Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

August 7, 2009 at 9:25 am (Uncategorized) (, , )

Today, I spent a few hours at the house of  my friend, Wesley. He and I went to broadcasting school (what would I suppose, nowadays, be called a “media school”) together some years ago. We learned the techniques of television, film, and radio. He’s a disabled veteran of the Gulf War, ruined by Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome; paid a monthly stipend by the government and given ongoing psychological treatment.

Wesley and I share in common a love of radio. We both relish the joy of creating images in listeners’ minds by use of only sound. In comparison, video seems much too confining.

Unfortunately, like most everything else in America, radio was spoiled over the years by big, soulless companies that threw-out creativity, happiness, and independent thought. Radio and like-wise television, were destroyed by deregulation that began in the Reagan era. Deregulation allowed the formation of media giants to own newspapers, radio, tv and other communications all under one corporate roof. Six companies now own almost all the media outlets in America. And rules were done away with that required radio and tv stations to serve their local communities. Without that requirement, program decisions and production were centralized far away from the local communities – and nearly all the local employees were unnecessary. Goodbye to the local kiddie shows, gardening shows, discussions with small business leaders, many local news shows, local music shows, late night movies (I remember when the city I live in had all of these), and also goodbye to all the local jobs in those shows: writers, set-builders, on-air talent, camera/sound operators, and management. Hello infomercials!

Anyway, Wesley calls himself, for professional purposes, “Wesley Quick”.  And he has an on-line radio station that he does for his own amusement. He calls it “old-time radio” because it features a little bit of most anything: new and old music, classic radio shows, interviews with guests, funny skits, and a lot more. The station is Q7 on the website Live 365.com. Please tune in.

Permalink Leave a Comment