If commercial radio had a Golden Age, I grew up in a big part of it!
First, as a child, I lived in New York City. On WINS 1010, there was Murray the K, who aired the latest Beatles songs as they were phoned into him from the UK. On WABC, there was Dan Ingram. On WMCA, there was Barry Gray’s talk show at night. On WOR, Dr. Carlton Fredericks warned us every Sunday afternoon of the dangers of cholesterol, way before that was cool.
I attended a summer camp in Maine when I was a boy, and occasionally we would go on hiking trips, sleeping overnight. I couldn’t sleep well outside at night, so I played with my 6-transistor Sony portable radio. The first station I tuned in was WCFL in Chicago. CHICAGO, I thought, amazing! Then there was WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia, WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana, WCCO in Minneapolis, and KMOX in St. Louis. I was so excited I wanted to tell the other campers, except it was midnight, and I had to wait until morning.
Later, I would have a show at my college station. My first real commercial job was at New York’s WCBS 880, shortly after its all-news format was introduced. As a lowly desk assistant, I had to bring copy to anchors such as Charles Osgood. Ed Bradley, a reporter, sent me a Christmas card. I went on to work at stations in Central Virginia and Palm Springs, California. I never wanted to be on TV. Radio was my thing.
Now, I have nothing against the internet, which like most of us, I use all the time. Even accessing a podcast from a car involves radio waves. You just can’t get away from it.
There are those times when your local radio station may save your life. If there is a disaster of significance where you live or work, access to the internet and the broadband networks may be difficult or impossible. Your power may be out, and you won’t be able to see cable TV or your local TV stations. But chances are, you have an old-fashioned battery-operated receiver to hear local radio stations still on the air, telling you what you need to know. There may be fewer of those, as the powers-that-be in the federal government don’t want to fund public radio stations anymore. Sad!
Many think that radio, as we have come to know it, is dying. Not me! After all, conventional radio is the only free medium whose content you can consume while you do other stuff, without being tied to a printed page or a screen. I think we still need it.
