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By: Da Sissop
Date: 3/9/98 12:44:19 AM
# Replies: 15
I've been listening to KTRH, the AM news radio station here in Houston. I *like* news. This station has news in the morning and afternoon drivetimes, as well as Rockets games, and that wacky Art Bell show in the wee hours of the morning. And on weekend evenings, they devote several hours to playing "classic" radio shows from the 30's to 50's.
Yes, before there was television, before there were movies, before there were books or any sort of system of printing... there was radio.
And as ridiculous as it may sound, there was a time when families gathered 'round the radio in the evenings and listened to dramas and comedies and variety shows proudly sponsored by major brands of cigarettes. And listening to these shows now, with the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to be overcritical of the writing:
"I'm getting out of here right now." [sound effects: footsteps][in a gruff voice] "You're not going anywhere, Lawrence!"
[organ music swells] "Harold! You're pointing a gun at me!"
"Yes! It could be a gun, or I could just be holding my fingers in the shape of a gun. The question is, how badly do you want to find out?"
The performers weren't acting, they were belting out their lines, as was the custom for the times. Watch an old 1930's movie and you'll see the same thing. It's oftentimes hard to believe that the public consumed this stuff. But the media were new, and we were still figuring out how to use them. There's a certain nostalgic charm to it all. Granted, I doubt I can truly be nostalgic about something I never experienced firsthand, but listening to these radio shows, I can sorta picture myself, in black and white, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, my little cowlick sticking straight up on my head, my mom bringing me a glass of Ovaltine and settling in to her spot on the sofa next to my dad, who is still wearing his coat and tie as he flips through the evening newspaper, my sister playing with her dolls in her own little world, pausing momentarily when she spots the photo of our brother on the mantle, thinking about him off in Europe fighting the nazis. Then, the announcer's voice draws all our attentions to the giant-screen radio in the center of the room. It's time for the Green Hornet! Sponsored by Crack Cocaine!
Response #1
By: rorschach
Date: 3/11/98 8:24:03 PM
obviously we listen to the same station at widely different times....I didn't even know they played old radio shows much less listen to art bell (I DO sleep once in a while, no more staying up all night to download cool warez...) ya know, I've always been a news junkie but only in the last couple of years have I become compulsive about it. do ya think maybe one of these new seratonin reuptake inhibitors might help?
Response #2
By: Cleotis
Date: 3/11/98 9:45:55 PM
Radio sucks. I happen to know this first hand.
Response #3
By: rorschach
Date: 3/12/98 8:54:32 AM
whats wrong cleo? having a bad "air" day?
Response #4
By: Roxanne
Date: 3/12/98 9:19:44 AM
Correction to the above comment "Radio sucks"
That should be "radio sucks when you live a city big enough to think it's hip but still too small to support any sort of radio worth listening to"
Of all the things I miss in Houston, KTRH radio is definitely in the top five. We do have an AM station here that runs Art Bell..BUT with all these friggin' mountains around here, AM radio is virtually nothing more than white noise after sundown!!! Ooohhh, the humanity!!
Response #5
By: Ralf
Date: 3/12/98 12:17:31 PM
I live for NPR. It saved my sanity when I commuted three hours a day a few years back, and it's the first thing I hear in the morning.
(Those mornings when the saucers don't wake me up...)
Response #6
By: Mycroft
Date: 3/12/98 4:32:40 PM
Does anyone here live in an area where they can hear 9.49 Radio Montrose? Aside from being fairly activistic, they do have a cool Subgenius Radio Show, on Thursdays from 8-9pm
Response #7
By: Hijinx
Date: 3/12/98 4:44:26 PM
I gotta agree with Cleo...RADIO sucks...I, too know this from first hand experience.
Response #8
By: Cleotis
Date: 3/13/98 12:35:59 AM
We radio people are scum.
Radio's like this... We're one of three kind of people.
1: people with really bad speech impediments whose high-school guidance counselor told us it'd be good to attack the problem head-on (not me)
2: people with a lot of star-power, but too damn ugly to be on television (maybe me, on a really really good day)
3: people who never grew up and got a real job (definitely me - and Hijinx).
Radio people are second-to-the-bottom on the media "class" chain. The lowest are newspaper people. No, there's no such thing as a classy DJ. Even those stuffy intellectuals on NPR, in the back of their mind, are wishing they were doing what they do on PBS.
Don't be fooled! Only Art Bell can be trusted!
Response #9
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 3/13/98 8:05:49 AM
Not only is Art Bell the only one that can be trusted...he's the only one who'll open up a special line for us time travellers to call him and be on a live radio delay nationwide and nekkid. Hey, us night people get out of the show what we can...
Response #10
By: Zipperhead
Date: 3/17/98 10:55:26 AM
Do they play AC/DC on KTRH?
Response #11
By: Da Sissop
Date: 3/17/98 12:25:25 PM
No, but they've got the Home Handyman who can help you with any questions about electrical wiring.
Response #12
By: rorschach
Date: 3/17/98 6:25:35 PM
and randy lemmon and some old fart to tell you how to take care of your azaleas..... they also broadcast the rocket's games for those who are masochists....
Response #13
By: jjhitt
Date: 3/24/98 2:59:08 AM
> Yes, before there was television, before there were movies,
> before there were books or any sort of system of printing...
> there was radio.
Ummm.... Xist time radios, maybe. But over here, in this timestream, movies came before radio and after books.
But for True Radio Wackyness... ya gotta go to shortwave.
Response #14
By: Da Sissop
Date: 3/24/98 7:57:27 AM
I was using artistic license (which I got from the FCC) to "punch it up" a bit...
Response #15
By: Ralf
Date: 3/24/98 8:33:09 PM
Nothing like those darn distracting facts to louse up a good implanted memory...