Early in my youth I developed an interest in radios and electronics. When I was five years old I sat in front of our RCA console radio and tuned in programs of interest. I was fascinated with the loop antenna hidden within the console.

We got our first television when I was almost nine years old and I learned to replace burned-out tubes. For Christmas the year I was 10 my parents gave me a crystal radio set which allowed me to listen with a headphone.

When I was 13 I saved up enough money to purchase my first personal radio — a two-transistor blue “pocket-size” radio for which I paid about $10 from a Kansas City mail order catalog.

I had nearly forgotten about that little radio until my oldest brother, Gerald, handed me a gift recently. I opened the package to find a little blue transistor radio. This “pocket-size” model was a darker blue, had six-transistor circuitry and received both AM and FM stations. But it did remind me of that little blue transistor radio of my childhood.

The ensuing conversation revealed that my brothers remember my transistor radio almost as well as I do. Brother Dave reminded me that I placed the radio under my pillow and listened to it at night. This is something that would not have been allowed if our father could hear it. I remember sitting next to the yard light pole because the ground wire on the pole acted like an antenna and helped bring in more stations.

By age 10 I began enjoying the rock and roll of the day. My father lacked appreciation for the genre, declaring, “Turn that crap off!” when I played it on the household radio.

By the age of 13 I was hooked on Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Supremes, Bobby Vinton, the Shirelles, Chubby Checker and the like. I wanted my own radio so I could listen to my music on my own schedule.

Money was always tight in those days but I was able to save up a small amount (by today’s standards.)

Being a budding technophile I had ordered several electronics catalogs and found a radio I could afford. I knew that a two-transistor radio would not be able to receive as many stations as a standard six-transistor radio which I could not afford.

In those days, mail orders could take more than a week to be delivered but one beautiful day our rural mail carrier delivered a package with my radio.

Thankfully, the package included a 9-volt battery and I was soon enjoying tunes.

I recall the cheap little radio picked-up only about a half dozen stations but they included KIOA in Des Moines and KWMT in Fort Dodge which was still airing a rock and roll format at that time.

The two-transistor circuit did not generate a lot of volume but it was good enough for me.

Back in those days the 9-volt batteries readily available to consumers were of the traditional zinc-carbon chemistry. Zinc-carbon batteries drained much more quickly than today’s alkaline batteries and I wore out batteries quickly. Living on a farm there were times when my radio went silent until we could get to town and buy a fresh battery.

I don’t remember when or why the radio died but I do recall I wore it out. A year or so later I purchased an electric radio that played my music louder and with more fidelity than the blue transistor radio’s 1.5-inch speaker could provide.

In late 1964 country music singer Connie Smith recorded a song written by Bill Anderson — “Tiny Blue Transistor Radio.” Though the lyrics have nothing to do with a 13-year-old nerd and his coveted radio, the song does remind me of how much I enjoyed that cheap little receiver.

Life went on, I learned to enjoy other genres of music and I began my career in broadcast radio.

When my children were teenagers they had broader tastes in music than I did in my youth. They listened to the rock and roll of their era, but they also listened to ’50s and ’60s rock and roll, big band, jazz and country music. I often told them they robbed me of the pleasure of telling them to “turn that crap down.”

Arvid Huisman can be contacted at huismaniowa@gmail.com. ©2023 by Huisman Communications.