Childhood Magic

Finally! A blog about one of the biggest passions in my life, radio. I thought I had better start with a multi-part story of how I came to love radios. It is interesting that childhood experiences many times end up shaping the lives of adults. I can say that this holds true for me with music, muscle cars, sports and of course radio. The blogs and stories of those other interests will wait for later. My fondness for radios started with my grandfather listening to Angels and Dodgers baseball games on a portable transistor radio when I was in elementary school. Unfortunately, I don't recall the exact make or model but it would have looked something like this GE model, but with a leatherette carry case:


To this day, I still love the smell of a nice leatherette case from this era! I wish I had that radio. My grandfather would take the radio when we went fishing together, when we threw the baseball around in the backyard, and when we went camping etc. The radio programming consisted mainly of listening to Vin Scully calling Dodger games. I still remember the adds for Farmer John hot dogs, and Olympia beer. We also listened to his favorite music from the big band era. I don't remember exactly, but it is likely that I tuned that radio to distant AM stations at night. I know he had a pocket transistor radio or two also, but again I'm not sure of the makes and models.


So when I look back at it, I think it all started with my grandfather. I wish he were around to discuss the radios he had. I think he would get a kick out of seeing my collection today, and knowing how it all started. The next post will continue with vintage stereo receivers.