RADIO

One hundred years ago, when my grandparents were in their teens and twenties, not many people had a radio in their house.  If they did, it was likely to be short wave.  FM radio was not yet commercially available.   Its difficult to imagine a household without even a radio.  Nothing made noise except the kids.  Very wealthy people may have had a phonograph of some type but they were rare.

Seventy-five years ago, when my parents were in their teens and twenties, the AM radio was the standard in middle class households.  FM was still not available.  Phonographs were still rather rare.  The typical radio was the size of a breadbox unless you were rather wealthy and could afford a console floor model.  Television was not yet very widespread - neither of my parents had one in their twenties.  Sports, soap operas and the like were standard fare that the whole family sat and listened to.

Fifty years ago, when I was in my teens and twenties, AM radio had become very popular and FM was being introduced.  Every household had a radio.  You could now get a radio in your car.  A Japanese company named Sony started selling transistor radios that worked off of a 9-volt battery.  Amazing!  You could carry it anywhere and hear what was broadcast.  This may have been the first block in the technological age in which we now live.

Twenty-five years ago, when my children were in their teens and twenties, everyone had a radio.  FM was the standard for music.  Radios incorporated the ability to play music cassette tapes.  Radios were incorporated into television units.  We probably had six or eight radios in the house at any one time.

Today,  when many of my grandchildren are in their teens and twenties, everyone has a radio but almost no one listens to it - except for old-timers like me.  Radio is not necessary for music.  Even television is becoming passe except for use as a game screen.

I think the sad part of what has transpired above is this.  With each generation, it has become less and less necessary for us to use our own imagination for entertainment.

I still really enjoy listening to a sporting event on the radio.  It requires me to picture events in my mind without the benefit of vision.  I doubt today's children could stand that.

o.o