One of the most far-reaching effects on our society was the introduction of radio broadcasting in 1920. Station KDKA in Pittsburgh was the pioneer station, when Westinghouse initiated weekly broadcasts, starting with the presidential election results in 1928. From that humble beginning, hundreds of radio stations soon sprang up all over the country, broadcasting local news.

With the growth of these stations, they were soon hooked up in networks, which could now carry a single program across the entire country. NBC was the first national broadcasting company. Everything else stopped in our house each evening at 6:45 while we gathered around the radio to listen the the evening programs.

My earliest recollection of a national program was Amos ‘n’ Andy which first broadcast in 1929. It was a comedy show about two black men (then called colored or negroes) who owned a taxicab. The main characters were portrayed by the two white men who wrote the show.. It came on every weekday at 7:00 pm. It was one of the most popular radio shows during the early 1930s. Today it would be banned as being racially prejudiced.

The Lone Ranger came on with the music of the William Tell Overture, and on “a fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty, ‘Hi-Ho, Silver,’ the Lone Ranger rides again.” Buck Rogers and his space adventures were followed daily in the newspaper comics and also on a weekly radio show.

The national news show that the whole country stopped to listen to was the news at 6:45, before Amos and Andy. Lowell Thomas gave the news and his interpretation of it in his deep authoritative voice. In his time, he was more popular than the combined Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather news shows of today.

Another very popular early radio show was called "The Shadow" which was a half-hour feature once a week. I still remember the introduction: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!" He was a fighter for truth and justice and against all evil. The sound effects were so realistic that you seemed to be part of the action. Batman and Robin are one of many later shows which copied this earlier scenerio.

Another favorite comedy show I recall was Fibber McGee and Molly, which was also a weekly half hour show. Husband and wife, Fibber McGee was a congenital prevaricator, a harmless, bumbling sort who usually stretched the truth, no matter how innocent the subject. The truth just wasn't in him!

The program always had a running gag about Fibber McGee's closet which Molly had been urging him to clean out for years. It was stuffed to the gunnels, bursting with junk, and every week somehow Fibber would open the closet and out everything would pour. On radio, of course it had to be imagined. But the sound effects were great. The roar and rumble of things falling and spilling out continued for about a minute. Then there was dead silence for a few seconds, followed by a last bang and crash. Then Fibber would say to Molly, "I'll have to clean out that closet one of these days."

In 1933, President Roosevelt addressed the nation directly over radio in his “First Fireside Chat” to try to calm the anxieity across the nation over the worsening economic situation in the United States when banks were failing and more and more people were thrown out of work. One of his memorable statements was, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

The first radios in those days were wooden and cabinet-sized, standing on the floor about three feet high, and quite expensive in their day. I remember our radio in the 30s which had a fabric covering over the front of the speakers. It had a small “eye” light in the middle top which grew brighter as you dialed into a station.