Category: Radio

Yesterday and Today

In 1972 we stopped putting men on the Moon, but our Earthbound future was just beginning. That year, Stewart Brand explained it in his article “Spacewar” for Rolling Stone.

The world of tomorrow, that we have today, was also described in 1972, in perfect detail, in a couple of films. The promise of interactive television, as narrated by DJ Casey Kasem…

… didn’t happen with analog cable systems, but it was of course eventually realized by digital networking.

“Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing” was produced in 1972 at WGBH-TV in Boston. That same year, WGBH also produced a much more entertaining movie, the cult favorite Between Time and Timbuktu. It opens with none other than my childhood idol DJ from WABC in New York, Cousin Brucie.

https://youtu.be/Sdp5-YdS9aE

Sound Trek

For over two-and-a-half years, following a couple of hellish surgeries for a detached retina, I was essentially blind in my left eye. How essentially? I could read something only if it was literally touching my eyelashes.

I’ve always enjoyed listening to radio (heck, I used to work at a radio station) including old-time radio shows, and I did a lot of that during the worst few months of my recovery, while confined to my bedroom. That experience gave me a deeper sympathy for people who are permanently visually impaired.

Sci-Fi Old Time Radio is deserving of special recognition for their TV soundtracks with descriptive narration. The shows were originally available on the now-defunct BlindyTV service, and they include the original Star Trek series and Doctor Who.

Click to go to Sci-Fi OTR

Listening to these programs reminds me of when I was a kid, holding the mic of my little tape recorder near the TV speaker to capture bits of Trek. I’d listen to them after bedtime with an earphone (see two posts ago).

M.I.T. — Home of the Hits!

Denro, true to his historian education, has always said that new insights into old records can come from listening to them in the context of the time when they were new. That means playing them as they were originally heard on the radio, by referencing station playlists.

The more playlists the better, to reveal many fascinating regional variations. Some songs would be a hit in one market, but do poorly in another. Occasionally, a regional favorite like “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians (from Michigan), would become a breakout hit and top the charts nationally.

88 Rewound, a very fun show on M.I.T.’s radio station, WMBR, takes the same smart approach that Dennis favors. It’s from M.I.T., so it has to be smart! Each program follows a radio station playlist from long ago. Last Saturday’s show was from a Florida station, during one of the most musically varied years ever, 1968. I can’t embed the player, but that link should be good until the 28th.