I listen to the radio all night, or rather, the radio on the night stand is on all night and if/when I wake up, I catch a few minutes of chatter before I return to my dreams. It is a habit of long standing. The station it is tuned to these days has an all night news program that is banter between two commentators as they deliver interesting pieces of news from all over.
Did you know the longest married couple in the world lives in Brazil and they have been married 85 years and 85 days. He is 105 years old, she, 101. That interesting piece was broadcast around the first of March so they have gained a few weeks already.
Or, to combat the price of eggs, a company in Pennsylvania has established a business that will rent you two hens, a coop and feed for six months for $500. The hens should deliver a dozen eggs a week. You can opt out any time if you find you aren’t a farmer, or at the end of the rental time, you can purchase the hens and continue on.
Or, 204 new billionaires were made in 2024. That brings the total to 2,700 in the world. They didn’t say if some of these were inherited or all newly made money. And how about people eating packing peanuts for a snack? Apparently they are made biodegradable now, instead of from Styrofoam. Add a little salt and they taste like something to go with a beer. Not a snack I’d try, but enough people have, I guess, that it made the news.
And I do get hard news once in awhile if I happen to wake up on the hour. That’s how I heard about LeBron James scoring 50,000 NBA points, and about authorities in Paris finding an undetonated WWII bomb under a railway station in Paris that stopped all traffic for awhile.
And I had it on on 9/11. Hubby was up and had the TV on before I even registered what I had just heard. That was the first time I even thought that he might be hearing all these tidbits, too. He apparently listens and registers what he hears. I listen like I read the newspaper: browse until/unless something catches my attention. I probably miss some important stuff.
I am usually in bed by 10:30 and go right to sleep. If by chance I am awake at 11 a program called “When Radio Was” comes on. It is a replay of programs from many years ago when radio was THE medium for entertainment. Unless you are retirement age or older, you probably don’t remember radio as anything but music, news, maybe a talk show or two and sports on the weekend, but back in the day, radio covered all the bases that TV does today.
The great thing about radio is you can work and listen at the same time. No need to focus on the machine, like TV. I remember mom ironing while listening to Arthur Godfrey, or Art Linkletter. I’d go stay with my cousin in the summers and we’d listen to soap operas every morning while we did her chores for the day. I even did homework listening to some evening variety show or music.
Radio had something for everyone. News, soap operas, quiz shows, variety, drama. The same programming you find on television today. Children’s programs, such as “Let’s Pretend”, a dramatized fairy tale, or “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon” and “Buck Rogers” came on on Saturday morning. Evenings during the week were for comedy, like “Fibber McGee and Molly” or “The Phil Harris Show” in the early evening, with dramas coming after 9 p.m.: “The Shadow” ; “Gunsmoke”; “Suspense”; and others aired after the kids were in bed.
Some of these made the transition to TV, notably “Gunsmoke and “Dragnet.” Jack Webb even starred in the TV version as he did on the radio. William Conrad, the voice of Matt Dillon and also Sergeant Preston went on to a long acting career, but not as Matt Dillon. And, of course, personalities like Bob Hope and Jack Benny made the transition easily because they already were established stars.
TV quickly replaced radio, using the same format, except with pictures. I remember the first TVs around the community, and how enthralled people were to have the device in their living rooms. Everyone was plastered to the screen, whenever it was on. Hence TV dinners and TV trays to put them on. No one would have believed that a short 70 years later, we’d be complaining of nothing to watch.
And radio is still keeping us company and entertaining us along the way. Long rides, remote places and sleepless nights all are glad for that old faithful music, news, and sports with a weather report thrown in for good measure. Turn the radio on!
