Why should radio be making waves again? Consider recent storms in Kansas City area

Families sitting together in parlors listening to old-time radio shows was before my time, though that always looks cozy.

My first radio was a transistor, which I tuned to Tulsa’s KAKC-AM for its rock ’n’ roll music in the late 1960s, then graduated to KMOD-FM a little later. I listened through a crackly plug-in jack, a forerunner to earbuds, in order not to disturb sisters and parents on late nights when sleep was displaced by the Beatles, Monkees and other musical creatures.

When I was younger, I was drawn to the utility room, where Dad glued broken things or nailed others together after dinner, while listening on his workshop radio to St. Louis Cardinal baseball games. He also found call-in shows concerning the world of politics and news, which sounded like they were underwater or from outer space, coming from as far away as Texas or Chicago.

Thus, I have a devoted love of radio, which has matured from those tinny and otherworldly airwaves to crisp favorites like NPR, community radio and Royals games, which I most enjoy when announced by sports broadcaster Denny Matthews. Everything has to be described, such as the stance of the batter, what the pitch is, or any strange quirks and ancient facts of the game.

One of the joys of traveling for me has always been to tune in local stations in hotels or other rentals, sometimes just for company, or to hear local weather in regional accents. For some reason, however, radios have disappeared from these places in an alarmingly short amount of time.

Having relied on our radios and our landline during the recent weather troubles here — since our WiFi, internet and cable TV were wiped out — I realize how important it is to tune into radio for basic information like roads closures, power outages, emergencies and services shut down. These announcements can be made over a station with a strong signal.

Even with power out, a simple clock radio outfitted with a 9-volt battery backup keeps us updated. It’s by the bed, and the only thing still blinking when everything else is dark. We couldn’t get or make reliable phone calls on our cells because of non-functioning signal towers, so our landline came in handy. Of course, we had to look on our cell phones for numbers we had no reason to memorize.

I am really not an old fogy. I just like to have contact with the outside world, whether in an emergency or simply to hear the local weather forecast in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I don’t know why hotels seem to have dispensed with clock radios all at once, but the same thing happened with local TV stations.

We are expected to have our user names and passwords handy to stream content, instead of flipping on the box to hear a few headlines before we turn in for the evening.

I grew up in Tornado Alley, where the first places to fire up generators after a storm were the radio and TV stations. The radio was a lifeline, as well as a comfort. Too bad those days are past, because if last month’s power outages were any indication of what’s to come, there should be a rush on battery-powered radios.

And maybe hold off on letting that land line go just yet.

murphysister04@gmail.com

This story was originally published July 28, 2023 at 5:00 AM.