Turn the Radio On
I remember my grandmother talking about the radio and what an important piece of technology it was for them. Grandma Layne was born in 1913 and not only was the radio their main source of news, it was their night time entertainment. She listened to shows like “Lum and Abner” and “Minnie Pearl.” She also listened to soap operas, I think it was The Guiding Light. If I close my eyes I can visualize my mom and her two brothers gathered in their living room with Grandma and Grandpa. sitting in a semi-circle and listening to their favorite shows.
During my teen years I had a radio in my room and it was on most of the day and the night. It was the first thing I turned on after I started my car and I liked listening to it with my friends, but like Dylan said, “The times they are a changing.”
Yesterday I was watching television and my son asked me if we had a radio. “I’m sure we do,” I said automatically and then I realized I was wrong. When I stopped and really thought about it I couldn’t remember the last time I listened to the radio in the house.
How weird, I thought to myself. I decided to ask some of my friends on our NanaHood Facebook page if they still have radios in their homes. This is what I asked, “My son wanted to listen to a friend’s radio show and we couldn’t find a radio in our house! To think that the radio was my grandparent’s ONLY source of news and entertainment and I don’t even have one is amazing. Do you have a radio in your house?”
Here are some of their answers…
Yes …clock radio & CD player with a radio!
Nope!!
I probably would have to go out and sit in the car and listen to it. lol
Yes! And a battery operated transistor, too, as we lose power frequently.
Yes a few actually.
Yes we do ! Never know when we will need it !
Yes but they are old, not very good reception
Yes we do, but mostly only listen in the car or in emergency times.
Clock radio that is only used for alarm !!!
Yes on my alarm clock
I can think of 4 radios that we have but they are seldom used.
One in my room that is, phono/ CD/am-fm. And a boom box in the kitchen.
As part of the entertainment center Had to think about it
What About You? Do you have radio’s in your homes? Do you use them regularly or just in emergencies?
I would love for you to “like” NanaHood’s Facebook page and participate in our discussions there as well!
Until the next time, Turn Your Radio On!
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This brings back memories. My grandma used to tell us how the family would sit around listening to radio shows in the evenings after dinner. They also read books aloud in a circle for entertainment. How times have changed, and there seem to be so much new technology I have hardly caught up.
We recently bought and moved into my husband’s paternal grandparents’ house, and there was an old…and I’m talking OLD…clock radio. Or should I say an old radio with a clock in it. I don’t think they called them clock radios that far back. *lol*