Radio Radio*

We haven't really been radio people in a long time.  For awhile we had XM radio and really liked it (thanks to my generous BIL Dennis) but when it merged with Sirius my favorite shows changed and we stopped listening to it as much.  Before that, given our taste in music (we're not talking a lot of radio hits) we mostly listened to radio in the car.  When we bought our little Honda in Chicago back in the mmmmm.....early 90's I guess, we didn't get a radio in it however because our previous cars were always getting broken into.  These days we'll listen to talk radio some but most of it's too conservative for our blood pressure so other than Ernie listening to WILL/NPR when he's doing stuff in the kitchen....and listening to some shows online (Kristi Rose or Music City Roots) radio isn't heard in our house much.  It's funny to think that the boys don't even associate radio with music----just "Daddy's news."  Perhaps that will change when they get older but it's hard to imagine.  It's a totally different world.

I got an FM radio for Christmas when I was 11.  It seemed like a REALLY big deal.  It seemed like a welcome to adulthood----or at the very least, entryway to life as a teenager.  It's hard to imagine that now in the age of iPods and youtube, but it was.

When I would take a shower I would bring my radio in and prop it up on a towel bar.  My most vivid memories of that are from that first summer I had it----summer of (prepare yourself) 1974.  Here's the WLS top 15 from one week that summer:

LW  TW
1     1  Rock The Boat (4th Week No. 1) 2     2  Annie's Song 6     3  Waterloo 9     4  Rock Your Baby 3     5  Rikki Don't Lose That Number 12     6  Takin' Care Of Business 13     7  Radar Love 7     8  Sundown 5     9  You Won't  See Me 14   10  Rock And Roll Heaven 4   11  Band On The Run 10   12  If You Love Me (Let Me Know) 8   13  Billy Don't Be A Hero --   14  Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 11   15  La Grange		Hues Corporation John Denver Abba George McCrae Steely Dan Bachman-Turner Overdrive Golden Earring Gordon Lightfoot Anne Murray Righteous Brothers Paul McCartney & Wings Olivia Newton-John Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods Elton John ZZ Top

The ones that bring that bring back that steamy bathroom the fastest are Rock the Boat, Rikki Don't Lose That Number and Sundown.  They weren't records I ever owned....I think the only ones from that list that I owned would have been Wings and Elton John...but there you go....they are the ones that bring back that time the quickest and the strongest....

*and how ridiculous is it that NBC makes it so difficult to watch the clip of Elvis Costello doing Radio Radio on Saturday Night Live in 77?  Can someone give them a little talk about what year it is?