Blog Post #1: Audio

The First interview with my father had been over Audio. Specifically the kinds of records that he had listened to during his years of schooling and radio. Greg had mainly gotten his records for his birthday, of which were hits from the radio. He enlightened me on the three different kinds of records that existed.

The smallest ones were 45 rpm. Which is what all of the top hits were on. LP's[albums] were 33.3 rpm, and singles were done on 78 rpm.

                            Image Source: https://www.history-of-rock.com/record_formats.htm

As I said earlier, Greg had gotten many of his records for his birthday, so his mom would get him whatever was hot during that time. He didn't have a particular taste in music, he listened to almost everything.

What I listened to the most was definitely the Beatles. They were huge in the 60s, It was impossible to walk 10 feet without hearing someone talk about them. I would always listen to 'Yellow submarine' by them on our record player.

That prompted me to finally ask him what kind of record player he had. It was an old square record player that would play 45s, and there wasn't much place to put it in their house growing up with four sisters, so they got priority with the record player being in their room. This was the most musical exposure that he had, as he didn't really go to many concerts, other than Beach Boys and Lynard Skynard.

                                          Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linn_Sondek_LP12
                                       
The stuff that he listens to today is mostly on the radio. Christian music stations, such as 98.1 Joy FM, though he does have a few Boston CDs that he listens to from time to time.

I usually listen to whatever mom listens to nowadays. Mainly Christian Stations and Music Camp sound tracks.

This question brought me to our next topic of discussion, radio. Though Greg didn't have a centralized record player in his house, he did have a radio in the living room of his house.

My first radio was this huge black box. Had to be about 20 inches across, 7 inches tall, and 7 inches deep. We only had AM radio. I remember listening to baseball games on AM 63, news, contests, the weather, and Dick Clark, American Bandstand.

When he was in his teens he got his first transistor radio , a radio that he could carry around. It was red, and he would listen to tons of baseball games on it.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio

This is what the first transistor radios looked like this. Crazy!

Greg would usually listen to his radio in bed. He remembers many commercials. A lot were about banks, savings and loans, car dealerships, and concert tickets. When asked about the educational programs, he said the news, like KMOX, and Talk shows were huge. Unfortunately, the weather played a huge part in technical interference.

We didn't have a basement, so when the weather was bad we would huddle under the kitchen table. The radio would cut in and out with weather reports to keep us somewhat updated.

The introduction of FM radio changed everything. The Three things that he summed it up was "Clearer, greater distances, and stereo sound." There was a lot less interference, and he could get stations that were in other towns.

The radio that Greg listens to today is limited. He only listens to christian stations, and the occasional hockey game.