This Post is about something that has amazed and astounded me since my earliest memories. At 73, I still am awed and struck with wonder as I think about something that is as much a part of our daily lives that we just fail to see this fundamental building block of our civilization.
OK, do I have your attention? Good! The wonder is Radio. At around four, I recall listening to War News on my father's parents battery powered radio. They listened just 15 minutes a day. No more. No less. It was a group session. We all sat in an unused, and unheated bedroom and starred at the sound coming from that magic box. When the news was over, an adult carried the coal oil lamp from the bedroom to the living room. We all followed the flickering lamp.
I soon discovered my mother's folks had a battery powered radio. The big difference here is the radio was used to listen to ballgames, Grand Old Opry, Soap Operas, and of course the news. My uncle Mac was a very skilled construction worker and convinced my grandparents to permit him to connect a light bulb to the large radio battery. Wow! Light without coal oil lamps. He quickly disconnected the magic lamp and we all were amazed how he did that.
When we moved to Indiana in 1947 we did not have electricity in our house. Also, we did not have a radio, not even a battery powered unit. When the REA came through and wired our house
we soon purchased a small electric radio. Man, this was something, you could listen as long as you wanted to. It is hard for people who have TV all their lives to have an appreciation for folks sitting around a radio and all watching and listening without talking or moving around. When I had to go outside to our "bath on the path" I would ask my folks to tell me what happened while I was away.
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