In my early youth, a regular was Mother’s KWHO classical radio, especially Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera. Great music had a lasting influence on me. Around age 10, I recall hearing Patti Page (1927-2013) on our kitchen radio — probably Dad’s musical preference. In 7th grade I was lucky to have my own radio to hear Nat King Cole (1919-1965) sing “Stardust”. (Guess I was a romantic type at that young age.) My bedtime view of the big-city lights combined with that 1927 song (Cole first recorded in 1956) formed a special memory. I was also blessed with a solar-powered transistor radio my father gave me, which worked well at poolside while studying for school — seriously.
Country western music played a role in a favorite sales job, where my young boss kept us workers going all day with his radio station. He must have known the customers liked it. I learned the value of diversity in music tastes. My medium-size Sony boombox served me for many years of recording radio to cassette tape, even with a broken antenna. (We’ve come a long way since then.) Years later I enjoyed a driving job (525 miles per day) with Sirius XM satellite-based radio … and got paid by the hour for listening to music and talk.
What was your favorite device or program? And how is your playlist this year?
Classical 89 (a BYU radio station) on the Internet has been a great comfort to me, especially when I hear music my best friend Kay & I studied together for our class at the “U”. Now using Bluetooth headphone, I also hear that uplifting music with fun commentary on WQXR New York and WRCJ Detroit radio stations. I love how it purely cancels traffic and neighbor noise without my talking to a smart speaker. Lastly, a bit of KSL NewsRadio talk once a week is always informative. As I recall, radio never disappeared into history — it’s alive and well.
