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Radios
In 1906, Reginald Fessenden sent the first radio broadcast, which was made up of some violin playing and recited bible passages. After World War I, numerous radio stations were born in the United States and home radio listening became a popular pastime.
During the Golden Age of Radio, from the early 1920s to the late 1950s, the airwaves were filled with a variety of formats and genres, from music to comedies, crime dramas, westerns, horror and many others. Like others across the country, families in Lake of the Woods County often spent their evenings tuned in to their favorite radio programs.
In a 1985 interview, Carp resident Marvin Hendrickson recalled his family getting their first radio sometime in the 1920s. The secondhand radio had a large horn and three dials and was sent to them by his sister, who lived in Chicago.
The Hendrickson family would gather together to listen to old time music and the popular programs of the day, such as “Gangbusters,” “Fibber McGee & Molly,” and the Cruise of the Seth Parker.”
Ora Moorhead remembered, as a child, walking with her siblings on Saturday nights to the only home in that area to boast a radio. The children would trudge from their home in the Bostic Creek area to the Frohreich home, where they spent enjoyable hours listening to old time music on WLS out of Chicago. They would then make the long walk home again, often getting home around 2:30 Sunday morning.
By the end of World War II, 95% of homes had radios, but by the early 1950s television had already begun to erode its popularity. Stations began to shift their programming to mostly music, and by the late ‘50s, radio’s glory days were over. |
