Turn The Radio On

 

     My brother Pat is 15 months younger than me, we were brought up almost like a set of twins in some respects. Every year we got the same thing for Christmas, the same toys and clothes, BB guns one year, three speed bicycles another, then as we turned into teenagers things changed somewhat. I think it was because we were older and our presents were more costly, whatever the reason somewhere about 1960 we got one gift to share between us. 

     One year it was a Philco AM radio (FM was a few years down the road). There were more stations available than TV channels, the issue was what do we listen to, we were teenagers so it was a no-brainer that we would listen to the rock music of the day - Elvis and The Beatles, Beach Boys, Mamas and Pappas as well as a long list of artist. Although there were a bunch of stations to choose from not all played the music we liked, then there was the problem of reception. 

Most local stations came in fine during the day and even stronger at night. The competition from stations further away was fierce at night because stations from great distances would come in strong at night, WLS in Chicago, Illinois was one in particular. The reason was that the AM band wave reacted differently during the day than at night, at night the wave was bounced off of the ionosphere and could be heard from hundreds of miles away or more, during the day the wave was closer to the ground level  and increased interference. A lot of smaller stations shut down at night for a variety of reasons.

      At the time in Nashville WSM generated 50,000 watts of power and could be heard just about anywhere within a thousand miles but they played country music and at that time there were few teenagers into country music. Other prominent stations like WLS, some 800 miles to the north and WLAC in Nashville, played rock and roll, they also had 50,000 watts of power. All three stations were on the air 24 / 7.

     Each station had at least one thing that made them stand out from the others. WSM in addition to playing country music also broadcast the Grand Old Opry every Saturday night with the voice of the opry Ralph Emery as the MC. WLAC had as it's main sponsor a place known as Ernie's Record Mart, there claim to fame was that they had the latest and greatest records available for purchase, they probably had a copy of every record ever made. Ernie died in 1977 and as I remember the store closed not long after. WLS had a DJ like no other of the time and they had the best nighttime rock and roll line up.

     We did have a TV in the house but it belonged to the family, it was 19 inches and black and white with three channels and they would only broadcast from about 6:30 am till midnight. We kids would watch cartoons in the morning and some shows in the afternoon but family viewing was more often controlled by mom and dad, they liked to watch Ed Sullivans variety show, Lawernce welk, and Gunsmoke. But by 1960 Pat and I were more into the rock and roll or folk music which at times would drive mom and dad bonkers.

     In the early 70's I had a job as a debt collector for a bank in Nashville, it required me to travel a good portion of the state. As I drove through the countryside, I always had the radio on, I liked WSM in the afternoon because they had Paul Harvey and his "Rest of the Story" and Ralph Emory had a show. WLAC played rock and roll but even at night I would sometimes have problems with reception but WLS could be heard all over the south after dark. I spent a lot of time behind the wheel singing along to the radio.

     Today we have SIRUS, I Tunes and any song you want to hear can be found on Google or other places on the internet but somehow it's just not the same, there's no mixture, no top 40 just a stream of music.

      I haven't heard WLS in many years now, haven't listened to WLAC or WSM since leaving Tennessee back in 1978, since Linda passed away I don't listen to as much music. I still like the music of my youth but it's almost impossible to find on the radio anymore so my interest has turned to country music when I listen to the radio.

     The radio stations are still on the air though the DJs have long ago passed on, few of the artist are still with us, those that are don't perform much anymore. The music will always be with me be it country or rock and roll, it's a bygone era that for me is slowly turning to a fading memory.

     PS, while researching specifics for this story, I found that my memory obviously doesn't always relate to the way things actually were. This has happened on more than a few occasions, I realized some time back that it's true that the memory is the first thing to go and for that reason I turn to google more and more. Part of the problem is due to age, I'm 76 now, part of it is that the memories of a small boy contain pictures of things that were not as big as the reality of the time. Then there is the problem that I just can't remember every little detail that happened over 65 years ago. There is no need for concern though as I can guarantee the events of my stories actually happened, if anything there may be some omittance of details which I have, at times, gone back and added to the story whenever I remembered them days or even weeks later.

     

Uncle Rich

 

     He was Linda's brother-in-law and uncle to my kids and grandkids, to me he was just Rich. For a while we even worked for the same company.

     It all started when I married Linda, I not only gained a wife, I gained another set of siblings in her two younger sisters who in turn got married and created brothers in laws. Not only did my sibling family increase it grew into a following so to speak. When Linda and I moved to Tennessee, after the Navy, Eileen soon moved with us. When I went to work for a company in California, Eileen followed us and went to work for me, then she transferred back to Georgia when I did and went to work for me again. In the meantime, Vicki moved to Tennessee and lived with Eileen where she met Rich. Eventually we all wound up in Georgia and Rich went to work for the same company as an installer of telephone booths.

     I always liked Rich, Linda thought the world of him. He was likeable, smart and a hard worker, he was fun to be around but like most of us, he had problems. Rich had a habit of making some bad choices that effected his life. He liked to take a drink on more than a few occasions, to be blunt, Rich was an alcoholic and grew to be more so with age.

     A couple of times he was stopped for drinking while driving and on at least on occasion he spent a couple of weeks in jail and lost his license for a year. He had to hire someone to drive him around to his jobs.

     I remember when he got out of jail, he came in to my office and sat down across from me. He told me that being in jail was the most humbling experience of his life and if ever I saw him climbing into his vehicle when he had been drinking I had his permission to kick his butt. He sounded sincere but it didn't last. At one point, Vicky ask me to talk to him about his problem, I tried but he became aggravated and didn't want to hear what I had to say. Having had an alcoholic father I knew what he was going through but all I could say was OK but if you keep this up you will loose everything, he eventually did.

      After he and Vicki split up, Rich worked at jobs that paid him under the table then a few years ago he started to have some health problems. With no insurance, he went to the VA for his health coverage, at that time I thought he looked pretty bad but he went on the mend but he didn't change his ways. I talked to Rich a couple of times in the last two years, every time I could tell he had been drinking, he couldn't understand why he was having all of his problems. I tried to keep in touch but my messages went unanswered.

     Vicki and Chelsa called me the other day, Rich passed away in his sleep the night before.

     I'm going to miss Rich, he was family, my family and I have lost too many of my family in the last few years. Even with his problems his passing hurts and leaves an empty place in my heart. Fair winds and calm seas my brother.

     

     

     

Back In The Day

 

     I keep seeing all these post about the cost of things back in the "good old days", back when I was a kid in the 1950's and 60's. So I thought I might let the reader know just what it cost to be a kid "way back then".

     Let me start off by saying that comparing any time periods against another you have to allow for inflation to get a good picture, at least that is the first thing that analyst say. I say that you had to have lived back then and now to realize the true comparison. Pay checks may be bigger now than then but from my experience the quality of life was better then than now but that's just my opinion.

     The average income in the 1950's was around $3500.00 and usually only the man of the house worked, in comparison, the average income in Georgia in 2023 is around $59,000 but usually both adults work so that number could double. The average home price in the 1950's was $12,000 compared to around $300,000 today and for that price you get about the same size home.

     Alot of little things that most of us never think too much about need to be considered. That $2.50 candy bar you buy today cost a nickel back then and it was bigger. Dad paid about 15 to 20 cents for a gallon of gas, today it's cost has settled down to about $3.60 per gallon and not long ago it was over $4.00 per gallon. Kay and I stopped at Burger King the other day and got two Whopper meals for $20.00, back then two could eat lunch for a dollar, coffee was a nickel a cup with free refills, big tippers paid out maybe twenty cents. Haircuts in the late 1950's were fifty cents, $20.00+ today. Movie tickets were 25 cents, today they can cost as much as $10.00+.

     I can go on and on comparing prices but, to me, the real comparison is the quality of life. I think life was better then although we didn't have all of the technology that you kids have today. We had three channels on our 18 inch black and white TV and they quit broadcasting at midnight and didn't come back on till around six the next morning, We occupied ourselves playing games with friends in the great outdoors, indoors if it rained or snowed. We road bikes, went fishing, laid on the grass and watched shooting stars at night. Our parents cared enough for us that we had to ask permission to do some things or go somewhere, they told us what to do, we never once thought of talking back to them. We weren't worried about being shot, beaten up or kidnapped. We went to sleep without locking our doors or cars. A lot of people lived their lives without going more than fifty miles from home, most employees worked twenty plus years at the same company and were proud of it.

     Today you can live your life without ever leaving the confines of home, all you need is a telephone (smart phone), I guess if you are a hermit this would be perfect for you.

     Crime is up, inflation is up, people are easily offended and ready to fight or even shoot you at the drop of a hat, it is said this is the new lifestyle, get used to it, well, maybe it is. 

     I remember my parents complaining about the world I was growing up in but I couldn't wait to get out in it, I hope you feel the same about your future. 

I'm Not A Sissy

 

     You would think that being older than dirt would mean that your end is near and you would die before anyone younger but I'm living proof this is a misnomer. In the last few years, I have felt the loss of several people that I cared for and there seems to be no end in sight. My senior class was small, only 63 or 64 students and that number has dwindled down to way less than half, those of us that are left are in a race to eighty, I wonder how many will make it.

     Linda passed away nine years ago, her sister Eileen died a year later. My youngest sibling, Ronnie, will be gone five years come January and Eileen's husband Ken died just a few years back. The one thing they all had in common was that they were all younger than me.

     Yesterday, Linda's sister Vicki called to say that her husband Rich died in his sleep Saturday night. Sis and Rich were divorced and it has been a few years since I had seen him but his memory is still fresh in my mind. I can't remember for sure how old he was but I do know that I had more than a few years on him.

      I remember when my aunt Addie passed away, Her father, my grandfather, cried because he believed that parents shouldn't outlive their children, I know how Grandpa felt. In my mind, I should have departed this life at least ten years back, instead I have had to grieve over the loss of people I have known most of my life and they were all younger than me.

     I guess this is one of the things people mean when they say "getting old ain't for sissies"

     

The Mixing Pot

 

     Up until about Twelve years ago, I didn't really care much about the ancestry of the family. I knew we were Irish and that was good enough for me but then my sister and cousin just had to know who was who, who did what to whom and why, ect, ect.  Sis and cousin Madelen Ruth have scoured archives and cemeteries in several states in their quest to know our ancestors and as much as they know they are still on the hunt. 

     Up until now the family tree was a collection of stories, inuendo, rumors and gossip with some truth thrown in for good measure but now we have names dates and places as far back as the 1600's. I can't say that all members of the family have been fine upstanding citizens but so far none of us have been hung as horse thieves although in my youth I was certain there were one or two of those in the past.

     One grandmother was publicly whipped for saying bad things about King George of England about the time of the American Revolution, her husband was found guilty of burning down an old cabin so he could get the nails. Then there was another woman who was drawn to men like a firefly, she had more husbands that Sis.

     For many years now Uncle Pual has told us that the Wade side of the family had Choctaw Indian blood and Cousin Gail claims that Grandpa Riggan was three quarters Cherokee Indian. Admittedly grandpa's facial features do have a roughhewn to them and his face was always tanned from being a farmer but that is about as far as it goes.

      A few years back Sis and brother Pat sent in blood samples to find out just where we did come from. Turns out we are not as much Irish as I had hoped although the Riggan's did come from the British Isles. The Wade side of the family are British. Then we have some Eastern European, a little Mediterranean and Scandinavian. The Irish part most likely has some Scottish blood blended in and one page I read on the internet says we may have come from the French Huguenots who fled France to avoid the inquisition, then avoided a similar fate by fleeing England to Ireland / Scotland.

     But nowhere is there any Native American blood found in our DNA. Speaking for myself, though I have had the desire to scalp a few people, the desire was usually squelched with a cold beer or two or more. 

     Our lineage has been mingled with so many other families over the centuries that we can't say that we are from any one country and by the time a few more centuries pass it will again mingle with more. So, like I said before rumors, gossip and a strong desire are not enough to make it so, we are what we are and I for one am quite proud of my heritage, we are the product of pioneers looking for a better life and willing brave a new world to get it. The fact that I am here is proof that our bloodline is strong and it will endure future generations even though their name may not Riggan or Wade.