Saturday, February 21, 2015

Four Radios

In my room (well one is in my bathroom) I have four radios that have been with me for over 30 years. 

These two belonged to my beloved grandfather. The blue one was his mobile radio and transmitted countless Phillies games while he puttered around the house and worked in the yard. The black one sat on his dressing table and broadcast KYW every night as he readied for bed. Now it joins me in the powder room every morning while I listen to Sam Clover also on KYW. All news. All the time. 


This sleek model sat in the middle room upstairs at my Grandparents house on Cherry Street. On sundays after dinner I would sneak upstairs to listen to the Psychedelic Psunday Psupper with Michael Tierson on WMMR. It was on this very machine I first heard two of the great music loves of my life. The Velvet Underground (Song: I Can't Stand It) and The Mothers of Invention (Song: Hungry Freaks, Daddy). Now it sits on my bookshelf. It no longer works. I need to find someone to fix it.

This one was all mine. I think I got it when I was 8. I would take it outside with me to listen to WMMR while I did chores in the yard. Later I would listen to the Phillies, the Flyers (who beat the Nashville Predators tonight) and old radio shows on nights when they were off. I heard the Grateful Dead at the Spectrum on it in 1984 and never missed Metal Shop on WYSP at midnight every saturday. Now I listen to crackpots call in to AM radio in the middle of the night and espouse conspiracy theories.

No comments:

Post a Comment