Radio…

…Silence

Bemusing my inability to produce a post last week, I thought of radio silence. And just the way my mind works, I spontaneously bounced related radio topics around in my head. Still, I am approaching another week’s deadline without sufficient brain waves (or bandwidth) to get this out on time.

But let me give it a try and hopefully offer something worth reading for another week. Here are just a few of the balls that bounced through my cerebral cavity.

…Wave

“Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation. A radio wave has a much longer wavelength than visible light. Humans use radio waves extensively for communications.”

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)

We’ve all known about radio waves our entire lives. Their existence was proven by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. We’ve enjoyed radio waves through, well, radios and other audio devices. Radios were one of the most influential communicators before television (and after the telegraph). The frequency of various electromagnetic waves is thus measured in Hertz (Hz).

Of course we think of other kinds of waves. Brain waves. Waves of the ocean. Light waves. These are just a few. Come to think of it, my hair has always been wavy. I guess that’s frequent too 😉 .

…Frequency

Going beyond radio waves here. The video included with the above link gives an easy-to-understand explanation of frequency. Obviously, frequency has a plethora of other uses in our daily lives. I go to the grocery store too frequently! Yet I eat fruits and vegetables far too infrequently. You get the picture.

Frequency played an important role in my development during my formative preteen and teenage years. Frequency Modulated (FM) radio offered a distinct music venue. It was separate from the popular Amplitude Modulated (AM) radio stations. These stations were full of bubblegum pop and paid commercials.

KFMG radio introduced me to the deep tracks of Yes, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. They played songs from many other less known bands too. The station exist still today. But I’m not sure of their repertoire now.

Transistor…

When I was born, as far as I know, all radios were powered with electricity running through vacuum tubes. Some were large with multiple speakers for high, medium, and low tones. Some were small, still using vacuum tubes, but with less power and fewer or smaller speakers. But none were portable. All were plugged in to an electrical outlet.

It turns out that the first transistor radio was built in 1954, the same year I was born. The Regency TR-1 was released in October of that year. It is “…a semiconductor device with three connections, capable of amplification in addition to rectification. A portable radio using circuits containing transistors rather than vacuum tubes.” Game changer!

Boom boxes, the Walkman, and many computerized innovations began with the development of the transistor radio. All in my lifetime!

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So what?! What does all this have to do with you?

Not much really. Unless you can relate to either the strange workings of my verbose (musing of a wandering) mind. Or you relate to the nostalgia of developing technology or rock and roll music. Regardless, it’s been fun to think about and ultimately to write about. Hopefully, I can avoid many weeks of radio silence as I sway “through this fairyland of love.”

See you next week – I hope.

Whew! I almost made it. Just a few minutes late.