RADIOS, RADIO SHOWS, & MICROPHONES

 


The first radio I remember my family having.  1941.

Later we acquired a radio similar to this beauty.  I remember my brother and me listening to shows on it like “The Lone Ranger”, “Roy Rogers”, “Hopalong Cassidy”, “Fibber McGee & Molly”, “George Burns & Gracie Allen” and several others.

Eventually I had a radio of my own in my bedroom very like this 1950s model.

Somewhat after that I got this portable to take to the beach.  The handle was cleverly an antenna I could swivel to find the best reception.

Then along came transistor radios in the ’60s.  I had one similar to this one.

I'll bet you wouldn’t have thought I’d have a picture of a bird with a radio, but I do!  J This is my little parakeet, “Tweety”, in 1961 listening to music on my transistor radio. 

I mentioned some of the radio shows my brother and I listened to.  This is the cast of the “Fibber McGee & Molly” show as presented by the “Pine Cone Players”.

A “Gascapades”radio show skit with the soundman using a microphone and coconut shells to make the sound of a horse clopping along.  The “Gascapades” was a wild variety show put on by the folks in Gasquet, CA.

“Gasconi the Great” – Another Gascapades skit using a microphone to mimic Johnny Carson’s “Carnac the Magnificent” on the “Tonight” show.  That’s my husband acting as Gasconi’s sidekick.

Johnny Carson as “Carnac the Magnificent” divining the answer to a question he hasn’t seen yet.

Singing onstage with a microphone in the 1974 “Gascapades”.  At the time I was a month & a half shy of giving birth to our third child.

Four years later I was using a microphone in the “Golden Chain Theatre” in Oakhurst, CA. to tease the audience with “Oh, You Naughty, Naughty Men” ¯

2010: Soloing in a Pine Cone Singers concert.  I must have been hitting a high note because I had to back the microphone off for those. J

:->

La Nightingail

P.S.

I looked around online and apparently my little “Tweety” wasn’t the only bird interested in a radio.  Is that a crow?

J

Comments

  1. Linda's Relaxing LairMay 30, 2025 at 8:50 PM

    Beautiful photos and I love all the vintage items as well. Warm greetings from Montreal ❤️ 😊 Canada🇨🇦

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barbara RogersMay 31, 2025 at 6:25 AM

    Yes, indeed to the progression of radios. Among the technological treats we've had in our lifetimes have certainly been transistors. I'm quite grateful for them as well as computers and the internet! Loved seeing all your entertaining venues...sharing laughter with others, as well as using your talents!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Molly's CanopyMay 31, 2025 at 1:51 PM

    Love these photos — particularly the various incarnations of your public performances! I recall seeing the oldest radios at flea markets and yard sales. However, I had direct experience with the small transistor radios — mine was red with a single earphone connected by a cord (so the rock and roll wouldn’t drive my parents crazy :-) Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. PeterJune 1, 2025 at 4:15 AM

    It is a pity there is no sound recording of your performance in the Golden Chain Theatre! But finally we know where your blogname comes from (and I don't refer to Tweety :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mike BrubakerJune 1, 2025 at 3:24 PM

    Radio sets are much more collectible than televisions. At least they will pick up a signal if they still work. Old TVs are basically useless in the 21st century, and who would want to watch modern shows in old low-definition on a small screen anyway? Radio seems timeless to me. My favorite medium for baseball games is listening on a car radio during a long road trip.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS CARDS

Image
CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS CARDS This is kind of long so you might want to pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea or eggnog before you start?  Maybe add a biscuit or two, or perhaps a slice of my Grandma Louise’s fruitcake? I’ve been known to choose lovely Christmas cards to send out to family & friends such as this cheerful neighborhood scene. Or this snowy one in the town of Groveland, California where we lived for 28 years. We had visited friends in Alaska the year we sent this card out. This was the card we sent for Christmas the year we met “Ella”, the little pigeon who suddenly flew into our lives.  I couldn’t have found a more perfect card. J And this one went out the year my Dad passed away shortly before Christmas.  It just seemed so right. Mostly, though, I like cards with a bit of humor.  This was the first card we sent out after my husband and I were married.  I forget how many I had to make with the combined list of his family & friends and mine,...
Read more

THE CHARMING VILLAGE OF CLOVELLY in DEVON, ENGLAND

Image
  Clovelly (pronounced Clove-ily as in happily or merrily) Harbor. The light-colored building on the left is the Red Lion Hotel.   Clovelly is an historic, car-free village nestled on a cliff known for its cobbled traffic-free streets and working port. Visitors can park their vehicles at the visitor center up top and either walk down or take a Land Rover service, which operates from Easter to October, to the harbor for a small charge. The Land Rover service is a convenient way to get around the village, especially for those with mobility issues or who prefer not to walk the steep streets. Donkeys traditionally carried goods up the hill (they no longer do, but are stabled nearby for visitors to visit with), while sledges bring things down, which is a unique feature of Clovelly.’   The village itself is best explored on foot on a cobbled street leading down to the harbor with a few narrow dead-end side streets.  There are 83 houses in Clovelly and all of them...
Read more

POSTCARDS FROM WASHINGTON D.C. TO BOSTON

Image
  With her somewhat tired but ever watchful expression, I wonder if Miss Violet was ever a chaperone? Over Easter vacation, plus an extra week in 1992, I was one of eight chaperones looking after 36 high school kids – including my youngest daughter – on a history trip from Sonora, California to Washington D.C. and on up to Boston and several historic places in between.  It was a wonderful trip and the kids were great.  This will be kind of a long post – even for me J – but it was hard to leave things out. Fun time!  Showing 36 teenagers from a small mountain town in California how to buy tickets from an auto dispenser & ride the Metro system in Washington D.C. during rush hour. I gazed at the White House from outside the fence, but never took the internal tour as the line was waaaayy too long! We went to Old Town Alexandria to see the cobblestone streets there where cars driving on them go “thumpita, thumpita, thumpita”, and trying to walk on them is a bit trick...
Read more