Radio in the kitchen

 

Today I put a radio in the kitchen.

It was raining all day so I was stuck inside. I have plenty of projects to work on, but raining days don’t bring out inspiration.

I’ve got lots of these boom boxes and moved one on top of the refrigerator. Plugged it in, turned it on and found the usual channel then looked around for something to eat.

It made a difference I didn’t realize.

Growing up there was a radio on top of the refrigerator. The kitchen was my mother’s room and the radio was always on. It was a simple box with a 3” speaker and no FM. I think it was on the same station and it was the source of news and weather. It told us if we could stay home or have to trudge through the snow to go to school. Paul Harvey told us how to live along with Alden Aaroe who was a local DJ. They were only voices until I met Harvey Hudson (local media celebrity) on my back porch watching television with dad.

The television would be on early but the fuzzy black and white images were not appealing. The news came on during dinner so the TV tables came out to avoid conversation but it was the radio that was the background voice.

We got a little portable transistor radio I would try to listen to but kept losing the signal. I purchased a multi-band long-wave radio that would waste hours of my searching signals from all over the world. Someone told me about this music coming out of Europe. Then I found a station in Boston that was playing this music that the local stations bypassed.

The local stations were still playing big bands or grand old opry bluegrass and the occasional Negro dance music but none of the signals were strong enough to stay connected in the car. Then WLEE came out and started playing these teen tunes, but I had moved on to the phonograph.

The is the history of the radio, until…

 When my wife died, so did the desire to watch television. Finding a CD or vinyl or cassette to play lost interest so I turned to the radio.

The public radio station played classical music without commercials with a five-minute news update every hour. It was very calming and got me through some lonely nights. Now all my radios are tuned to NPR to keep me entertained and informed.

Most people I know also have some sort of background noise going through the house (for a silent house is spooky). Some have the house wired with speakers in the walls and remotes to increase or lower the volume.

I’ve just got these little boom boxes placed in every room and now the kitchen. What surprised me was the kitchen suddenly sounded like my childhood.

I don’t hang around in the kitchen. I grab a microwave meal from the fridge and then eat in another room. I leave the dishes in the sink until I run out and have to do my chores. I dump a load of clothing in the washer, switch it on and then go outside to the radio out there.

But today was raining so I turned on the new kitchen radio. Suddenly the kitchen wasn’t such a forgotten room. I cooked some eggs and toast and a nice hot cup of coffee while listening to the radio. The sound filled the void of a missing conversation.