When I was young we did not have a TV so radio was our entertainment. My brother Jack and I would sit on the floor in front of the radio and we listened to the shows.
One of the shows I remember was Sargent Preston of the Yukon. He had a side kick dog named Yukon King.
The radio was very large made of wood. A radio built like that would be very costly today.
It is hard to imagine a world without TV but it use to be that way. Channel 12, the local TV station was about to start broadcasting so mom and dad decided to get a TV. I was about 8 years old when our family got the first TV. I remember that the TV was delivered to our house on College Street. It had rabbit ears and was placed in the corner of the front room.
The local TV station was going to be doing some testing, broadcasting a test pattern so people could adjust their sets. Yes the old TV sets had knobs to adjust things like vertical hold. I remember we all gathered in the front room with the TV. Dad turned the TV on and all we could see was snow. We sat there with the snow on the screen waiting for the test pattern to come on. The excitement had built to a fevered pitch, and then it happened. The TV screen displayed that wonderful test pattern, “we had TV.
Prior to our wonderful TV arriving we would occasionally go to my sister Wilda’s home on Friday nights. There was the “Friday Night Fights” which were transmitted from a distant station. My dad and junior Kitchen (Paul Kitchen) loved to watch the fights. I remember it was difficult to see the TV picture so they would turn off all the lights in the room. Junior smoked and there was a layer of smoke that seemed to float about 5 feet above the floor. If you had been there you might have thought that my dad and junior were in the fight as they would make noises and comments when someone would get hit.
WOW, this article turned in to memories of the olden day TVs.
Back to the original thought; “Old Time Radio”. When you listened to the radio shows you had to use your imagination. You could decide if the person speaking was tall or short, fat or not, hansom like me or not. It was, and still is relaxing. Even the commercials were and still are relaxing.
If you would like to listen to some of the old radio shows you can click on the link below and there is a long list of old radio stories.
I suggest that you turn off TVs and other devices (not the computer as you will be listening to the computer). Lean back take a few minutes to relax with a cup of coffee or other favorite drink. Listen to one of the radio shows and if you are old enough you may drift back in your memories.
If you are not old enough to remember these shows there is information about the show that you can read before listening that will possibly help you enjoy the show.
Now, kick back, relax and enjoy.
From the olden day mind of Don Ford
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