Radio Days..............and you?

I also started with an AM radio - a "kit" that my parents bought me back in the mid ’60s. You had to tinker with it, piece it together, slap a battery in it and it was ready to go. I loved listening to it, and have been a fan of radio ever since. The last tuner I bought was a simple analog Rotel, purchased it new almost 30 years ago and it still works and sounds fine. Tuning with a tuning knob always appealed to me, and it was one of the reasons I picked this particular component. I can get a couple of decent college radio stations, a good classical station, a couple of good alternative, NPR and a smattering of the usual, unlistenable fare. I like having a tuner, and on stations with a good signal, the sound quality is impressive. The radio stations I listen to are not saturated with commercials, so that helps a lot. Radio used to rule the world, but most people don’t give a damn about that and are only attracted to what’s trendy. My tuner isn’t going anywhere as long as it’s serviceable and if it bites the dust, I’ll get another one. I’m old, just like my tuner but I’m also still cool.... just like my tuner.

Something I learned, embraced some years ago.  A twenty year old Ferrari is not a bad car, just like many old FM tuners are not bad radios. Most technology builds on what has come before, as are many things in culture, technology. 

Wow KAAY Little Rock? As a kid I was a proud radio nerd. WLS, WABC and WLAC were all able to be picked up(at night) in the Detroit area, KAAY was hit or miss. We were spoiled to have CKLW across the river. Now listen to WRCJ 90.9 on a Tivoli Model One during dinner when I dont want to play the big rig!

dayglow,  Yes, KAAY in Little Rock.  WLS had the top 3 phone requests every night at 10....and I am old enough to remember that for what seemed like months, the number one phone request was "Shut Down" by the Beach Boys.  The Beach Boys, Del Shannon and others.....then came the British Invasion.  Unfortunately there were many American artists that were tossed aside during the British Invasion.....all impacted by a funny looking man with a show on Sunday evenings. 

From my audio memory/the past, I feel my radio listening peaked with a Magnum MD-108 I had through various Classe and Conrad-Johnson amplification and some very good interconnects into Maggie 20 speakers.  The public radio station in Madison, Wi. had an active drummer of many years as the host and he played much vinyl. His Saturday night program ran until midnight and I rarely got to bed before that.