Radio Days

The first radio I remember listening to was one of those furniture pieces that stood about 4 feet tall and took up substantial wall space. For some reason I can even remember one program: listening to the results of the Truman/Dewey presidential race. Why I was doing that - I was only abaout 5 years old - I don't remember. That radio was in my first home located at 13 W 29th St In Minneapolis. The next radio I remember was quite a few years later - in about 1954 or so. It was a small transister that was shared by me and my siblings. That was a real step because for the first time I could listen to what I wanted, not just what my Dad wanted. Many years passed. The next radio was actually a combination radio/phonograph I received for my 17th birthday. That was really neat! Unfortunately, I had it shipped to Germany during my tour with the US Army and in a moment of stupidity, left it there.

I bought my first true stereo from Best Buy in Edina, MN. That was in about 1965. It was just 50 watts and needed separate speakers but to me it was really awesome. I kept that stereo for a lot of years. Initially I did not own a cassette player. Instead I opted for an 8-track tape player. At the time I felt the 8-track had more to offer and would blow cassettes out of the water. I went so far as to have one installed in my 1965 Corvair Monza. It was mounted under the dash with a slide out brackett so I could put it in the trunk when I left the car attended. With a small loan from my Mother, I even bought a 8-track recorder so I could transfer music from LP's to 8-tracks. Unfortunately, cassettes dominated the business so eventually I had to switch to that format. I did buy some cassettes - mostly music I already had on 8-tracks or LP's. Then, the big switch. I bought a really good receiver - 200 watts or so with surround sound. That was when I retired in 1994. I also bought my first CD player. It is a 6 disk cartridge type so it does not take up as much room as the carousel type. My first car with a cassette player was a Nissan Stanza. After that was a Ford Taurus and then a Ford Windstar Van. My most recent car - a Toyota RAV 4 plays both cassettes and CD's. At about this time, I started buying CD's to replace the cassettes. Now, MP3 players are the in thing. And - depending on the size - can store a gazillion songs. Even the smallest plays about 250 songs! Heck, I don't know if I even have 250 favortie songs! So, I am in a dilema: When I go for my daily walk, do I carry my portable walkmen to listen to CD's, my portable cassette to listen to cassettes or the always faithful radio or go wild and invest in a MP3 player. If so, one that plays MP3 Format only, one with FM radio? With Pictures? With Movies? HELP!!!