Old-Time Radio

I have a picture of my great grandfather sitting on his front porch (because he got better reception) with his ear right up next to an old-time, arch-shaped radio. I'm told he was listening to the "Grand Ole Opry" broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee. The year the picture was taken was likely somewhere around 1940 to 1945. My mom was just a child.

Radio was an invention that changed the world. Until the radio was invented and became common in households around the world, mass communication was limited to newspapers and "word of mouth."

Before the world had television, it had radio; and radio was the vehicle of entertainment for most American households. Oh, information and local and world news were important, but entertainment was also important.

Our grandmothers and great grandmothers listened to "soaps" like "One Man's Family" and "Backstage Wife." The radio soaps have changed their names and moved to television. The Grand Ole Opry is STILL being aired. Its first broadcast was on October 5, 1925, so it's been in constant production for 83 years now.

"Amos and Andy," "Blondie," "The Bob Hope Show," "Evening with George Burns," "The Shadow," "Gunsmoke," "Superman," "Buck Rogers," and hundreds of other entertainment programs were aired on old-time radio.

Recording of many of the old-time radio programs are available. You'll have fun listening to them. You must remember that those old programs were entertaining to our grandparents and great grandparents. The content reflects the era in which they were recorded. Many of them are sexist and racist by today's standards.

Still listening to recorded old-time radio broadcasts gives you a feeling of connection to the past. There really was life and entertainment before movies, television, and the Internet.