Radio Day

The guts of a 1937 radio. dwm photo

 It's World Radio day - a celebration of how radio continues to change lives around the earth.

 There are still a lot of people listening. Even with podcasts and seemingly thousands of channels and streaming options the sound of a voice from a box is an effective way to communicate.

 As a kid, I loved exploring the AM radio dial. You can't really explore FM because the signals don't skip across the atmosphere like amplitude modulation does.

 Growing up in south Wisconsin, I tuned in stations from Boston, San Antonio, Cleveland, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Pittsburgh. The signal would be strong then fade or you listened through the static.

When my dad and I drove at night, we really explored the radio dial. One of my favorite shows was the CBS Mystery Theater which was radio theater, long after those shows left radio for TV.

Radio can be with you in the basement during a tornado warning and on a busy highway when you need information about the traffic. In many parts of the world radio is the only way to get news. Radio, when it's done right can ignite the imagination as the brain paints the picture you hear as announcers describe what's happening.

However you consume it, I hope you appreciate this medium which is more than 100 years young. Listen tonight when you fall asleep.