Old radio shows challenged the listeners' imaginations | Opinion
Before the first television station came to Knoxville in the fall of 1953, the chief entertainment in the average household was radio. Families listened to music, religious programming, soap operas, children's shows, news and adventures of one kind or another. Radio was in its heyday from 1930 to 1960.
According to Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz in their "Historical Dictionary of Old Time Radio," the first radio broadcast of significance occurred in 1920 when station KDKA aired the returns of the presidential election. The National Broadcasting Company was created in 1926 and began broadcasting the highly popular "Amos 'n' Andy" show in 1928.
That was followed by "The Lone Ranger" on WXYZ in Detroit in 1933, "The Guiding Light" soap opera in 1937, "The Mercury Theatre" in 1938 and many other productions. By 1944 there were more than 57 million radios in the homes of America. Knoxville had its share of listeners.
During my preteen years I heard bits of radio shows as I ran in and out of the house to play. During the winter months or on bad weather days when I spent more time indoors, I heard shows that I liked. I was intrigued by "The Shadow," which ran from 1930 to 1954 as he fought wrongdoing. The show's opening – "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows" ‒ was a real attention getter.
I am not sure I really understood the antics of "Fibber McGee and Molly," which ran from 1935 to 1959, but I knew they lived on a fancy-sounding street at 79 Wistful Vista. The highlight of the program for me was when someone opened the door to Fibber's closet and all the junk came tumbling out. It was the equivalent to hearing the flush of Archie Bunker's toilet on television.
My favorite radio show of the period was "Stop the Music," which came on the air in 1948. It was an hour-long show during which a song was played while a telephone call was placed to a home somewhere in the country. If the listener could identify the tune, he would win win a prize and have the chance to guess a mystery tune.
The tunes were sung by Jill Corey, Kay Armen and other vocalists. I was so convinced they would call my house, I knew virtually every song on the radio between 1948 and 1952. But I never got the call.
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Another show that kept my attention was "Our Miss Brooks," which starred Eve Arden, who played the role of a high school English teacher. It depicted her efforts to attract the affections of the biology teacher, Philip Boynton. It also featured the antics of her student Walter Denton, played by Richard Crenna.
Sometimes I would listen to "The FBI in Peace and War," "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons" and "Inner Sanctum Mystery." But they did little to hold the interest of my immature mind. I needed to hear more action.
One of the most important things about radio is that it challenged the imagination. One could not see the faces of the speakers, but their voices told listeners what they looked like. One did not have to see a horror scene, but his mind took him into some of the worst predicaments.
Robert J. Booker is a freelance writer and former executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. He may be reached at 865-546-1576.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Opinion: Old radio shows challenged the listeners' imaginations
