In the 1950s, RentaRadio in New York rented radios to teenagers for just 35 cents an hour. You had to rent it for a minimum of three hours – more than enough time to catch Alan Freed’s late night radio show Rock ‘n’ Roll Party on WINS.American teenagers quickly became obsessed with rock and roll, much to their parents’ alarm. But even if Mum and Dad forbade them from listening to “the Devil’s music” on the family radiogram, they quickly found ways of circumventing the ban.
Hey, I had a transistor that I kept under my pillow for late night listening on school nights.
But I had never heard about that rental thing. Which I think is absolutely fabulous, and just so New Yawk.
11 comments:
Great photo and good to know that the music would not be denied an audience.
- Paul in DK
The rise of the transistor radio was a sea-change in listening. Music became portable. And yeah, could even listen in bed - I had an under pillow speaker that plugged into my headphone jack of my trusty 6-transistor Panasonic.
I permanently ruined my sleep habits because of my under the pillow transistor radio. Jefferson Kaye on WKBW Buffalo became my nighttime friend because of listening to him each night.
I heard The Hollies, The Who and many other British acts that didn't get played in NYC.
Captain Al
I'd been trying to remember the call letters of that Buffalo station, which I remember hearing on my car radio late at night. Thanks!!!
in the mid 1950s - under the covers in bed - living in the DC suburbs - I would listen to WABC in New York -- also could get Chicago, and Wheeling West Virginia - this was AM, of course - the transistor radio had a particular smell
another radio-related life changing moment for me was in the early 2000s during the Iraq war when I realized that NPR would not necessarily tell me the truth, and that the "community" I thought I was part of was an illusion
who knows if it's good or bad? it felt bad at the time - but opening one's eyes to the reality of how things are is part of wising up
like ben stiller said in "the zero effect" - the world isn't made of good guys and bad guys - it's just guys
which i don't mean in a cynical way - more a compassionate way - everybody fucks up sometimes - like Todd Rundgren says in Change Myself, "Try again tomorrow"
My playlist - songs about radio!!
https://madelinex.com/2021/08/31/rock-n-roll-radio/
that was pretty good coin for a teenager in the sixties. = to 9+ dollars today
curious what lying was done by NPR during Gulf War. Read plenty about Bush Cheney et al & their lies after they started a war that is still going. enlighten me mister chuck
thank you for your question, neal t - it was not specifically "lying" i was thinking of when i wrote "NPR would not necessarily tell me the truth" - it was an interview they did with John Yoo* in which he explained why torture was a good policy, and they did not ask him any challenging questions - i found their silence shocking
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo
*
My father put together a radio for our bedroom. We would listen to WLAC ("John R", Ernie's Record Mart) and WWL (from Roosevelt Hotel).
Decidedly not pop, but I recall the pleasure of listening to Jean
Shepherd on WOR-AM and feeling like I was a 14-year-old member of some secret club.
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