My mother, my older brother and I sitting and listening to a program on the big Philco radio.
Thinking back to those days it might have been The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, Sky King, One Man's Family, Ma Perkins or maybe it was a news broadcast telling of the wars in Europe and the Pacific, or perhaps one of those wonderful baseball games from far away.
(I became a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, the rest of the family preferred the Cleveland Indians.)
Whatever it was, it captivated us, led us into worlds of fantasy.
Later on I got interested in short wave radio, which led me to become a "ham" radio operator and finally, in college, to a part time job announcing in a small radio station.
From there I graduated to bigger radio stations and on into television.
The road led me to Minot and Bismarck in North Dakota, Aberdeen in South Dakota, then Indianapolis and on to Phoenix.
Many happy days, great adventures and some marvelous trips.
Perhaps, just perhaps, it all dates back to those days in the 1940's in a small town in North Dakota and the Philco in the corner of the living room that opened up the world.
Great post...it makes me feel young, I missed out on the bulk of the radio age.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful chronology, thanks. I've heard of all those shows you mentioned, but never heard any of them. I did watch, avidly, the TV version of Sky King on Saturday mornings. Good times. :)
ReplyDeleteJoeh and Lowandslow: You can find recordings of many of those shows on the internet and listen to them at your leisure. I just searched out and listened to part of an episode of Bobby Benson and the B Bar B riders today. I was surprised to learn that was the show that got Don Knotts started in show business.
DeleteI can't remember if we had a radio the size of a mini frig or was it the tv the size of cereal box embedded in very similar looking unit? I do remember when the transistor radio was the big deal in our house because my dad could work on the car and listen to the Detroit Tiger ball game simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I had to drive across town to manage a jewelry store and I got into the habit of listening to Fibber McGee and Molly, and it was very funny.
ReplyDeleteRadio was magic in those days. I remember saturday mornings on the floor listening to the Lone Ranger. At night, with lights out, I'd listen to the adventures of Johnny Dollar. We had it on in the kitchen during the prep and dinner time listening to Lowell Thomas and Hinshaw Edits the News, CBS News and a great old series about a maid that took care of a white family...I think it was called Beulah. As a kid hearing these filtered and long distance voices coming in from around the world reporting on events put the idea in my mind for my life's work.
ReplyDeleteYep, Johnny Dollar was another one I listened to.
DeleteWhat a radio!
ReplyDeleteWe had one similar, in Bend in the mid-fifties. I remember it could get Mexico, Canada (which I thought was very forign. and Russia (the soviet, back then) they had an english broadcast that lasted an hour or more.
ReplyDeleteSo long ago.
I sent out SWL (Short Wave Listener) cards to stations I had "logged". I got mail from Radio Moscow for years. The postmaster must have been stunned and I may have a lengthy FBI file!
DeleteThat is a very familiar radio...we had one in our home as did my wife's folks. I also had a small radio when a teen in Los Angeles. I'd listen to the Lone Ranger a lot, and there was a country music station I really liked, but that's so long ago, it's receded into the dark ages.
ReplyDeleteI missed that radio era, but npr and affiliates have audio storytelling and quiz shows still. As does the bbc. Takes more digging, but it's still a viable format. Prairie Home Companion long ago. A bbc one called Cabin Pressure is hilarious. This American Life. Audible.com has a library of recorded books.
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