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National Radio Day

205.132.248.6
Posted on August 20, 2014 at 10:32:03
Luminator
Audiophile

Posts: 7339
Location: Bay Area
Joined: December 11, 2000
 Today, August 20, is National Radio Day. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind myself and others, that it was FM radio, which initially got me into music. And if it weren't for the music, I never would have gotten into audio.

Born and raised in San Francisco, I was in kindergarten (late 70s), when I grew tired of banal cartoons, and watching the S.F. Giants lose 90 games (oh wait; they're still losing 90 games). So I went into my room, turned on the radio, and discovered the Bay Area's FM stations. I got to hear what is now called "classic rock" and "adult contemporary."

I don't know where we had gone, but one Saturday afternoon, my dad was driving the family home. We were stuck somewhere south of the Panhandle, probably near Buena Vista Park. My dad scrolls through the car's FM (in monaural, not stereo!) stations, and on comes some Eddie Money, Boston, and Cheap Trick. I was hooked! Boston sang, "Don't Look Back," but as I look back, it was radio which got me into popular music. And I've been a hard core hi-fi rocker ever since.

I understand that most audiophiles did not grow up on popular music. Many have written to me, saying how they wished they could have grown up on classic rock radio. But as National Radio Day reminds us, now that we have internet radio and digital music channels, forget the past; all of this great music is at our fingertips or click of a mouse.

The funniest scene was when my then preschool-age brother and I went bonkers to Cheap Trick's "Surrender." Little did we know that that song was about the parents (whom children often view as out-of-touch, passe, and uncool) still gettin' it on. And I just grin, when my 8-year-old son, just as I did 35 years ago, goes bonkers singing this song.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

 

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RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 20, 2014 at 11:36:48
mkuller
Audiophile

Posts: 38130
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: April 22, 2003
 ...oh a radio - that thing in my car that plays the same old music over and over.

Cool.

It was an AM radio my mother listened to in the kitchen in the late 1950s playing Elvis and Chuck Berry that got me hooked.

 

RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 20, 2014 at 11:46:15
Dman
Audiophile

Posts: 7211
Location: Kansas
Joined: January 28, 2001
 I am in your boat as well. I grew up as a child of 70's radio (kindergarten was '75 for me). Many bands and songs got discovered hearing my uncle's POS Radio Shack Realistic FM tuner playing through his Phase Linear preamp/Dynaco power amp-based system. It wasn't bad to this (then) uneducated ear. Indeed, it is the only reason I still have an FM only tuner (modded Dynaco FM-3), which works quite well around these parts (Wichita, KS).

Alas, rock radio these days is for the most part, the same ten Guns and Roses or Metallica songs, compressed to snot, or the same Snoop Dog or Fifty Cent (c)rap songs, compressed to snot and jacked in the low end.

Thankfully, there are TWO decent NPR stations in the area. THANKFULLY!!!!

Man, I'm having some serious memories of where I was or what I was doing when I discovered certain songs, like you describe. At least I CAN still remember them!

Dman
Analog Junkie

 

The LOOP and XRT , posted on August 20, 2014 at 12:17:23
G Squared
Audiophile

Posts: 8491
Location: Washington, DC Metro Area
Joined: November 16, 2004
Contributor
  Since: May 23, 2023
 Chicago radio exposed me to music.
Gsquared

 

At Least You Can Still Remember Them, LOL!, posted on August 20, 2014 at 12:58:49
Luminator
Audiophile

Posts: 7339
Location: Bay Area
Joined: December 11, 2000
 As far as radio in the 70s goes, a few instances, for me, really stand out, have never faded from memory. I was born and raised in what was then the Western Addition. With today's gentrification, it is now called "Lower Pac Heights." My neighbors were predominantly African American. When my parents weren't home in the late afternoon, I went to my upstairs neighbors. They introduced me to 60s and 70s soul, disco, funk, R&B. When "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" and "Too Late To Turn Back Now" came on the radio, I stopped dead in my tracks. I was 6 or 7 years old, but I knew right then and there that I"d much rather listen to music, than watch cartoons [my classmates were into Star Wars, Marvel, Disney, and WB].

When my family would go over to Oakland to visit my grandmother, I was exposed to War's "Low Rider," Elton John's "Benny & The Jets," and what I now know to be Steely Dan's "Deacon Blues." Hell yeah!

And for some reason, every time we passed Lincoln & 19th (an entrance to Golden Gate Park), "Reelin' In The Years" would always come on. And what's with being in Golden Gate Park, while Chicago's "Saturday In The Park" comes on?

A not so fond memory was that of my uncle's Mercury Cougar. This was in Honolulu. The car had no AC. And it always broke down in the midday Hawaiian heat. But the radio kept playing. No, "Kung Fu Fighting" and "Car Wash" didn't make me, burning up in the heat, feel any better.

Still, there was nothing like my dad driving us by San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, tuning into KOIT, and hearing Carole King's "So Far Away" in the Bay breeze... And then we'd turn down Van Ness, and I'd be thrilled to hear Boz Scaggs' "Lowdown."

 

RE: At Least You Can Still Remember Them, LOL!, posted on August 20, 2014 at 13:22:27
shutterbob
Audiophile

Posts: 643
Location: Central Missouri
Joined: August 23, 2008
 My father's University 6201 mono speaker and a '57 Fisher tuner (forgot the amp), hearing warm guitar riffs from CCR, and I could't believe the tone compared to AM. And Chad and Jeremy on a 1940s floor radio.

Hooked since then!

 

RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 20, 2014 at 14:22:24
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15524
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Thanks! for sharing.

 

Thanks ! My radio epiphany was, posted on August 20, 2014 at 18:55:31
Ross
Audiophile

Posts: 1814
Joined: January 24, 2000
 in the late 70's when I discovered NYC RnR radio ! I later remarked it was like my world went from B&W to Color. HUGE difference between the waning days of Top40 and the height of FM ! I was a diehard WNEW fan, then later moving down the dial to the college stations like WNYU and commercial stations like WLIR. I raced home every Friday afternoon for British Biscuits hosted by Scott Muni to find out what was hot in the UK. I also recall discovering WBGO during a Miles Davis Day broadcast- which ignited my lifelong interest in Jazz.

I have become a fan of Internet streaming radio because it offers the same breadth of choice (actually more) that late 70's FM offered- even though streaming quality is ahem debatable.

Best, Ross

 

RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 20, 2014 at 19:55:59
Bill Way
Audiophile

Posts: 1884
Location: Toms River NJ
Joined: May 28, 2012
Contributor
  Since: December 14, 2012
 Radio memories:

Pulling in WFMT 'way up in Milwaukee when I was in college.
Saturday matinee Met broadcasts; getting goosebumps from Sutherland or Nilsson via a small table radio in the liquor store where I worked.
Getting New York's WABC-AM in Los Angeles thanks to a skip.
Sitting in front of a tuner dial all night, with rotor control in one hand. There was never a night I didn't discover something new.
Browsing shortwave bands all night with a Sony ICF-2010 (still have that one and use it daily.)
The great original talk radio on WOR: John Gambling (then his son, then his grandson) early, The Fitzgeralds mid-morning, Bob & Ray (afternoon), and Jean Shephard telling stories late into the night.
Gay shock jock Neil Rogers on Miami call-in radio. "Let's hear from queerwater!" His audience was hockey jocks, gay boys, and the handful of us who were both.
WBGO Newark - the best jazz station ever.
WUMB Boston - outstanding singer/songwriter, some folk.
WQXR New York, before they gave up their frequency, their great studio, and any pretense of being a great broadcaster.
The astonishing audio quality of the great tube tuners, like the MR-67, MR-71, and the 10-B.

These days I listen to WNYC in the morning, and either WUMB or WBGO during the day. As I live in an impossible reception area, I do it via streaming. It works, but there is no dial knob on the internet, so much of the magic is gone, at least while I am here.

WW

"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.

 

RE: At Least You Can Still Remember Them, LOL!, posted on August 20, 2014 at 20:30:37
M-dB
Audiophile

Posts: 295
Location: Nor Cal
Joined: June 26, 2014
 If you were tuned into KMPX (MultiPleX) FM in 1967 between 8 pm and midnight you would have been listening to the beginning of underground rock FM radio. Programming was the brain child of KYA AMs Tom Donahue which was limited to the few rock LPs that were available at the time. The uniqness came from most of the tunes on each of those albums was eventually played which spawned listener feedback and the success of the album over the A and B sided 45s.

Long before the San Francisco rock scene Pat Henery's massive collection could be heard on KJAZ broadcasting from a non discrpt second floor studio on Webster in Alameda. KJAZ was successful thanks to a few long time sponcers and a well rooted listenership.

The Bay Area has a rich radio history that has sadly succumb to the American monopolistic business model. The island in the airwaves is Spanish speaking radio.

 

RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 21, 2014 at 07:48:02
Zipcord
Manufacturer

Posts: 707
Location: No. California
Joined: December 19, 2002
 This is the radio station I listen to now

 

RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 21, 2014 at 10:37:49
6bq5
Audiophile

Posts: 4393
Location: SF Bay
Joined: August 16, 2001
 Thank you for pointing this day out!-
even if I am a day late-
I just picked up my second tuner from L&M in Daley city (alignment, etc.)
I grew up with an old Hallicrafters AM/SW radio, then an Archer crystal radio kit before my father bought my brother and I a used Pioneer receiver-
this was Central Mass starting in '69 and the musical offerings were wonderful- Album Rock - WBCN, Boston; Classical WCRB - Boston (BSO friday nights)and a veritable plethora of college stations and Public radio....
Dad had a Fisher 90 with a McIntosh C-8/MC-30 into an AR1 and a Bozak -
we were on top of a hill and had clear sight lines to Boston, Springfield, Providence, and northern CT.
Happy Listening
Happy Listening

 

RE: National Radio Day, posted on August 23, 2014 at 06:46:10
michaelhigh
Audiophile

Posts: 839
Location: midwest
Joined: August 18, 2010
 Two words: KSHE 95! (FM 94.7 St. Louis)

This is the oldest continually-run classic rock station in the world (since 1967), and for the most part, has been ahead of innovative programming ideas (although this has been systematically broken down over the years, with some ruts installed over time, reflecting the current state of the radio and music industry in general).

KSHE 2 HD takes this model, marries it with a bit more of a KSAN/Tom Donahue circa '60's approach, and with no ads per se (underwriters only, announced one per hour), this innovative station mirrors community radio more so than the business model of conventional commercial radio.

Plus, the music is pretty good! (hehe)

Happy National Radio Day to all!

 

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