Growing up, my grandfather may not of had indoor
plumbing, his family did have a radio. The families radio would sit in the dining
room. On Saturdays, the Hatchel household would gather around the radio to hear
the Opera, which came from Chicago. My grandfather stated this was his mother’s
favorite thing to listen to. On Sunday evenings, the family could be seen
listening to classical music, which I think influenced both my Grandfather and
his sister. I once, after visiting my extended family on my grandfather’s side,
commented on how there was not a house without a piano.
My grandfather and grandmother both talked about their favorite radio programs, these included Shadow Nose,
Lone Ranger, Soap Operas (a genre my grandmother still watches today), and station WTAD for the weather and news. Both stated that listening to
the radio was a family thing; with only one radio in the house they would all
sit around and listen to the different programs. I can only imagine the arguments that may of arose from what program would be listened to. As my grandfather reached high
school, he had an old radio that he fixed up and put in the barn. He would
listen to it while he milked the cows. He talks about having to go into town to
see Mr. Howard the local radio repair man, in order to replace the tubes.
My mother tells me, that when she
was growing up my
grandfather would do yard work in the summer with a small
transistor radio listening to the Cardinals play baseball. She even told me that one time he left it in
the yard and they spent months looking for the radio. He ended up buying a new
one, and once spring came around the next year they found it in the yard. Unfortunately, it no longer worked. Today, my grandparents have Sirius XM in
their car and frequently listen to it, although in my grandfather’s opinion
there are way too many stations. My grandfather will also listen to the MU
games when they are not shown on television. My grandfather says that if they
are not in the car, then they are not listening to radio, mostly because they do
not even have a radio in there house! But, like my grandfather says, "who needs
radio and sound when you have the music of nature surrounding you."