Shortly after having moved to my little house in the small town in the middle of nowhere, South West Saskatchewan, Canada, did I decide I wanted a radio in the kitchen. So I bought just a simple little clock radio to listen to while doing the dishes. Of course, being in a remote location, my little radio didn't receive any FM stations. So I started turning the dial and came upon 540am or CBC Radio ONE. It didn't take me long to start preferring talk radio to music stations. Such a broad range of subjects they covered! So many interesting people they interviewed! And of course, Vinyl Cafe Stories.
It reminded me of a time and place far away.
When I was a pre-schooler in South Africa, my mom used to drop me at my grandparents house before work. Me and Grandma spent a lot of time together, Grandpa was still working then. TV had come out in South Africa in 1975, but it only started at midday, and the programming ran until midnight, when the National Anthem played and an image of the South African flag showed. Then it reverted to the 'Test Pattern' and stayed on that bizarre circle with colored (later, when color TV came out) and greytone blocks.... but no matter, this is not about TV.
Grandma and I used to listen to the radio. In the mornings, there was news and weather. There was story-time for kids, when I would listen to the morning story. Then there were radio stories or 'dramas' - more like a radio version of a soap opera, I guess. That's where I got my name from apparently - my mom was listening to a hospital radio story and named me after one of the nurses.
We listened to different programs - there was a 'what-have-you' trade program where people would call in and with such-and-such to trade for such-and-such - wheelbarrows for screwdrivers, magazines for knitting needles, that sort of thing. Also an antiques show, an agricultural show, and others that I cannot remember. But I do remember the radio being a constant companion. Grandmas little radio came outside on hot summer days when we sat under the big old liquat tree in the back yard. It was inside next to the big old asbestos heater we plugged in on cold winter mornings (yes, you read right - asbestos heaters.....this is what they looked like)
It was on the diningroom table when Grandma was sewing, it was in the bedroom in the mornings.
That was the era before 'gadgets'. Grandma's radio was just about the only thing portable in the house, apart from a big old flashlight. The TV was a huge old tube thing that could not be moved, the telephone had a cord (the days before cordless telephones!)
The only gadget was the radio. You could listen to it without getting distracted because there WAS no image to go with it to distract you - you built your own pictures in your head.
Now we all have Smartphones and Tablets and computers and Sirius satellite radio. And Smart TV.
Maybe the old talk radio just reminds me of a time when we used to listen to the same programming. Nowadays everyones got their earphones plugged in, listening to their own stuff. Those days, we all listened to the same channel. We only had 2 TV channels those first years too. And the telephone was in the dining room - no private conversations with the family home!
But I do enjoy the simple joy of talk radio now. I like music, but songs just get....old. You don't learn anything by listening to music radio. So many songs are all about the same thing - love, being in love, finding the perfect guy/gal.... no learning. Now I listen to interviews with family members of Auswich survivors who had their grandmothers concentration camp tattoo, tattoed on them too... 3 generations honoring their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother this way.
I listen to talks with Indian chiefs about how to make reservations work. I listen to interviews with writers. I love the short stories on Vinyl Cafe, told so skilfully that you can see it in your minds eye.
There are interviews with scientists, Space Commander Chris Hadfield, and interviews with 12 year old chess players from the slums of Sudan. The other day they had a talk about memorable snowstorms where people called in and shared their stories about communities coming together in adverse weather.
And you know what? no ads! I do not have TV and haven't had TV in 4 years now. I do not miss the ads. Once in a while we would hook up the computer to the TV and watch some shows that we can stream through the internet, but the absolute assault of advertising really puts me off. The same ads play 4 or 5 times in a half hour program! I guess maybe people get conditioned to it, but I really enjoy my ad-free existence. I used to enjoy the History channel and National Geographic, but those shows seem so dumb now. Not the shows I remember. Everything is some 'reality show' which isn't reality at all, but just lame scripted dramas.
Give me my radio any day. As long as the dial is on 540AM.
Grandmas radio looked a bit like this one here.
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