Forest City Courier, Feb. 2, 1939

Before the days of the radio, time must have seemed to pass slowly. How did we ever get along with our work with no music? How did we ever find out just how much creamy lather soaps would make, and how many precious vitamins our cereals contained? And how did we ever get our work done on time without having some way of knowing the time every quarter hour? Nowadays if the old clock on the mantel runs down and stops, we don’t worry. Just turn on the radio. In a few seconds some announcer will herald the time. Cold snaps used to catch us when the wood pile was running low, but now we have two or three days warning to fill up the coal bin before the cold wave gets here. In days gone by when political campaigns were warming up, meant long drives to the next town to hear your favorite, candidate now. You have only to get settle in your easy chair, turn the dial and listen. It used to take weeks to get the details of a speech delivered in England or any of the foreign countries. Now, the word come across the vast expanse ocean direct to you, just as clearly as if spoken from the next rooms. Your radio entertainment is varied; music to suit every mood, lectures, sermons, dramas, spelling bees, quizzes, comedies of every description, and still we are not satisfied. We switch from one station to another seeking a program that would be more interesting they the last one. While in our bookcases, good books remain unopened and unread. Musical instruments remain silent while we listen to other artists. Frankly, isn’t the radio encouraging us to neglect the study of these arts? Still, on the other hand, the invention of radio is nothing short of a marvel. Man’s first thoughts in connection with it were to adopt it to the needs of government and business, but the rapidity with which it has been made to serve the masses as instruction and entertainment is amazing. It has taken loneliness away from farms and outlying communities, and its educational possibilities are tremendous. So, it gets a tighter hold on us every day. When a tube burns out, we quick get the radio man. We can’t possibly miss that serial play, or fail to learn what happened in New York or London just a few minutes ago.

Reprinted with permission from The Daily Courier. Copyright owned by The Daily Courier.