The subject of old radios came up the other day and I thought I would share this, especially for the tropo fans. When I was a kid in the 60’s I found this old radio buried among junk in the basement. I came to call it a magic radio and I was hooked.
My dad was in WW2 and one of his duties was to accepted and deliver Morse Code messages. He was given a radio, among other things, when his tour of duty ended.
This radio was very heavy and it looked like a big box, almost furniture-like. It had tubes you can see in the back through holes that looked like a cat carrier cage. It took a couple of minutes to “warm up.” Soon, I called it a magic radio because it was able to pick up stations no other radio in the house could pick up. By turning that gold arrow in a certain way, even applying pressure at times, I got what seemed like a world of non-local stations. And the sound, it was incredible. If there was anything that could pass for AM stereo, that radio was it.
In these parts, many of you have talked about spring being the prime time for tropo. But where I lived in Northern New Jersey, it was winter at night. It would get dark at 4:30 and within an hour, all the fun began. I knew nothing about how AM signals worked but this radio had such an amazing ability to tune in precisely to a frequency often 1000 miles away. I picked up lots of Midwest stations but the one that fascinated me the most was CKLW.
At the time, I didn’t know this was a Canadian station because of all the references to the Motor City and Motown. Probably shaping my personal music preference for the rest of my life, I just couldn’t get enough of Motown and Soul. I heard songs on CKLW none of the NYC stations played and they were weeks ahead of NYC in airing these songs first. When I went to the local record stores, I often had to request a special order to get some of these songs.
Considering how much I played that radio, it lasted quite a long time. I guess it was the late 60’s that this radio was no more. The throw away society we are, it got tossed out. I regret doing that. I wouldn’t think replacement parts exist, maybe they do. But at any rate, maybe some of you can relate to what I am saying. Hard to believe AM could sound so damn good. I actually do miss that.
My dad was in WW2 and one of his duties was to accepted and deliver Morse Code messages. He was given a radio, among other things, when his tour of duty ended.
This radio was very heavy and it looked like a big box, almost furniture-like. It had tubes you can see in the back through holes that looked like a cat carrier cage. It took a couple of minutes to “warm up.” Soon, I called it a magic radio because it was able to pick up stations no other radio in the house could pick up. By turning that gold arrow in a certain way, even applying pressure at times, I got what seemed like a world of non-local stations. And the sound, it was incredible. If there was anything that could pass for AM stereo, that radio was it.
In these parts, many of you have talked about spring being the prime time for tropo. But where I lived in Northern New Jersey, it was winter at night. It would get dark at 4:30 and within an hour, all the fun began. I knew nothing about how AM signals worked but this radio had such an amazing ability to tune in precisely to a frequency often 1000 miles away. I picked up lots of Midwest stations but the one that fascinated me the most was CKLW.
At the time, I didn’t know this was a Canadian station because of all the references to the Motor City and Motown. Probably shaping my personal music preference for the rest of my life, I just couldn’t get enough of Motown and Soul. I heard songs on CKLW none of the NYC stations played and they were weeks ahead of NYC in airing these songs first. When I went to the local record stores, I often had to request a special order to get some of these songs.
Considering how much I played that radio, it lasted quite a long time. I guess it was the late 60’s that this radio was no more. The throw away society we are, it got tossed out. I regret doing that. I wouldn’t think replacement parts exist, maybe they do. But at any rate, maybe some of you can relate to what I am saying. Hard to believe AM could sound so damn good. I actually do miss that.
