By Rosie Moore

Before we had TV, we had radio. My grandmother and I would listen to Amos ‘N Andy, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Shadow, and Charles Fuller’s “Heavenly Sunshine”’ program. That was in the evenings. In the afternoons we listened to the original “soap operas” such as, Stella Dallas, Life Can Be Beautiful, One Man’s Family, Romance of Helen Trent, and Our Gal Sunday.

“The Golden Age of Radio” was from 1930 until 1960. However, the first radio news broadcast occurred on August 31, in Detroit, Michigan. Go back even further and the first radio waves were used in the mid 1890s by Guglielmo Marconi. As you can see, radio has been around a long time. And it’s still a popular item in many  areas of life today. There is a radio in most of the automobiles today and in most aircraft and many other technical locations.

Do you remember listening to Our Miss Brooks, The Jack Benny Show (with Rochester), Have Gun will Travel, and the Lone Ranger?

To wax  nostalgic, think of the “happy days” of the drive-in movies, or, I should say the “happy nights.” Sadly, they’re not making a comeback in the U.S. although there are now  348, compared to 443 in the year 2000. Tennessee alone has fifteen drive-ins, the closest one to Knoxville is in Maryville, Blount County. But who can forget the  “partying” of going to the movies in the car, sitting on blankets on the hood, indulging in popcorn and hot dogs or cuddling with a loved one in the  front seat?

Yes, those were the days which Archie and Edith sang about in the sitcom All In The Family. Wouldn’t it be nice to bring some of those days back? Just for a day or two, maybe, but, let’s face it, the days we have  now will be nostalgic to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren years from now. There are many, many other programs but these were the ones that came to my mind “in these days.”

Thought for the day: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

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