Oddly enough for me Tom Petty reminds me of my high school PE class. We had a copy of Tom Petty's greatest hits and it used to play while we ran laps around the gym and such. It was always Tom Petty, three days a week for 2 years of my formative education. I never liked his music until then, but for some reason hearing it over and over again didn't get on my nerves as most other artists would. It grew on me instead.
Never listened to his sirus show, will have to investigate. These past few years have really seen all of my musical idols pass. It's hell to get old. At least artists like Tom Petty have left the world with a soundtrack while we race there.
That's a good memory also. His songs are straight up, honest American rock. While I can get sick of listening to them after a while, they never get annoying or grate on me either.