There was a time, back just after the "Horse and Buggy Days" that a car was well equipped if it came with "Radio, Heater, and Automatic Transmission". The car would be considered a "Luxury Car" if it came with Power Windows, Power Steering, and Power Brakes.
But the radio that came in all cars would be an AM, radio... "Amplitude Modulation". Most had a row of buttons on the face on which you could "preset" your favorite stations.
I had two favorite stations in my hometown of Indianapolis. Programming on both was dedicated to the top 40 hits according to Billboard (I think). On the top of the hour they'd feature the national news, followed by local news, the weather, and highlights of Sports... national and local.
One of my preset buttons was set to my favorite station, WIBC. The button next to it was preset to the local CBS radio affiliate, WISH.
My friends and I would listen to WIBC until we heard the latest tune we were crazy about, then when it was over, push the button for WISH to hear it there. (This was wonderful during the early Beatle years!)
Cars had one speaker in the center front of the dash.
The statue of limitations has expired, so I'll own up to having stolen a speaker from the "Meridian Drive-In Theater" so I could cut a hole in the deck behind my car's rear seat and install a second speaker there.
Hi-Fi sound? No.
It was better, but still stank.
All this is to point out how spoiled we are today.
But I sometimes yearn for "Top 40, News, Weather, and Sports.
15 November 2021
Top 40, News, Weather, and Sports
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3 comments:
AND we could still hear back in those days... WLS, WNO, XERB, and KEEL were our choices down in the deep south (and dependent on atmospherics for WLS and XERB.
WIBC was a 50K-watt "clear channel" station in Indy, Navy, but after midnite they played elevator music. At that point I would normally turn to another "blowtorch" station...
WLS outta Chicago. There was a DJ there named "Dick Biondi" who was a HOOT.
Remember him?
Northwest Colorado 50-60's daytime sucked. Nighttime was KOMA Oklahoma City. Popular feature was the announcement, "I'f you are a loyal KOMA listener, kiss your sweetheart". Got my face slapped a time or two for that one. The only other strong nighttime AM station not playing elevator music was XELO, Chihuahua Mexico.
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