Thanks to Rush for giving me the title of this Substack. While “Spirit of Radio” is not one my favorite Rush tracks, it kind of epitomizes what I am going to write about today.
This Friday’s edition of Costa’s Corner is going to be a little different. No opinionated lists. No long winded dissertations about why Blood on The Tracks may be the greatest record ever produced. None of that.
Today is more a trip down memory lane and for most of us, positive memories of a simpler time.
As the title alludes to, this Substack is about radio and why, for some reason, I still love listening to the radio.
I apologize in advance for the regionalization of this Substack but I grew up on Long Island and still live there so I am recalling what I know. I am sure those of you that grew up in Arizona, California or Tennessee have vivid memories as well while listening to WDIA in Memphis or KLOS in Los Angeles or any number of great radio stations across the country.
I grew of age in the late 60’s and early ‘70’s and the one constant in my life, besides my family, was the radio. From listening to Harry Harrison and Cousin Brucie on WABC to Jean Shepard at night on WOR, my youth was somehow always connected to a radio. In the ‘60’s it was pretty much always AM radio and top forty stations. The WMCA Good Guys were a little before my time but historically, they were probably as important as Musicradio WABC in breaking groups. In any event, in my house, it was always WABC.
One of the best memories I have ever had as far as listening to the radio was going to bed and turning on Jean Shephard, and listening to him tell stories from a different era. His childhood in Indiana fascinated me and while some of his stories had a point, most didn’t. He just smoothly created a space for your mind to travel to. Being 11 or 12, my imagination easily created those spaces and for an hour I was transported. I don’t think there has been anyone since who has created such vivid vignettes on the radio.
Another great memory was listening to the Rockumentary, “The History of Rock and Roll”. Memories being what they are, I think this show was 48 hours (minimum) long and was non-stop. It was usually broadcast on a holiday weekend and I prayed for rain on those days just so I had an excuse to stay in to listen to it. The producers of the show ( and there were dozens) did it chronologically for the most part but would intersperse a special segment on Motown or the British Invasion. While the show didn’t really break any new ground as far as revealing new music, it did educate and it was probably one of the best pre-recorded shows in the history of radio, if not the longest. I have yet to find it anywhere but I am sure it is still out there. My guess is the Wayback Time machine or The Internet Archives has some link to it. We worth the time spent.
One of the amazing things about AM radio is the fact that at night you can hear clear channel stations thousands of miles away and I always thought that is was really pretty cool that while I was lying in bed in my Grandmothers house in Northern Quebec, I could here the 1968 Democratic convention on WABC in NY or WBZ in Boston. Or if I had a hard time sleeping while I was at college in Knoxville, Tennessee I could listen to a young Bob Costas on KMOX in St. Louis.
Like my whole generation, we did listen to FM radio as well. In the late ‘60’s my brother and sister would listen to WNEW-FM exclusively. Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Dennis Elsis helped me broaden my musical tastes and open my eyes to multiple music directions and while AM was the soundtrack of my youth, FM became my guide to something almost as important, my deep love for Rock and Roll in all it’s permutations. I was turned on to WLIR-FM while I was home from college and started listening to New Alternative music as well. WLIR broke U2 in this country and many other artists which expanded my musical tastes. Sadly, FM stations are a formula that has not changed in 30 years. Nothing interesting has come out of FM radio in at least that long and all I can say is thank God for Sirius radio. They, at least explore thematic ideas and play records that may never have received airplay so we can dig deeper into recordings.
What radio did, and I never realized it, was open up my mind to different places and different ideas. In the early days of talk radio I would always listen to see what people were saying about the events of the day. Don’t get me wrong, I watched a lot of television as well but radio was were I always went to bring the day back and get me to sleep. I still listen to the radio at night to put me asleep but it’s more about countering the ringing in my ears than listening to Mike in Bayonne complain about the Yankees lack of hitting.
Well done! Thank you for utilizing Rush in your writing. Much appreciated. Radio still is a very important mode of information transportation. I have wonderful memories of listening to JP Macarthy in Detroit while growing up, and in the days before headphones were small, sneaking a listen to my Red Wing games when my parents thought I was asleep.