Do You Remember?
Mar 14th, 2007 by Don Ray
While I was out driving this morning I was listening to a CD and as the stereo played for some strange reason my mind flipped back to when I was a kid. If I wanted to listen to music I had to get out my mom’s old record player. It was one of those that you had to turn the crank to power the turntable. You also had to fold down this contraption with a steel needle that seemed like it weighed a ¼ of a pound onto a hard, black and brittle record. Then the music would come out of a small metallic speaker above the needle.
I loved music and I loved mystery and adventure programs on the radio. I listened to The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Fibber Magee and Molly and others. One day, I wanted to listen to the radio and the one in the house was not working so I went out and turned the one on in my dad’s car. I listened for several hours until the car battery went dead. Remember all the radios used tubes instead of transistors and consumed a bunch of electricity. I was sure my dad was going to kill me, but he just laughed and said he bet I had learned something that day.
I think that must have been the reason that my main present for that Christmas was a new red table radio. I bet it didn’t cost over $10, but for me it was the greatest gift in the world. My favorite singer was Hank Williams. That is Sr. not Jr. Anyway, I would listen for hours on end and fall asleep with it still playing. The radio must have had some magic timer on it, because it was always turned off when I woke up in the morning. The timer was probably called mom.
Anyway, what I wanted to get to was that all the music, both records and on the radio, was monaural. What a big improvement stereo was when it came. All of a sudden music had depth. Now when you go to movies the sound is everywhere. Today’s entertainment experience is like being there in real life. It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago.
As I write this I remember sitting and listening to my dad talk to some of his friends about when he was a kid. I would think to myself that he had really seen a lot of amazing things in his life. Isn’t it amazing how one’s perspective changes as you get older?
I am sure all of you that are reading this probably have experiences that your kids or grandkids have never experienced. Now might be a good time to sit down with them and tell them about the “good old days” prior to MTV and satellite radio. What do you think?
Hello, yes, I do remember most of what you talked about and some things you didn’t mention. During the war, my mother and I listened to Edward R. Murrow and his news show coming from London while the bombs fell around him. It was riveting…”This is London, calling.” And the news began. I liked Lowell Thomas too because he was from nearby Greenville, Ohio where Annie Oakley lived just north of there.
We had an old metal “Crosley” radio and I still have it and it still works and it has tubes in it. My mother treated it like a sacred cow while she was alive and I got it after she died. It is something I can listen to but I am almost afraid to as I don’t want to blow the tubes.
I have two new blogs that will probably represent most of my work as it is easier for me and is free. One is a required daily photo blog and the other is whatever I want to put there.
The daily photo blog
http://brookvilledailyphoto.blogspot.com/
The whatever blog
http://720pixels.blogspot.com/
Thanks for you many kindnesses.
Hi Abe. Good to hear from you again. I had a hunch that I would hear from you on this post.
Thanks for contributing your URLs and your memories.
You are getting old, my friend. You brought back good memories, thanks. I think those were the good old days. We have come a long way since then. Back then though they had come a long way from the generation before. I remember asking my 5 kids what a 45 record was. No one knew. The best guess was a revolver. I remember tubes in radios. Do you remember crystals? I remember Mc D 5 cent hamburger and 10 cent fries. The fries today are still more expensive than the burger. How about 5 cent silent movies? Two bits for a hair cut!
I think back over the past 20 years and am amazed at the progress.
Having moved to Panama just over 4 years ago has really through your post made me think and be thankful and aware of Today being the “Good Old Days”
Getting old????? Thanks for the compliment. I thought that I had been in that state for a long time!
In 1950, my mother taught herself English by listening to the radio, writing down phonetically words that she heard, then searching the English listings of the English/German dictionary she had until she found a word that was closest to what she had written. She got to speak English very well. Like you, I listened to the radio constantly. Those were magical times. My favourite show was the Lone Ranger.
I was also a long Ranger fan.
Thanks for dropping in Sieg.
Hi Don,
I well remember what you and the others are talking about! I too was a radio affectionado. The Lone Ranger was my favorite, The Shadow a close second. My FIRST radio I made myself, copying what the doughboys used many years ago. You take a toilet paper roll, some very fine copper wire, an old Blue Blade safety razor, large safety pin and a piece of Number 2 pencil lead. Put it all together and sneak your antennae out the window when mom is not looking and up into the tree. You now have a variable tune radio which, by moving the safety pin and pencil lead across the razor blade you can change stations. Now, all you need is a set of earphones and you are good to go. I spent many a night laying in my bed with the earphones on listening to my radio. (And my mom didn’t have to turn it off). Thanks for the memories guys.
Bob
I had a crystal radio I had built also. Sounds like it was very similar to the one you built. The headphones I had bought from a army surlus store for a buck. I had almost forgotten about it.
Anyone remember the Johnson Smith Co.?
http://www.johnsonsmith.com/about_us/index.asp
When I ordered from them they were in Detroit. I ordered my first crystal and catswhisker from there and proceeded to build my crystal radio set. I think I got the headphones from my Grandpa. Had a long wire antenna hooked up to the bedsprings! (No, they weren’t innersprings then.) I loved old-time radio and became interested in ham radio. Wanted to get out there and call CQ but I never made it. I’m still an SWL.
Aaahh, those were the days, my friends. Thanks for all your memories.
Yep. That is where I bought my crystal. I ordered a lot of things from them. I remember two of my prised possessions were a magnifying glass that I used to fry ants and a heavy duty magnet.
I did a good bit of SWLing in the 50’s. I had a Hellicrafters SX 38C radio. I still have a Sony ICF-2010 that I pull out every now and then.
Thank you for evoking this important thing, telling for grandchildren about our life long, long time ago. my granddaughter was asking one day: ” Granny, how was this then 100 years ago, when you was young ?” Do you remember, you are two days older than I am :)).
Happy weekend to you and Lilliam!
Hi Leena. Thanks for dropping in. At least we are both less than 100.
By the way Dad says he remembers that little boy who would spend lots of time listening and learning from the radio. He is very glad that little boy has good memories as so does he. Good feelings always make you feel better. He also said that by the shows that you mentioned you let your age show big time. Jan
His memory is probably better than mine. I am not sure I remember all the things I rememeber sometimes.