’re a programmer and see that the filename extension is right there, why not save some time and use that? Some articles seem to be claiming that the station sent bad data, but I don’t know if that’s been established. Yeah, apparently sending the file without an extension was a mistake, but that doesn’t mean it was against the standard. It could just be the way it’s commonly done, and so Madza depended on it even if technically they shouldn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/44 "2022-02-11T21:12:02Z")
It seems appropriate to link to an old thread, in which the digital clock/calendar in a Doper’s old Hyundai gets confused about a leap year. The date changes from FEB 29 to Feb 30, to Feb 31, Feb 32, Feb 33 etc, etc. Two months later the display shows “FEB 99”. And then, it gets …interesting. 🙂 [https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-useless-accessory-in-my-car-is-now-even-more-useless) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/45 "2022-02-11T22:14:00Z")
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) that old Santa Fe is long gone. However, my current vehicle - a 2018 Toyota RAV4 which I’ve had about three months now - has it’s own odd audio quirk. It apparently prefers Yes to the Beatles. I have a USB drive full of music that I play in the car. If I am playing a Beatles album and turn the car off, when I get back in it will finish playing the song it was on then switch to a Yes album. When it first started happening, it would start playing “Close To The Edge”. After a week or two of this, I decided to delete the “Close To The Edge” album from my USB drive to see what would happen. What happened was, it would start playing “Fragile” instead. I’m going to delete ALL of my Yes albums from my USB drive and see what happens then. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/46 "2022-02-12T04:13:56Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > However, my current vehicle - a 2018 Toyota RAV4 which I’ve had about three months now - has it’s own odd audio quirk. It apparently prefers Yes to the Beatles. > > I’m going to delete ALL of my Yes albums from my USB drive and see what happens then. Your car has good taste. And can I buy it when it stops running (right after you delete all the Yes)? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/47 "2022-02-12T04:15:59Z")
My guess is after you delete all the Yes albums, it’s going to switch to playing ZZ Top. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/48 "2022-02-12T04:39:39Z")
I’m totally okay with that! _A-How how how How!_ ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2022, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162/49 "2022-02-12T06:35:23Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > It apparently prefers Yes to the Beatles. Is it a White Car? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seattle-mazda-drivers-cant-change-their-radios-off-of-kuow/959162.md?page=2)