Hail to the radio! All baby boomers should be celebrating today for it is National Radio Day! Oh, how would we have survived our teenage life without radios? Just as today’s parents fuss about computers and cell phones, ours complained about that “racket” coming from our little transistor radios. Remember cruising a Tastee Freeze or a local shopping center with your car’s radio at full blast of the day’s hits? What joy that brought to us.

For each generation there is new technology that takes our teenagers away from reality to another world. For my generation, it was the radio. We just had to hear the top hits of the day, the number one singer or band, or swoon with some song that made us think about our secret sweetheart. I can remember hiding my transistor radio under my pillow at night so that I could listen to music as I was lying in bed.

I was a lucky girl as my mom liked modern music, and my dad loved to dance. Dad was more into country western music at the time which was not my cup of tea. However, it brought music into my household which I adored. Another big plus for me, dad was an amateur radio operator. Another type of radio! He helped me to make my own transistor radio, I learned about being a “ham”, and I think we all were a happy radio family.

Probably most people think of the radio as an entertainment device. However, the first wireless radio was meant to serve the military. My first thought when I read that information was the movie, “Good Morning, Viet Nam” with Robin Williams. Unfortunately, my research didn’t mean that at all. The radio was used during war time and peace time until more sophisticated technology was developed. The radio has served mankind well in the twentieth century. In 1912, a wireless radio broadcast the Titanic’s distress. As early as 1906, the first entertainment show was broadcast from Massachusetts. That made me think of my grandmother who was born in 1907. She loved her radio that she kept on top of the fridge!

Remember when your parents wanted to have a stereo console? One of those huge pieces of furniture with a radio and record player inside? Did you know those are collector’s pieces now? Oh, lord! The delivery truck would pull up with this huge piece box containing the console. You were probably more excited over the box than the console. In came the console, and then the big debate of where it should go. Usually it wound up at the front window with a lamp on it. However, it was so cool. You could play your record collection, or you could turn on AM or FM radio. Of course, it would be in stereo, so you got the best sound ever. It was so much better than your little transistor radio.

My mom used to tell me about all of the radio shows her family would listen to in the evenings. I have seen pictures of families gathered in the living rooms listening to the radio. It’s actually a humorous scene. They are either staring at the floor in deep concentration, or they are looking at the radio. Just imagine what each person would envision? Think of the sound effects, the voice changes, the narrators. There would even be commercials! What I like about that scenario is it’s a family together. Not everybody off to their own space on their own device.

As I was contemplating this topic, I thought of the history that was announced over radios with people gathered around listening intently. Movies have tried to portray it. Think of war announcements whether they be starting or ending. My mind wanders to the listeners’ expressions of fear or relief. There would have been so many such broadcasts. Deaths, weddings, major speeches, sports, or even just the weather. The radio, thanks to Guglielmo Marconi and others, has given us many years of history for which we can be thankful.

So, as I reflect on Roosevelt’s “fireside chats”, a holler of “The Lone Ranger”, or a jingle from “Wheaties – the best breakfast food in the land”, I am grateful for the radio. I bet you are going to go to the basement and dig out your old transistor radio today. Just for old times sake. Put on your saddle shoes, hold your radio to your ear, and close your eyes. There you go. Old times.