Friday, May 9, 2014

DAY 92 - COUNTING DOWN TO THE 50TH

Good Morning, Class of '64
The Radio was an Elaborate Piece of  Furniture in the Home
Radio Poem
 
Bertolt Brecht
You little box, held to me escaping
So that your valves should not break
Carried from house to house to ship from sail to train,
So that my enemies might go on talking to me,
Near my bed, to my pain
The last thing at night, the first thing in the morning,
Of their victories and of my cares,
Promise me not to go silent all of a sudden.


Silvertone 7120
“So many people have the TV or radio 
constantly turned on "for company," 
or spend their time reading trashy novels, 
aimlessly surfing the Net, and so on. 
Then suddenly one day you are old or
 sick and you realize you have done nothing 
with your life. All your thoughts are other 
people's thoughts and you have no idea who 
you really are or what the purpose 
of your life might be.” 
Karen Kingston
Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui



Another Day with Larry


The Radio

Silvertone Model 2451 Farm Radio
We had no telephone. We had no daily newspaper. We saw our neighbors rarely. Our lifeline to the outside world was our Sears Silvertone battery-powered radio with the fifty-foot wire aerial.



We got our local news and weather forecasts from the radio. We got our national and international news from it. Dad liked Gabriel Heatter, and, after he went off the air, Lowell Thomas. Mom religiously listened to the funeral notices daily on WDNE, the Elkins station. We enjoyed country music and prizefights on the radio.

Gabriel Heatter
There's Good News Tonight
 

Lowell Thomas
A Traveling Man

WDNE FM
A Country formatted broadcast radio station 
licensed to Elkins, West Virginia, serving 
the North-Central West Virginia area. 
WDNE-FM is owned and operated by 
West Virginia Radio Corporation.
ww.wdnefm.com/

We liked the great radio comedies. Jack Benny was my favorite - he still is. I have a good collection of Jack Benny and other great radio comedies on tape and CD. I enjoy them as much as I did then.The writing quality and timing of the performers fascinate me. I also liked Have Gun, Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Gangbusters, and The Inner Sanctum. 







Jack Benny
"Well!"
 
 Benny portrayed a miser who 
played his violin badly.
 He was always "39" years old, 
regardless of his actual age.
Known for his comic timing, 
and ability to create laughter 
with a pregnant pause or a single 
expression such as his 
signature exasperated "Well!".

Listening to the radio is a very active mental process. You use your imagination to create mental images of the performers and scenes. That exercises the mind and stimulates creativity. Television is the opposite. It dulls the mind. Watching television is a very passive process.


I am so thankful I grew up in the era of radio. I “saw” Marshall Dillon, Chester’s limp, Jack Benny, Rochester, Mary Livingstone, Dennis Day, Amos, Andy, the Kingfish, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and so many more. And I saw them in living color and high definition! If you really want to dull a child’s mind, put him in front of a television set for several hours a day.
We saw it all, on the radio!


Antique Radios, Radio Catalogue 
and Radio Museum
http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=3331

Silvertone 6130
Silvertone: 1915-1972
Sears Archive
http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/silvertone.htm

Silvertone 7241
Early 1940's Silvertone 
battery operated
tube radio w/ battery eliminator



Silvertone 7036a
Silvertone 6320
Antique Radios
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/radios/overview/stories 


Silvertone 6251

 Golden Age of Radio
http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv018.htm 


Silvertone 7134
 “I'm not trouble at all. 
I'm just a guy trying to get a girl 
to give him the time of day. 
I'm like every song on the radio.”
Hailey Abbott 
Boy Crazy 
Silvertone 7037
 “Lux spent the ride dialing the 
radio for her favorite song. 
"It makes me crazy," she said. 
"You know they're playing it somewhere, 
but you have to find it.”
Jeffrey Eugenides
The Virgin Suicides
Silvertone from 1940
“...some nights I'd sneak out and listen 
to the radio in my Dad's old Chevy -
 children need solitude - 
they don't teach that in school...”
John Geddes
A Familiar Rain
Silvertone 7039
 “I want to broadcast your poem 
to me over the radio so everyone 
will know we love each other just 
as deeply as the people in pop songs.”
 Bauvard
The Prince Of Plungers

 





Yesterday Once More
Peaked at number 2 on the  
Billboard Hot 100 chart 
According to Cash Box, on June 2, 1973, 
"Yesterday Once More" was the highest-debuting 
single at No. 71 and by August 4 it reached No. 1. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_Once_More_%28song%29 
The Carpenters - 1973

Yesterday Once More

When I was young
I'd listen to the radio
Waitin' for my favorite songs 

When they played I'd sing along
It made me smile.

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where they'd gone
But they're back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well.

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-o-wo-o
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're startin' to sing's
So fine.

When they get to the part
Where he's breakin' her heart
It can really make me cry
Just like before
It's yesterday once more.

Lookin' back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed.

It was songs of love that
I would sing to then
And I'd memorize each word
Those old melodies
Still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away.

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-o-wo-o
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're startin' to sing's
So fine.

All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry.
Just like before
It's yesterday once more. 
Farm Family Gathered Around the Radio

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