What would my life be like without radio? I got my first one for my 5th or 6th birthday (mine was exactly like the picture, except yellow) and I went to sleep to Lucky Lager Dance Time on KMPC in Los Angeles every night. They closed out the show at 9PM with "Dream, when you're feelin blue; Dream and they might come true." I'm sure my preference even today in having a radio playing by my bed all night can be traced to my childhood days of nightly broadcasting comfort. I've never been a good sleeper.

We moved to the house on Roscoe Blvd when I was eight and shortly thereafter I noticed Dance Time being displaced by some kind of game announced by a golden voiced guy with a strange accent (New York). The guy was Vin Scully and the team was the Los Angeles Dodgers who had just moved to the West Coast from Brooklyn. I became a Dodger fan gradually and reluctantly, irritated at first that my evening program had been preempted by the unfamiliar. Amazingly, Vinny still calls Dodger home games.

In my high school days I still listened to the radio every night. Bland dance tunes had long since been replaced by the Beatles, Beach Boys, The Animals and of course, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. My brother Tom didn't mind so much going to sleep with the radio during this period. Occasionally we could find KSL on the dial, a Salt Lake City radio station and listen to one of the early all night talk show hosts, Herb Jepko. Tom would protest before he fell asleep when I tuned into Herb's Nitecap show, but I got a kick out listening to old folks calling in just to pass the lonely nighttime hours. I drew solace in knowing there were others not sleeping besides me.

Tom and I also occasionally listened to Wolfman Jack, who had his beginnings in Border Radio in the early 50's but by the time we listened to him he was probably broadcasting from Hollywood. When I hear tapes or imitations of the Wolfman, it immediately takes me back to those days. When Cristie and I were first married I think we saw the movie American Graffiti three times.

The Carter Family, country music pioneers, were also Border Radio regulars. See clips of them on You Tube for a real treat. They started out broadcasting at odd hours in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning from mega watt stations just across the Texas border with Mexico in the 1930's during the depression. It was before my time, but I have no doubt had I been alive I would've been a big fan.


With all that competes for our entertainment dollar, it's hard to think that radio was the only option for my grandparents as they were raising their families. I still remember watching my Grandpa Ed swinging at the air as he listened to Saturday night fights on his big console, a central piece of furniture in their living room. It was all they had then. I'd have a hard time living without it now.