Generation That Remembers When There Was No Radio

[Youngblood]

I recently attended an uncle's 90th, and on the way home,suddenly realized that he was alive for at least 6 years before the first commercial licensed radio station in the Boston area (WBZ) signed on the air in 1921. (I know about the experimental station WGI, circa 1919, from Medford Hillside, but I don't consider it a true station because it was so short-lived).

That got me thinking that with more and more people who are in their late 80s and older still with us, we have thousands of Americans who remember the world before commercial radio stations existed. Yes, some may have memory problems due to their age, but many remember things from their childhood more vividly than things that occurred a short time ago. Thousands of others not quite as old remember the earliest years of radio.

Has anyone reading this post ever sat down with an elderly relative or friend and asked them about their earliest memories of radio in the Boston area? Just
curious if someone might have done this at one time, and what they learned from it.

 

[magpie]

That would make a great This American Life-y documentary.

 

[Bored Op]

I worked for many years for Crosley and his men. We threw the switches on many radio stations in those days, and that was my experiences. Once I got my elbow caught in a big mass of mad bees at the bottom of a big radio broadcasting antenna.. Do you know they stop stinging you after a few minutes? They must have gotten tired I guess. All God's creatures get tired sometime, and the bees just gave up on me. Rhonda says it's because I am hard to deal with sometimes. Those bees weren't dealing with me I can tell you that. They were in the mood to sting something and I was it for then. If I had a smoker, I would have fumigated those bastards. Anyway, I come from an era of gentlemen, and ladies that had a work ethic. People in the brodcasting profession were looked upon with admiration, and envy. There were great announcers in my town like Harv McConnell, and Paul Paylon..that ratty looking but scampish little shrimp, Scotty Barron, who would pull his nastly little pranks, and giggle so hard he would make a pond on the floor. We all knew where he was at all times, and he was a favorite with the girls after his surgery let me tell you. Anyway like I was saying, radio announcers and for that matter all broadcasting employees were members of an elite community...a community that no longer exists.

There was a time when being "in radio" meant that you were welcome at most banks by a smiling Vice President who would always "do what he could for you"..These days if you mention that you work at a radio station they usually call the police..that after hammering you a few times with one of those bogus TRW reports that DON'T tell all of the story let me tell you that!

Gentlemen at the studio would dress appropriatly (coat and tie daytime, and a charcoal suit at night) Women were not to be seen smoking, and must dress in a tasteful suit during the daytime hours, and a black evening gown at night. Those of us in engineering were expected to have clean overalls and a BOW tie.

Today I walked into a local radio station to collect my prize of a free dinner for two at some pork-chop restaurant because I knew how many grooves there were on a standard 33rpm vinyl record. They are always asking crazy stuff like that on the local radio station, but I found out that the two young men that Rhonda and I listen to are really from somewhere in Colorado, or Mexico or somewhere so I didn't really win anything because they are going to "send it to me.." hah, sure they will, and even if I get it..it will only be good for one free dinner per visit, so Rhonda and I will have to go twice, and they will make me pay twice..and besides that there are none of those pork-chop restaurants here in my state, I know! because I looked in the Yellow Pages under "Pork-Chops" and there was nothing listed..and I went here to the library and looked that up in other Yellow Pages in other cities and there was nothing there either, so obviously they are trying to cheat us because I'm old.

Anyway the woman at the front desk was dressed like some kind of pros

PUBLIC ACCESS COMPUTER TIME-OUT "Please deposit another 5.00 and continue" Orange County Public Library System

 

[Deleted User]

I am going to ask some of the seasoned citizens at the local Senior Center if they remember when...

I have quite a few friends over 90 who would probably remember.

I was in Brant Rock yesterday speaking of the origins of broadcasting...

Someday people will ask me about when I worked on radios that had tubes, and analog TV....

 

[aaronread]

I remember the days when you didn't have to listen to cranks rambling on for weeks on the internet...back in the old days, the worst it got was your grandpa at Christmas, and at least that was just one day a year.

The rest of the time, you could see the crazies coming at you and cross to the other side of the street!

 

[Savage]

Personally I admire societies which treat older generations with respect, and where people are wise enough to pay attention to the accumulated experiences of years of living. It can save you a lot of grief if you profit from the experience of others.

The obsession of modern culture with youth and superficial, always-fleeting physical beauty is a real flaw. It's self-defeating.

I used to have an Iwo Jima veteran in his 80s who would come down to the station and get everything ready for the Sunday morning board op. He would get all the programming ready, turn the lights and heat on and make the coffee. He was always dressed - at 6am on a Sunday - in a sweater, neatly-pressed slacks and a necktie (as late as 1967 when I got into this biz, even many small stations still required announcers to wear a tie at work.) We always enjoyed listening to his tales of his postwar radio gig, introducing live bands and doing remotes and so forth; there was always a pertinent kernel of wisdom in there. Snow, ice, thunderstorms, sweltering heat, Bill was as reliable as the sunrise - but he would never accept a dollar in compensation - a class act. When Bill passed in 2000, the station staff was at his memorial service.

Compare this gentleman with Howard Stern, whose act consists of: (a) Are those real? (b) Are you gonna take your shirt off? (c) Would you do the big nasty with my wife, and (d) if you do, can we all watch? Basically that's it. Worth $500 million? YOU decide.

Wonder why radio is in such dire straits these days. Wonder if we're witnessing the bitter end to a generation of lowest-common-denominator programming.....?

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

Whoa! This blows away anything I've ever written or ever will write on this board! Not to say that I'll never complain about (ultimately) petty stuff again, but this thread gives me a completely different perspective on radio.